FLCC> Bike lane for uphill state st?

[Scott E. Smith]

Bill,

As a regular bike commuter from Newfield to Cornell, I've got to agree
with you 100%.  Bike lanes, at best, would give a false sense of security
(maybe great for getting people on their bikes, but I don't believe they
would be safer).  I've got to applaud Ithaca for finally realizing people
really do ride bikes, and their effort to help.  I do think that the same
money spent on a public service campaign to educate drivers (could it be
run during NASCAR races on Sundays? :) ) about how to respect, drive on
roads with bikes, and what the laws ARE, and also educate bike riders how
to ride on the road, would have more of an impact on safety.

FWIW, due to traffic, State St. stinks.  I go up by way of Clinton and
Giles, and would still use this route even with a bike lane on State.

Scott Smith


> Is a bike lane on the State Street Hill such great news?
>
> A five foot wide bike lane isn't very wide, especially for riders
> struggling to go uphill.
>
> I occupy about two feet, elbow to elbow, on my bike.   If there's a
> bike lane I'm expected to stay in the bike lane.  I should be aiming
> at keeping my  tire on a line about 3 feet from the right curb, to
> give myself wobble room and a chance to avoid hazards by going to the
> right without hitting the curb, since if I go the left, I'll be
> suddenly in motor traffic that is expecting me to stay in the bike
> lane.  Even without the inevitable going-slow-uphill-side-to-side-
> wandering this gives me only about one foot between my right elbow
> and a vertical drawn from the bike lane stripe (as long as nothing
> forces me farther left).   Everything to the left of the bike lane is
> for cars only.
>
> I haven't ridden up State Street in a long time, but the last time
> was about midway through a 400k, and I was going about 5 mph, if
> that.  Without bike the lane, I was able to claim my space, make sure
> traffic accommodated my interest in having it pass me slowly giving
> me wide berth.  With the bike lane, traffic will feel free to pass me
> at 35 mph (a 30 mph differential), without worrying about how close
> they are, as long as they are not in the bike lane.  Many motorists
> will probably consider themselves to the left of the bike lane if
> their right tires are to the left of it, which will put fenders, door
> handles within inches of my left elbow, and mirrors possibly into my
> left shoulder.   I can have my tire to the right of the bike lane
> stripe and not be clear of traffic to the left of it.
>
> Is the City of Ithaca committed to daily sweepings of the bike lane?
> Is it committed to removing all potential hazards, including manhole
> covers?  Is it committed to maintaining the bike lane above standards
> for the rest of the road, so there are NO pot holes, cracks, broken
> glass, stones, loose bits of pavement and other debris, that will
> force cyclists out of the bike lane when traffic is expecting them to
> stay in it?  I'll bet the answer is no, no, and no again.
>
> And is there going to be appropriate and effective signage telling
> motorists they have to give room to cyclists making left turns,
> avoiding hazards in the bike lane, etc?  Throw in another no.
> Remember, they've been forced to give up five feet of otherwise
> available roadway.
>
> The real effect of bike lanes (and maybe their real purpose) is not
> to help cyclists.  It's to confine them to what is often the most
> dangerous  and hazard ridden part of the road.  It might also be to
> "promote" cycling by making cyclists feel safer because there's a
> quarter of a millimeter of paint on the road that's supposed to keep
> cars from hitting them.  Actually, bike lanes make it harder for
> motorists to accommodate bicyclists and vice versa, since both have
> lost accessibility to sizable chunks of roadway.
>
> It's just way better to try to get motorists to learn to accommodate
> cyclists, to give them room, to see them as equally entitled users of
> the roadway -- and to get cyclists to learn how to ride in traffic --
> than to start cutting up the roadway into little pieces that
> ultimately everyone is going to fight over anyway.
>
> I'm doing my best to kill bike lanes in Chemung/Schuyler/Steuben.
> It's up to you-all to kill the bike lanes in Tompkins.
>
> Bill Lodico