Roads with protected bike lanes make both cycling and driving safer: study
As a long time long distance cyclist an awfully lot of these lanes, both protected and painted/"sharrow" are really frightening.There is an anti-car/pro-bike lane group of researchers who want to push this style of road design super hard right now at all costs.There are still major problems with their designs though, they are working from the assumption cyclists won't learn to follow the rules of the road.Tell me how I'm supposed to safely take a left out of one of these protected bike lanes in any way that is safe and time/distance effective?   They've stuck me in a "protected" lane on the far right side of the road and I can't signal and get over to the left side turn lane without jumping a curb or plowing through some grass.  Or they expect me to take a left from the far right side of multiple lanes of traffic?  At least an unprotected lane doesn't require mountain bike skills to exit.Also how do they expect me to safely go straight through the intersection when they've locked me into a protected bike lane that is to the right of the "right hand turn lane" for the motor vehicles?  If I was riding in the road I would signal left and move left into the "go straight" lane.It seems they think all cyclists need to dismount and become pedestrians in the crosswalk at all intersections.  That's the only way to use these bike lanes safely.  That is hardly time efficient compared to learning how to ride in the lanes.   And most places outside of the city core there are no crosswalks anyway.This stuff is plainly obvious when you've rode 10s or 100s of times more miles than the researchers.  If they put more effort into educational programs it'd go a long way since city riders tend to break every law they can constantly and pull incredibly bone headed moves.All their work is dedicated towards reducing the chances you get hit from behind by a car, which is the irrational fear.  The real danger is getting hit from the side or the front at intersections.