A Boston city councilor is calling for the city to fine drivers who create a “dangerous environment” by blocking bike lanes, and ensure that pedestrians “are king” in Boston.
I get it. Bike lanes are usually just a line of desultory paint sprayed on the pavement near the edge the street. The same edge of the street that—for almost as long as we’ve had wheeled things—had been the place to “pull over.” Where else can drivers go? And this isn’t the greatest idea, giving cops more reasons to detain and harass citizens, more opportunity for those interactions to go awry.
So, tell me more about this “pedestrian is king” thing! Let’s design city streets so that most drivers feel safe going about 10MPH, max. Then, we can safely get rid of most of the bike lanes. We need separated bike lanes on high-speed streets, where nobody would pull over anyway. On most streets, they’re not needed, it the real speed of cars is low enough.
Let’s build a city for people first, not try to retrofit people into streets made for cars.
My experience is that cars pull over and still effectively block car traffic since the bike lane is only half of a car lane. They may as well just stop in the car lane.
We have a ridiculous, 5-lane, one-way monstrosity cutting through the university campus here, with a single, counterflow bike lane. Luckily, it’s blocked off by a raised curb, because when the food delivery drivers sometimes pull over in front of the apartment buildings, they just block a car lane. It’s great!
I get it. Bike lanes are usually just a line of desultory paint sprayed on the pavement near the edge the street. The same edge of the street that—for almost as long as we’ve had wheeled things—had been the place to “pull over.” Where else can drivers go? And this isn’t the greatest idea, giving cops more reasons to detain and harass citizens, more opportunity for those interactions to go awry.
So, tell me more about this “pedestrian is king” thing! Let’s design city streets so that most drivers feel safe going about 10MPH, max. Then, we can safely get rid of most of the bike lanes. We need separated bike lanes on high-speed streets, where nobody would pull over anyway. On most streets, they’re not needed, it the real speed of cars is low enough.
Let’s build a city for people first, not try to retrofit people into streets made for cars.
Block the road. Fuck cars.
My experience is that cars pull over and still effectively block car traffic since the bike lane is only half of a car lane. They may as well just stop in the car lane.
We have a ridiculous, 5-lane, one-way monstrosity cutting through the university campus here, with a single, counterflow bike lane. Luckily, it’s blocked off by a raised curb, because when the food delivery drivers sometimes pull over in front of the apartment buildings, they just block a car lane. It’s great!
Is this University Avenue in Madison?
That’s the one.