Forum Overview :: Rants :: The roads in the US just aren't designed for bicycles.

[quote name="blackwater"]The roads in the US just aren't designed for bicycles. There's a place for cars to be, and (usually) a place for pedestrians to be... and that's pretty much it. As a bicyclist, you are doing something that most likely the designer of the road didn't plan on you doing. So you get the choice between annoying cars by driving on the road, or annoying pedestrians by driving on the sidewalk. "Bike lanes" are a joke. Usually cars park there, so you always have to swerve out into the road. Taxis stop there. Cars are even allowed to go into the bike lane for a while when donig a right turn. I'm not talking about just crossing the bike lane, but actually driving in it for a while. This is perfectly legal according to the California code when you're making a right turn. What bikes really need is a totally separate lane... soemthing that cars physically cannot enter. It has to be separated by at least a curb and possibly more space. You can often find paths like these following railroad tracks, or going near a body of water. Some cities have streets that are (physically) closed to through traffic. For example, Berkeley deliberately puts obstructions that cars can't get by and forced right turns in a lot of the intersections of local roads. This has the effect of making the road useful for bikes, because cars mostly aren't there. If you can't find something like that, you'll just have to find a street with a really wide sidewalk, and hopefully not that many peds. The temptation to break traffic rules is nearly irresistible for bicyclists. I'm not completely sure why that is, but I have a hunch that a lot of it has to do with just how poorly the rules suit bicycles in the first place. The timed traffic lights are never going to line up with your speed as a bicyclist, so you'll always get stuck on reds more often than someone going the speed limit. I've seen a few cases where green lights are almost too short for a bicyclist to get through a big intersection. Sometimes even if you start right when the light turns green you will just barely make it through the intersection before the light changes back to red. Another rule that really chafes is the need to stay on the right side of the road. If you're already darting in and out of a bike lane, or riding on the sidewalk, there's a strong temptation to ride on the left side rather than waiting for a long light to cross. And so it goes. A bit of advice: if you're going to bike, find a good bike route! Even if it's twice as long. The best number of cars on the your ideal route is 0. Get as close as you can to that number. And if you have to go on a narrow street with lots of peds, or cross a highway-like road, be man enough to walk your bike.[/quote]