Comments on: “Tips” on how to ride in door zone bike lanes

By: fred_dot_u

fred_dot_u — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 22:36:04 +0000

I just finished an “official” Chicago video regarding sharing the road, specifically bikes and buses. Due to damaged brain cells, I cannot recall the original reference source, which means it could be here, or any of the other valuable forums on cycling. The video is located at:
http://vimeo.com/7949969

A very strange collection of do’s and don’t's (should those words have apostrophes before the esses?) in that you’ll see riders in the door zone in many locations in the video, yet somewhere within the dialog, the riders are cautioned to not ride in the door zone. One of the roadways has sharrows, yet the cyclist is in the door zone as the bus passes.

One of the buses’ marquee reads “training route” or “training bus” and you can see the driver holding a camera up to his face as he approaches an intersection. Whew! You’d think they would have a safety driver and a camera operator, not have the driver run a camera while driving!

In too many years of riding, I’ve never had a door-zone-near-collision, which is lucky, since I was operating too close to the right edge all those miles. Last week, I was truckin’ at a good clip on a road with filled parking spaces, when one of the drivers opened a door into the traffic lane. Thanks to many resources regarding safe cycling, it was a non-event.

By: Keri

Keri — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 01:06:43 +0000

Yep, you can see the pattern in the oil stain and tire tracks. People don’t drive their cars in the door zone. A suddenly-opened door won’t hurt a person in a car. But those same people will get on a bike and skim the edges of the car doors, playing Russian roulette.

We live in a culture psychologically damaged and mentally retarded from basic common sense by car dominance.

By: Will

Will — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 20:14:33 +0000

The funny thing is… look at cars driving next to parked cars on unmarked roads. They will give the parked car that much space normally.

By: Keri

Keri — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 22:03:15 +0000

Gary,

I really like that your thinking has evolved over time. I have gone through a similar process. Most of us (myself included) started out with favorable feelings toward bike lanes. If we are observant, our opinions change with exposure and experience.

I, too, tend to ride out of my way to avoid the kind of bike lanes that put me in a crappy position — trading safety for harassment or close passing.

By: Gary Kavanagh

Gary Kavanagh — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 21:01:04 +0000

It spoofs my original graphic, but I pretty much agree with that thinking so I plan to use the mod in an upcoming blog post.

By: JohnB

JohnB — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 20:28:42 +0000

Me too!

By: Keri

Keri — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 19:16:05 +0000

Will, I love that!

By: Will

Will — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 18:13:20 +0000

This is more how I see it.

http://www.scrouds.com/pics/door_zone_bike_lane.jpg

By: Kevin Love

Kevin Love — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 23:08:40 +0000

Looking at my previous post, I should probably have written:

It is also necessary to allow 1/2 metre “swerve room” on each side of the bicycle to allow a cyclist to avoid any obstacle or debris.

By: Kevin Love

Kevin Love — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 23:06:30 +0000

Talk about insane lanes! Rest assured that if I was on that road I would be riding in the centre of the general traffic lane. I don’t do door zones.

Safety requires a bit of math:

A cyclist typically occupies up to one metre of space. For example, the ends of the handlebars of my Pashley are almost exactly one metre apart.

It is also necessary to allow 1/2 metre “swerve room” to allow a cyclist to avoid any obstacle or debris.

A “five foot” cycle lane is unsafely narrow to begin with, being only a bit over 1.5 metres. Taking away space for a door zone leaves something that is grossly unsafe.

There is a reason why the Dutch standard for a unidirectional cycle lane is a minimum of 2.5 metres with a minimum 1.5 metre separation from any motorized traffic.

For more details, see:

http://hembrow.blogspot.com/2010/06/14-and-half-feet-please.html