Here’s my ride around downtown Naples, Florida checking out the bicycle lanes and general traffic conditions.
Downtown Naples, Florida from acline on Vimeo.
My thoughts about bicycle lanes have changed a lot since I began writing this blog.
Carbon Trace
Getting Around on Two Wheels and Two Feet
Comments 7
Excellent observations about the lack of necessity and the bad message such bike lanes send. Those things offer nothing more than marginalization and training in subservience.
Also, excellent demonstrations of how the bike lane would put a novice in the wrong position at an intersection. I see people making left turns from bike lanes all the time. And that right hook! WOW! That motorist really had his head up his @$$ to swoop around you on the green light like that. But again, a good demonstration of the problem with the bike lane putting you in the wrong position.
The intersection approach striping is in violation of AASHTO standards. But unlike Portland, that violation is a result of incompetence rather than policy.
The lane you were in at the beginning is what we refer to as an “undesignated lane.” It isn’t designated because it is of substandard width (I’m geek enough to carry around a tape measure I always stop and check the widths of those things).
Those lanes are, in fact, regarded as cyclist accommodation. In addition, they are thought to provide traffic calming by visually narrowing the travel lane — this is based on junk science that has been disproved. Yet it is still repeated often by bike lane proponents.
Aside from the lack of pavement markings most people cannot distinguish undesignated lanes from bike lanes. Most cyclists use any amount of pavement to the right of a white line (as you saw) and motorists expect cyclists to do so. I’m impressed (and very surprised) no one honked at you.
BTW, that kind of substandard crap is exactly the result of the mindless acceptance of, and clamor for, bike lanes. FDOT has done studies which prove that cyclists will be happy with even the most egregious, substandard strip of pavement if it is to the right of a stripe. They are so fooled by the stripe that they think they are getting more passing clearance when they are getting less. It would be a fabulous psychology study.
Posted 03 Jan 2010 at 10:26 pm ¶Is there some reason you didn’t test your theory that you’d be honked at incessantly if you rode in the real traffic lane rather than the bike lane? For example, towards the end when you made that left turn.
I find motorists to be very tolerant of a cyclist going to the proper place to make his/her left instead of sticking to the bike lane. They’re also pretty tolerant of cyclists going into the main traffic lane to pass straight through an intersection rather than deal with unnecessary crossing traffic maneuvers.
Posted 03 Jan 2010 at 10:48 pm ¶Comment at 10:48 from regular computer. This comment from iPhone at approx 10:52
Posted 03 Jan 2010 at 10:52 pm ¶Steve, I think showing what a novice would experience is more effective. Especially since he managed to get that amazing right hook. That’s exactly how most people ride in bike lanes, and it’s how they ride on roads without bike lanes too. The bike lanes reinforce bad practices which lead to most crashes and conflicts. Seeing the road from that perspective explains a lot.
Posted 04 Jan 2010 at 8:05 am ¶Keri… Thanks for the details.
Steve… I just didn’t think of it at the time.
Posted 05 Jan 2010 at 5:49 pm ¶From John Forester’s book Effective Cycling, there is a chart listing ‘Who is at Fault’ in crashes. Ranked 4th is Bicyclist is at fault 11% of the time because of ‘Left turn from the right side of the road.’ Even if there is a bike lane, you should act like it isn’t there and act like the driver of a vehicle to make a left turn. This should be from the left 1/3 of a 2 lane road.
Posted 12 Jan 2010 at 2:31 pm ¶Coy… You are right. But I was acting in the video as I suspect a novice or ill-informed bicyclist would act to show the problem.
Posted 13 Jan 2010 at 3:58 pm ¶