Leisesturm

Nor I to any great extent. But I have witnessed it. And this is without the empowerment that would come from "bikes may use full lane" signage. Around here we have sharrows which amount to the same thing. Mainly sharrows parallel a 35mph arterial through town. Sadly what that does is make drivers think that bikes only belong on sharrows OR in a bike lane should one be provided on a bigger road. What if you want to be on a big road with no striped off bike lane or the bike lane ends suddenly for no apparent reason? Well they won't hit you, but they will make your life miserable until you get the message that you are not wanted. That's not right. Signage making all downtown streets sharrows by default sounds interesting. Maybe a better idea would be to make the urban speed limit 15mph and say nothing about what bikes should or should not do. An even better idea would be for all cities to ban non-essential vehicle traffic between 8:00am and 4:00 pm M-F. One day we will no more think of taking the car downtown than we would think of driving any distance without a seatbelt on.

livedarklions

I know it's nutty, but I have heard drivers say that the 3 foot rule requires bikes to move over to the right. The BMUFL signs are very clear and actually educate drivers as to what the rule really is. I also think there's got to be some strategy for educating drivers to stop freaking out when a cyclist goes to the left of a right-turn lane. I get more road rage and engine gunning aimed at me in that situation than any other. I'm sure there are lots of bicyclists who do the wrong thing in that situation just to avoid the confrontations.

I have never seen anyone biking at 7 mph down the middle of a traffic lane, and I ride a lot of streets with the BMUFL signs. No one wants a line of cars trailing them, so people do go to the right as soon as it's safe.

Arthur Peabody

The Albuquerque Journal's editorial on the subject https://www.abqjournal.com/1252012/p...full-lane.html

jon c. 

Santa Fe’s many old, narrow streets, particularly as traffic gets squeezed in downtown, are a major problem. Bikers also note that those sidewalk bump-outs at intersections, intended as traffic-calming measures or to make pedestrian crossings easier, are obstacles for cyclists, pretty much forcing them into the traffic lanes.

I haven't live in Santa Fe in many years, but as I recall it doesn't seem it would be a problem in the downtown area as traffic moves so slowly no one is going faster than a bicycle anyway.

CliffordK

I find those exceptionally annoying, and in some cases dangerous. I think the idea is to get pedestrians closer to the street for better visibility when waiting to cross. But, in places where there are very few cars parked along the curb, the parking lane becomes the de-facto bike lane.

JoeyBike

I never thought if this, but I am not surprised. Most motorists are completely ignorant of cycling rules and challenges, and they don't care. A bicycle is a toy to them. We are playing with out toys on the highway, same as if we were pushing a skateboard or a scooter in front of them. I can push a longboard at 8mph easily. My chill speed on a bike is 15mph. To a motorist doing 45, 8mph and 15 mph are the same thing.

I see videos of pedestrians filling up bike lanes in big cities. Plainly marked lanes, some painted red or green with huge bike symbols on them. How infuriating is this to many, if not most cyclists? I know it infuriates me. Take this feeling and realize this is EXACTLY how motorists feel about us on "their" roads. Sad but true. So any "rules" like "Share The Road" or "3 Foot Passing" pertains to US - the slow party with the most skin in the game - who are lucky we are even allowed on their roads. Many motorists don't even know we are allowed on their roads.

Daniel4

What does "Zoom-zoom" or "S-type personality" mean to motorists? What about recent Qashqi commercials that encourage bad driving like racing a service vehicle to a merge or jumping a curb to avoid a traffic jam on a highway? These are all toys for motorists.


We should get annoyed because pedestrians already have their own lanes where there should be no bicycles or cars on them. They are called sidewalks. So there should be no excuse for them to spill onto the roads or bike lanes unless they are closed and there are no detours.

Similarly, if motorists get upset by bicycles intruding into "their" territory, it makes for stronger argument from motorists to install separated bicycle lanes.