At the last BB meeting, in response to a statement that the BB is opposed to bike lanes, I mentioned presentations that the BB has made to various bodies including City Council and the MPO. For those of you that joined the BB after 2010, you might be interested in the presentation at https://www.dropbox.com/sh/8cmukjrcuqnczuc/0Ej8VsNaZ6 . Slides 13 - 23 discuss bike lanes and where they make sense. This presentation was delivered to the conference of WV MPO's in Oct. 2010. An almost identical earlier version was presented, September 2009 to the Morgantown Monongalia MPO.
The whole world is learning how to accommodate bicycles and bike lanes are only one option. Countries such as Germany that had many bike lanes and bike paths has removed many that they have found made cycling less safe. We should all learn from others' experience.
Quoting from page 17 of the Greater Morgantown Bicycle Plan, "Bike lanes are appropriate · on arterials where the speed difference between motor vehicles and bicycles is high (>15 mph) and · there are no or few collectors and · collector traffic volume is low." (A collector is a side street.)
But also quoting from page 17 of the Greater Morgantown Bicycle Plan, "Bike lanes may increase the incidence of crashes at crossings because cyclists are less visible in the bike lane than in the travel lane.
Three common causes of crashes at crossings are the “right hook”, “left cross” and “drive out”.
Right hook: motorist looks left turns right into cyclist in the bike lane.
Left cross: motorist turns left into a cyclist in the bike lane who was obscured by the motor vehicles in the travel lane.
Drive out: motorist pulls out in front of the cyclist in the bike lane because the motorist’s view of the cyclist was obscured by parked cars to the right of the bike lane or trees, shrubs and other obstacles in the sight line between the motorist and the cyclist in the bike lane.
With more motorists talking on cell phones, texting, looking at their GPS and other distractions, it becomes ever more imperative that cyclist visibility not be compromised by positioning the cyclist where he or she can’t be seen.
Bike lanes can lead both motorists and cyclists to believe that bicyclists belong in the bike lanes and not on the roadway. When a bicyclist chooses to move from the bike lane into the travel lane, the belief that the bicyclist belongs in the bike lane can lead to conflicts, crashes and injury. When bike lanes are installed the following actions should be considered to preclude these conflicts:
Terminating the bike lane sufficient distance from intersection to enable the cyclist to safely merge into travel lane in advance of the intersection;
Appropriate signage warning motorists that cyclists may merge at probable merge points, signage informing motorists that cyclists may use the travel lane, enforcement including citing motorists that do not yield to cyclists where appropriate and education campaigns including billboards, TV spots, radio PSAs and newspaper articles to educate motorists and bicyclists that it is lawful and indeed safer sometimes to merge from the bike lane or bike trail onto the roadway."
Frank