With all the caffuffle about bike lanes created by painting lines on the road, I can't help but wonder if they are really necessary. Admittedly it has been a while since I have ridden to any great extent, but I used to put a lot of miles on my bike in city riding and never really had a major issue. For a few years it was my only form of transportation and greatly preferred over taking the bus, as our transit system was woefully inefficient. I would have no problem riding between Cole Harbour and Dalhousie University, using the ferry system to cross the harbour. A bike trip to the valley wasn't out of the question either.
I did have to use my head (i.e. ride defensively, as you should do whether you have bike lanes or not) and do lots of shoulder checks (which every bicyclist should be doing whether in bike lanes or not) because your life is on the line whenever you cycle.
Don't get me wrong, I've "seen it all". Been cut off, had doors open in front of me, pedestrians walk out in front of me, even had other cyclists almost take me out. IMHO, lines painted on the road would not have prevented any of that.
What did help to keep me alive was riding with a heightened sense of awareness and treating every situation as though everbody around me would do the wrong thing. Luckily this was enough to keep me out of a major incident, but I did have some close calls that were only avoided due to attentiveness and a defensive mindset.
I can't help but wonder if this massive outcry for bike lanes is a bit of a farce in that its only real result is to give cyclists a false sense of security.
In these past few years, as I see more and more bike lanes painted on the city streets, I see more and more people ignoring their existence. Bicycle riders and motorists alike, many riding and driving to whatever is most convenient for them and generally not paying attention to these little painted lines on the road. I've seen car drivers mistake bike lanes for another lane to drive in and have prayed that I wouldn't witness a poor cyclist get creamed while minding their own business in the bike lane. I've seen cyclists riding 2 and 3 abreast, bike lane or not, causing cars to cross the center line to get around them while observing the one-metre rule (which in the real world is usually treated like the 3-metre rule for cautious drivers or those who find cyclists' actions to be unpredictable at times). I see both sides not all that concerned for their own or others' safety and the painted lines on the roads being treated as irrelevant.
I do believe there are some instances where they are necessary and useful, such as highways where there wouldn't normally be a defined shoulder and the speed limit is 70 kmh or above, but these lanes are only useful if sufficient space is given for the cyclist to have a buffer zone away from traffic.
In a perfect world, I'd love to see separated, dedicated bike roads in place, combined with an efficient transit system. That would be money well spent - a way to truly contribute to the safety of cyclists, but I realize that the challenge of trying to fit this into a city grid that was conceived over a hundred years ago (or in some cases, a couple hundred+ years ago) would make this an expensive proposition.
For my
, I'd like to see the money and energy spent on figuring out where to put painted lanes be put into a higher-level, longer-term plan to do it right in the future. Skip the painted lines and jump right to the step where Calgary is going now. It might take a few more years but would be time and money well spent, not just thrown around on temporary "fixes" in order to appease certain groups in hopes of securing votes in the next election.
That, and some mandatory education and awareness for motorists and cyclists together. Make it a requirement for motorists to take a comprehensive safety course every time their license comes up for renewal - one which includes education on interacting with cyclists and pedestrians alike. A licensing system for bicyclists that included mandatory safety training would go a long way to saving lives as well. This would all have to be at the expense of the person who desires to have the
privilege of using public roads for transportation. Sure, it would be unpopular, but would no doubt improve the safety situation for all involved.
I hesitate to post this as I know I will draw the ire of fellow cyclists, but I can't help but wonder if we are going about this the wrong way.
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