In a reversal of classic urban roles, a recent thread begins with a driver complaining that bike lanes are making driving more dangerous.
YankeeFan:
Is it just me, or is the Bicycle lane on 5th making it quite a dangerous street to drive down? So many drivers are using those Bike lanes for easy double parking. Obviously this is forcing way too many cars to cross the yellow lines and drive on the wrong side of a two-way street. It’s just a matter of time until we have some serious head to head collisions.
Several cyclists proceed to chime in and agree that this is why they often opt for biking down 6th instead. Rather ironic that the presence of bike lanes on 5th pushes bikers to 6th (2 way street, single lane each way, no bike lanes) and makes driving on 5th more dangerous. A couple of posters advocated for increased enforcement of the bike lane rules by ticketing offending drivers. Do you have the answer to this infrastructural riddle. Share it at Park Slope Message Boards: 5th ave Bicycle lanes are now extremely dangerous :: Brooklynian.com
As I posted earlier today on the NYT, http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/13/buried-in-the-bailout-the-bicycle-commuter-act/?hp#comment-2360,
bicycle lanes aren’t really the answer. We need better maintenance of the streets so that we can ride without worrying about potholes and such things. Dedicated lanes encourage poor riding techniques.
Enforcement of existing rules helps, but the police can’t be everywhere (yeah, I know, it would be great if they weren’t there when you fail to stop at a stop sign).
How about a bikelane on the other side of the sidewalk? Cars and bikes should not interact on the same pavement.
how is this herting the parks
The bike lanes are very very bad. The other week, I was walking across the street while I was drinking a smoothie, when all of a sudden this crazy man on a bike went right into me and knocked me on my fanny. He hit me so hard that it knocked my shoes off and I lost my glasses.
The PPW bike lanes are aestheticly ugly and have taken the property value of PPW and surrounding homes down a notch! I have seen continuous infractions by bikers, who still ride bikes on the sidewalk, who do not abide by traffic rules, such as red lights, crossing at corners, etc., and there are traffic jams on 9th St. and PPW all the time! I have the pictures to prove it. The community board did not do a very good job on letting the neighborhood know about this topic and did not give all residence a chance to voice their opinions on the subject!!! We opposed the 9th Street bike lanes and were shot down. The bike lanes were installed. How about registering bikes, for a fee, just like the cars do that they share the road with, to keep up the roads they are riding. How about making bikers carry liability insurance for when the do damage to the cars that they share the road with or when they collide with humans. This city has a financial deficit but yet the city found the money to install the lanes, and the lights, signs and all other paraphernalia that go along with installing the lanes. We seem to have money for what the politicians want but not for the people of this city. How about raises for teachers instead of bike lanes. That seems like a novel idea!!!