Hazards of the separated lane: bikes go in the street!

Today's ride left me feeling like I should from time to time carry a broom and a dustpan with me on my commute.

There was so much broken glass at so many points along the way.

On roads where there were bike lanes, it was in the bike lane. On roads where there was no bake lane, it was in the furthermost third of the road where bikes tend to ride.

It was like there was a bottle smashing party last night!

It made me think about the approaching winter, and how when after it snows around here, the plows shove all the ice and snow and slush directly into the bike lane, rendering it useless in its inaccessibility.

Which is I guess what must happen to some extent now, with broken glass being the snow and regular traffic being the plows.

The regular flow of traffic probably contributes to all that crap being deposited in the way of bike traffic.

Which leads me to the ultimate conclusion that bike lanes just aren't the best thing for cyclists or for motorists.

Cyclists get a false sense of security from a piece of infrastructure that tends to act as a gutter on the side of the road, and motorists get the false—and dangerous—assumption that cyclists go on a special little section of the road, not on the "real" road, and so they don't have to watch out for them as much. And that they're not any more a part of traffic than rollerbladers or joggers.

I don't agree with John Forester about everything, but I do agree that bikes belong on the road, proper. And not on special bike lanes.

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Incidentally, one of the guys at Salvagetti said that when he realizes he just rolled over some glass, he swings his foot out and lets his shoe rub on the tire for a few revolutions because "it's not the initial contact with the glass, it's the grinding it in that happens next."

I'm dubious of the actual effectiveness of this, but I keep doing it. Mostly because it gives you something to do. Otherwise, if you don't immediately dismount and check your tires for punctures, you just groan and swear and keep riding.

I'll tell you what, it's a feat of contortion to do that with fenders!

Worst bike route in Denver

This is the worst stretch of bike path in Denver.

It's Route D9, along 38th Street, between Lafayette Street and Arkins Court. There are posted signs here indicating that D9 continues on the sidewalk.

There are three problems right away with this.

1. It is otherwise illegal to ride on the sidewalk! This is another case, along with prejudiced traffic lights, where the city is not consistent in its message or in its standards when it comes to cyclists.


2. Riding on the sidewalk generally agreed upon to be a very dangerous thing to do. Pedestrians aren't expecting to see you, and motorists pulling out of driveways, alleys, and parking lots can't see you.



3. Lastly, this particular stretch of sidewalk is particularly nasty. It's always covered in debris and broken glass, and at one point it goes under an overpass where it's dark and spooky. You're guaranteed at that point to encounter broken glass, chances are very good you'll have to ride around some cardboard boxes somebody was sleeping on earlier, and I've more than once had to stop and get off and walk around somebody either walking on that very narrow bit of sidewalk or actually still sleeping on the cardboard.

Last week, I was riding along on this sidewalk after a long ride on the river trails when what is happening in the above illustration happened to me. This old purple Buick in a driveway inched toward the sidewalk ahead and to my left, and then stopped. The windows were tinted and the sun was glaring, so I couldn't see the driver very clearly, but the car had stopped and I was close and in plain sight so I assumed they saw me.

Apparently they didn't, for when I was almost at the car, it lurched forward to turn across me and enter traffic. I could see that its Trajectory Of Lurch intersected my own forward trajectory just a couple feet ahead of the two of us, so I pulled hard on my brakes and yelled, "STOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!"

The car did stop, and I bumped gently into it with my front tire, which wedged neatly between the back of the front right tire and the front of the front right wheel well. The driver had her hood sticking out slightly into traffic, and so put the car in gear and starting backing up. I hollered again, "Wait, wait, wait!" as I kind of hop-scooted along with her to prevent my front tire from binding up in the wheel well and getting all kinds of messed up.

She stopped and I extracted myself, backed up, swung around and continued across the front of the car to the other side -- the driver's side -- where I stopped. The lady jumped out and apologized effusively, saying she hadn't seen me because she was looking the other way at the oncoming traffic.

We both assured each other and ourselves that we and our prospective vehicles were okay, and that there were no hard feelings anywhere, and then we continued on our own separate ways.

That, folks, is why riding on the sidewalk is bad!

Don't do it. It's against the law.

I resolved at that moment not to do it even when the posted signage indicates that I should.

I will from now on be observing a self-imposed Mandatory Detour around that stretch of D9. Because it's dangerous and shouldn't be ridden on.

PABST: Prejudice And Bias Suck. TOTALLY!

The problem

Pirates and cyclists both know what it's like to suffer the prejudice of those who are biased against their lifestyles and proclivities. We learn to deal with it, address it where necessary, and combat it when needed to.

The chief focus of the PABST Project is to combat, draw attention to, document, and otherwise correct the problem of biased and prejudiced traffic lights.

Cyclists are by state law entitled to the same privileges and responsibilities of the road. When traffic control methods fail to recognize them, it creates inequality amongst road users that lawfully should not exist, and it creates a situation in which a cyclist must choose between running a red light and leaving the road to press the pedestrian crosswalk button to get a green light. Neither of these options are acceptable because

1. one must break the law, or


2. one must leave the road and to press the crosswalk button. Cyclists are not pedestrians, and this is humiliating. It causes an even bigger problem for scooterists who are unable to bring their vehicle with them up onto the sidewalk to press the pedestrian crosswalk button.

Identifying and prioritizing Prejudiced Lights

Firstly, prejudiced lights can be ranked by the perceived urgency of their repair.

1. High Priority traffic lights are lights that exist on designated bike routes, but which fail to recognize or perceive bicycles in the intersection. An obvious mistake! And one requiring immediate attention!


2. Medium Priority traffic lights are lights that are not on designated bike routes, but which exist on roads heavily used by cyclists, and which fail to recognize bicycles in the intersection. In these cases, it would be nice for the lights to change for cyclists, but it is not of the highest urgency.


3. Low Priority traffic lights are lights that do not recognize or perceive cyclists, but which exist in intersections that cyclists are unlikely to be using. Such as at the intersection of two major highways. Low priority lights are unlikely to be identified because cyclists rarely encounter them!

Prejudiced traffic lights will be identified and documented on my map of Denver bike routes.

The solution

The solution is making lots of noise!

An unordered list of suggestions:

• Report the traffic light as malfunctioning. denvergov.org's traffic FAQ provides a phone number for "traffic signals that are not working properly:" 720-865-4000. (This number, incidentally, can also be used to report signage that is blocked by trees or other things.)


• Send letters, emails, and phone calls to local representatives and local bicycle advocacy groups.

The short term fix for these intersections is to change the light from a sensor (induction coil) to a timer.

Video detection and laser sensors have also been used effectively.