Originally Posted by
livedarklions
That's very sensible, I'd probably do the same. It's not a reason to condemn the use of bike lanes generally.
Also, I lived on a street that cyclists generally avoided, extremely hard to avoid riding on it. I don't if I would or would not have been safer if a bike lane had been implemented.
I agree, not all bike lanes are that bad. The problem is that some are (and a few are arguably worse). And that makes intelligent conversation about bike lanes impossible when someone uses broad strokes to refer to all bike lanes.
It also makes me, at least, suspicious when I'm somewhere new to me and see a bike lane. Is a shoulder with a bike logo on it going to go around a curve and stop at a bridge, forcing me into a high speed vehicular (and bikes, presumably, though going slower) lane? Will the lane suddenly be straddled by a storm drain with wide openings parallel to the direction of travel? Will it have a bollard gate requiring me to unload panniers to get through? Been there, done that, took the lane until I got off those roads!