Documenting Bike Lane Failure
- Posted by: Andrew Price
- on June 25, 2008 at 2:15 pm
If we want people to ride bikes more (and we do), we’ll have to make room for them on the roads at some point. Right now, bike lanes aren’t taken all that seriously. Drivers think of them as a turning lane or parking space, as evidenced by My Bike Lane, a user-submitted collection of photos documenting bike lane misuse. With all the motorists using bike lanes, it’s no wonder cyclists are taking to the freeways.
Via Matt Yglesias.
DISCUSSION: 6 Comments
Look to Oregon and Seattle for green bike lanes. See:
GreenBikeLanes
This is not a failure of bike lanes, it is a failure of law enforcement.
Hear, hear. I think the John Forester “Take the lane” school of bike riding is dangerous and ineffective, both for slower, older cyclists AND for angry car drivers who wonder what the hell we’re doing in the middle of the road when our taxes helped pay for bike lanes. Enforcement is key to ensure that everyone gets their place on the road and gets to use it safely.
The bikes don’t pay for the road, get them off. If you want bike lanes, begin user fees for bikes.
Yes, bikers do pay for the road!! We are taxpayers, too and our taxes help pay for the road. Let me guess….you don’t think pedestrians should be allowed to walk across the street either, right? LMAO!
It’s not just a problem of enforcement, it’s a problem of use. People aren’t going to respect an empty lane, or a lane which they don’t see as getting much use. It seems like the only way to get more drivers to respect bicyclists is to have more bicyclists. That’s what makes rallys, races, and community rides important. They make the cyclist population visible and serve as ways to get more people to use their bikes.