Originally Posted by Chickenstrip

DDF,

My point is that drivers (at least in my area) don't pay attention to the bike lanes, it is almost as if they don't view it as a portion of the road therefore they are not concerned with what or whom is there. As long as I am in the street (ie not a bike lane or sidewalk) at least they see me. My presence may anger drivers, but most of them do not actively want to kill me, they just honk, yell, or go around, rigardless they know I'm there.

As drivers we are tought to pay attention to what is in our path of travel. This does not include things like bike lanes, sidewalks, or MUPs that travel alongside our streets. One of the most deadly places for a cyclist or runner is where a MUP crosses a street.

Bike lanes make a city appear cyclist friendly, but in my opinion create a danger zone where cyclists feel secure and drivers become blind.

Originally Posted by hhnngg1

If it's a rural or rural-suburban area, no bike lanes is probably fine.

In urban area though, those bike lanes are VERY helpful. I've ridden a fair amount in urban areas for commuting, and those bike lanes are really, really helpful. I've read the critiques of them, but in my experience, that's all hogwash. A clearly demarcated bike lane in an urban area clearly notes to motorists you have a right to part of the road and drastically decreases driver aggression. It's really, really noticeable - I bike commuted in LA for a few years, and the bike lanes appear and drop out from street to street. I very carefully chose out roads, alternate routes, before settling on a 'best' route for me on a bike. In all situations, the routes with the clearly marked bike lane were vastly preferably for riding on busy urban streets than not.

For those of you familiar with LA in the locale around super-car-busy UCLA, compare the sections of Wilshire boulevard which have no bike lanes to the parts of Santa Monica blvd that do have bike lanes. If you ride on Wilshire, you're risking life and limb as cars do everything they can to squeeze you off the road at the highest speeds possible. On Santa Monica blvd where the bike lanes exist, it's easy, pleasant cruising, even in rush hour - until the bike lane runs out and you're back to life and limb.

For quiet residential streets or low-traffic areas, the bike lanes aren't necessary and are frankly a waste of space, but for urban main throughfares, they're crucial imo. I don't buy for one second that it's equally safe with or without bike lanes in busy urban streets - one ride on the streets I mentioned above and you'd feel exactly like I do.

Originally Posted by hhnngg1

Ride down Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles right around the UCLA area (which is a major throughfare, for peds cars and bikes) and I think you'd fine yourself wishing there were a bike lane as the cars try and squash you into the parked cars on the side. (There actually is enough room to ride a bike even with moving traffic and parked cars - but it's no fun whatsoever. A bike lane would be SO much better for that road.)

It's like night and day on those roads. The few times I actually braved Wilshire boulevard, I was in a state of near-constant panic as I constantly expected someone to run me down. Contrast with the huge smile on my face once I got off that road to the parallel, similar sized and similar volume Santa Monica blvd which has a bike lane for large portions - that was like riding in luxury, and actually a very pleasant commute even in the heaviest rush hour (actually, the heavier the rush hour the more pleasant that bike lane was!) Wilshire sucked all the time, even if the cars were basically stopped, they'd constantly cut you off so and have no awareness of your presence - in large part because there's no bike lane.

Originally Posted by StephenH

I've only ridden on one road with bike lanes. They allow parallel parking in the bike lane, so when you get to that area, you have to ride in the middle of the road, you physically can't ride in the bike lane.

Basically, if they build bike lanes around here, they're going to put them on streets that don't need bike lanes anyway. "Here's a nice wide street with minimal car traffic, let's put a bike lane there." Well, that's not where you need it.

Originally Posted by topflightpro

There is a ton of research arguing the safety merits for/against bike lanes.

You can find a ton of research as well as other information on bicycle traffic engineering at www.bicyclinginfo.org. It's a really useful site.

Also, PM me if you need more specific info.