Traffic delays up to 20% alongside downtown cycle lanes, city predicts

[Traditional_Ale]

^Sidewalk cyclists are the worst. If you're too scared to ride on the road, don't ride.

[Table 5]

I think the whole point of installing bike lanes like this is to make cycling so safe and easy, that you don't have to be some hardcore messenger to ride. Riding on an open street with crappy Calgary drivers IS a risky venture, so Im not surprised people refuse to do it. Urban cycling shouldn't be about showing others how much of a manly man you are, it should just be about getting around in a quick an efficient manner. Lanes with physical barriers like this can go a long way to make that happen.

[habernac]

I'm a very experienced urban cyclist and I jumped on the 12 ave lane for a few blocks the other day. Heaven.

[polak]

Just cause you're scared doesn't mean you get to be both a vehicle and a pedestrian.

I agree bike lanes should help that immensely but if you can't ride on the road, don't ride at all.

Lets hope it doesn't turn all European and the problem turns into pedestrians in the bike lanes.

[northcrunk]

the whole 'ride my bike into the office' group really drives me crazy. The majority (at least 80%) have no clue how to ride in traffic and are dangerous to themselves and traffic. Bike lanes won't fix stupid. I agree with Warrener, spandex wearing bicyclists need to "clean it up"!

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by northcrunk

Bike lanes won't fix stupid.

Bike lanes don't fix stupid, but they at least make sure biker stupid doesn't mix with driver stupid. The more we separate drivers, bikers, pedestrians into their own space, the less issues there will be between them all.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by polak

Just cause you're scared doesn't mean you get to be both a vehicle and a pedestrian.

I agree bike lanes should help that immensely but if you can't ride on the road, don't ride at all.

Lets hope it doesn't turn all European and the problem turns into pedestrians in the bike lanes.

I've seen people running with strollers, bums pushing shopping carts and vehicles(on purpose, short cutting) all in the cycle track so don't hold your breath. It also has increased J-walking substantially because people see it as a safety island.

[chemgear]

Originally Posted by Table 5

Bike lanes don't fix stupid, but they at least make sure biker stupid doesn't mix with driver stupid. The more we separate drivers, bikers, pedestrians into their own space, the less issues there will be between them all.

But you're #### blocking Darwin from naturally selecting. This is going to cost us as a species!

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by chemgear

But you're #### blocking Darwin from naturally selecting. This is going to cost us as a species!

Unfortunately it's not always the idiot who pays the price.

[calf]

I drive down either 10th or 12th everyday, and noticed at some spots there are advance turn signals that just haven't been uncovered/deployed yet, which should help. As someone who drives into downtown, I like the idea of the cycle track...less worry for me when passing a cyclist (you never know who is erratic or not), and frustration of getting up to speed after one cuts to the front on a red light.

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

Isn't 10th ave already effectively a bike lane? Or do you mean 10th st?

10 Ave doesn't have a protected (ie: physically separated) bike lane.

This is good for getting around people turning left, but somewhat reduces the effectiveness and the safety afforded to cyclists by having a designated bike lane.

I think with the volume of traffic they routinely handle, 12 Ave and 5 St were both bad ideas. I don't oppose bike lanes, but I am a proponent of trying to keep bikes and cars away from each other as much as possible, including not trying to use a high volume route for cars to accommodate bicycles.

But I'm not a civil engineer; I just play one on Cities: Skylines.

[squiggs96]

Originally Posted by northcrunk

Bike lanes won't fix stupid.

Neither will driving. People aren't very intelligent creatures that automatically become stupid when on a bike. People do dumb things while, driving, cycling, walking and/or sitting.

[Fighting Banana Slug]

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

10 Ave doesn't have a protected (ie: physically separated) bike lane.

This is good for getting around people turning left, but somewhat reduces the effectiveness and the safety afforded to cyclists by having a designated bike lane.

I think with the volume of traffic they routinely handle, 12 Ave and 5 St were both bad ideas. I don't oppose bike lanes, but I am a proponent of trying to keep bikes and cars away from each other as much as possible, including not trying to use a high volume route for cars to accommodate bicycles.

But I'm not a civil engineer; I just play one on Cities: Skylines.

This is how I see it as well. All for bike safety, and I hope that the bike lines are absolutely full of bikers in the near future. My fear, however, is that they may have misallocated a scarce resource (a lane on 5th or 12th) that may now be underutilized and causing more issues to a larger group of commuters.

[WilsonFourTwo]

This was on the morning news yesterday in Vancouver, thought it was very, very interesting.

Link to metronews.ca article

Essentially, cyclists have been found to have the right of way in 93% of car-bike collisions.

"More than half of cyclist collisions involve cars. Cars driving through two-way stops on local streets, doorings – sometimes dubbed the “door prize,” when a driver opens a car door into the path of an unsuspecting cyclist – and vehicles making left turns resulted in the largest proportion of collisions"

I'm not on any particular side of this debate, but the stats are pretty interesting (maybe even a little damning), and make me think that reasonable measures to separate these vehicles are a good idea. A dedicated cycling corridor with access to shared side roads/routes sounds like a good path.

On a more personal note - the running of signs on side streets and the inattention/unawareness while making left hand turns are exactly the reason I stopped riding a motorcycle in the city. To many close calls....

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

^I've been in two collisions with cars while on a bike. First was a driver running a stop sign, second was on a road with no other traffic in sight where a van decided he wanted to pass me and in the process bumped me off the road onto an embankment. In both cases they were hit and runs. The former was at a pretty slow speed so I just fell, but in the second case I was pretty lucky not to be badly hurt.

Even if 99% of drivers are respectful and decent human beings behind the wheel, the more time you spend as a cyclist sharing the road with cars and trucks, the closer you approach certainty of some sort of incident.

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

10 Ave doesn't have a protected (ie: physically separated) bike lane.

I ride down 10th all the time and there is literally no problem there. There isn't enough traffic to cause one.

[Regorium]

Originally Posted by Fighting Banana Slug

This is how I see it as well. All for bike safety, and I hope that the bike lines are absolutely full of bikers in the near future. My fear, however, is that they may have misallocated a scarce resource (a lane on 5th or 12th) that may now be underutilized and causing more issues to a larger group of commuters.

From what I saw, the 12th avenue bike lane does not reduce the capacity (ie. no lanes are lost). It might make some left turns a bit more challenging though.

[rohara66]

Originally Posted by Regorium

From what I saw, the 12th avenue bike lane does not reduce the capacity (ie. no lanes are lost). It might make some left turns a bit more challenging though.

And it removes a lot of street parking.

Drove 12th this morning and I would be pissed if I lived on 12th ave. Half the street parking/loading/stopping area is gone. And holy crap the lanes are zig zagging all over the place. Can't wait to see how many cars get side swiped.

[Tinordi]

Wont somebody think of the parking?

[FlamesKickAss]

Originally Posted by Regorium

From what I saw, the 12th avenue bike lane does not reduce the capacity (ie. no lanes are lost). It might make some left turns a bit more challenging though.

There is some lanes lost during the peak times around 8 ST on 12 there is a max of two lanes and during the morning rush it was 3.

[#-3]

Originally Posted by WilsonFourTwo

This was on the morning news yesterday in Vancouver, thought it was very, very interesting.

Link to metronews.ca article

Essentially, cyclists have been found to have the right of way in 93% of car-bike collisions.

"More than half of cyclist collisions involve cars. Cars driving through two-way stops on local streets, doorings – sometimes dubbed the “door prize,” when a driver opens a car door into the path of an unsuspecting cyclist – and vehicles making left turns resulted in the largest proportion of collisions"

I'm not on any particular side of this debate, but the stats are pretty interesting (maybe even a little damning), and make me think that reasonable measures to separate these vehicles are a good idea. A dedicated cycling corridor with access to shared side roads/routes sounds like a good path.

On a more personal note - the running of signs on side streets and the inattention/unawareness while making left hand turns are exactly the reason I stopped riding a motorcycle in the city. To many close calls....

Numbers are a funny thing, there are probably allot of factors that contribute to that 93%, it's possible the laws are too skewed in the cyclists direction, or the volume of cars makes them more likely to cause an accident. But I would suggest the Average car is about 20x the size of the average bike therefore 20x easier to see and anticipate.

I'm not saying it is OK to be unaware of your surroundings when cycling or driving, but you are probably 20x more likely to be unaware of a bicycle than you are to be unaware of a car. Which is likely what causes most of these accidents.

Either that or people who drive cars are just ignorant A-holes who enjoy running yuppie cyclists down Grand theft Auto Style.