Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Bike Lanes may be counterproductive

One of my great joys when visiting Ward and Muse in Delaware - and yes, I had my GREATEST joy from seeing them and Baby E - was seeing actual Bike Lanes.  Connecticut has few to no bike lanes.  There are sidewalks and shoulders, but that is it.  It was so nice to find a space on the road reserved for cyclists.  But it appears that bike lanes may not be the great thing that I think they are, as a new study shows that automobile drivers actually give cyclists less room in bike lanes than riding on the road.  

Apparently, they trick drivers into thinking they can ignore cyclists so long as they stay out of the bike lane.  This means drivers no longer pay any attention to cyclists, and provide less room for the unexpected (like swerves to avoid broken glass in the road).

Posted via email from The Bike Nomad

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