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How bike lanes sidelined cyclists: unearthing 190 miles of 1930s cycle lanes
(www.globalcyclingnetwork.com)
this post was submitted on 22 Apr 2024
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The explanations provided in this article are the same stupid fucking reasons it’s next to impossible and dangerous to ride a bike in America.
No, a bike is not a car and it should not be treated like one.
No, no one I know wants to hop on a bike and share the same lane as a semi truck or teenager in a lifted truck texting on a phone.
Having a bike lane (preferably separate from the main road) where there is at least some breathing room is the only way most people would even consider it. God forbid you should fall off or crash, you don’t risk losing your life over something that would otherwise be a scraped knee.
GTFO with your bikes are cars bull shit.
It’s important to remember that roads weren’t always for cars. At one point they were for pedestrians
Now they are used by 6000 lbs trucks that go 0-60 in 4 seconds because... Reasons. Not even remotely safe for pedestrian use.
The only good argument I've seen for sharerows is that cars shouldn't be on the streets they're on anyway. Make them vehicular dead ends with narrow roadways and then only local drivers will bother.
That's the only place it's OK to have bike and car traffic mix. Everywhere else needs dedicated infra. If you can't do grade separation then there need to be barriers or bollards instead.
Every road should have 2 paths for pedestrians, 2 paths for bikes, 1+ lanes of cars, maximum of 2 each way.
And even then I'm hesitant on the 2 car thing. Only if it's an actual road and not a stroad.
Honestly, the only time bikes should be on roads is when crossing them at 90⁰ angles. There should be streets parallel to major roads if there isn't dedicated bike paths.
So convert the stroads to proper streets, and push car traffic onto arterial roads and highways.
https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/transportation/article/waller-bicyclists-hit-truck-teen-driver-ironman-16490862.php
Bikes belong on the main roads!
And cars deserve to be banned.
Close.
Bikes belong on streets where cars are forced to slow to the speed of bikes (like 20mph/32kph max) and pedestrian have right of way. So places like your city's downtown with small shops and whatnot, not the main arteries running from highways to city centers.
Bikes should not be on roads (i.e. higher speed, like 35mph/56kph), there should be separate infrastructure to accomplish the same tasks. Bike paths should connect streets by bypassing roads, much like highways should connect roads by bypassing streets.
In short:
I disagree completely. Roads should not be permitted to have loud, dangerous, toxic vehicles driving at such reckless speeds. There should be no kind of transportation surface upon which we encourage cars. They should be banned on all surfaces.