Los Angeles doesn’t rank very high on the bike friendly city chart of the American League of Bicyclists, and this may be why:
While driving down a major street in my town the other day, I noticed these newly painted bicycle icons on the street. I thought, “Cool. LA is finally trying to promote bicycling. It’s a step in the right direction!”
Painted Bike Icon
However, I noticed it was sticking out a ways from the parking space marks and seemed to be directly in the line of traffic!
Whoops! Bad Placement.
As we continued down the road, I was astonished by how ridiculous those markings were. There wasn’t really enough room for a bike lane, so instead the city decided to mark the roads. Sort of confusing, if you ask me.
Thump, thump. Sorry Mr. Bicycle Rider, you're in the way!
I’m just not quite sure what the city planners were thinking. Oh wait! I’m not so sure they know either.
Let's ride down the middle of the road!
I’m pretty sure the ALB won’t raise our status as a bike friendly city.
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OMG that’s terrible!!! Yeah, the bike lane is for bikes, not cars =) They should have made it a bit thinner or something, so that cars can’t be tempted to go on them.
Vancouver is like 180 degrees from LA in terms of bike friendliness. For goodness sake, we took an entire lane on TWO bridges and sectioned them off (with the big concrete barriers) and devoted them to bike lanes.
Great for bikers, but I think the traffic is more bogged down (hence more stalling=more emissions).
Guess we can never win!
.-= youngandthrifty´s last blog ..Want to Make a Quick 19 Return =-.
@Young and Thrifty – I wish we had separated bike lanes here. Drivers are so distracted, they rarely see cyclists, it’s so dangerous. Sounds like your bridge bike lane is trying to encourage more people to bike, it sounds like it might be faster than being stuck in traffic.
Wow, not only will that make it dangerous for bikers… I will also make us drivers incredible mad when a biker does follow the sign!
@youngandthrifty – Your problems sounds like the flip side of Little Houses problem…
It just proves that cities all over don’t have a clue! Biking is very popular now, so the cities are trying extra to make them happy. But when it makes it unsafe for the cyclist… well, how is that a positive?
Perhaps LA streets aren’t wide enough?
@Money Reasons – LA’s problem has always been poor planning: streets that aren’t wide enough to handle all the cars, freeways that are only 4-lanes wide, never anticipating the amount of people that would eventually inhabit this area. Now, there is really no way to widen our streets without tearing down business districts and moving the blocks back. *sigh* we really need a good city plan!
How easy is it to ride on the side streets? Are they also laid out in a grid pattern? At least they marked the street… hey, at least now you have a justification for it
As both a cyclist and a driver, I think that it’s better as a cyclist to ride on the side streets. If the streets are laid out in the grid, this doesn’t entail much of a detour at all. Friendlier for biking, more comfortable riding, and less annoyed drivers.
It could be worse you know… in South Korea the speed limit on every arterial is 80km/h/50mph and you generally can only cross the street by using a pedestrian overpass. Bicycles can be used over there, but stick to the sidewalk or small streets!
.-= Kevin@InvestItWisely´s last blog ..How to Use Fear to Manipulate People =-.
@Kevin – The side streets are much better and are laid out in a grid formation. I generally avoid busy streets and find alternatives using side streets. I can’t imagine biking in cities like New York, or South Korea. Fast moving traffic is scary!
I haven’t seen that bike icon before. It looks pretty confusing!
.-= Bucksome Boomer´s last blog ..The Old Days Weren’t Frugal by Choice =-.
I’m out in the suburbs of Philly (a winding, wooded, and hilly area) and live right next to a PA state bike route. The road itself winds along a creek and is absolutely beautiful…but terrifying if you ride any time other than the middle of the day on a weekend! There’s no shoulder and cars come out of nowhere and go flying by you. You’re inches from death at all times, but I still can’t resist it.
Great how our cities think that a little paint or a sign automatically converts a road to a trail!
.-= Car Negotiation Coach´s last blog ..Save on gas – 11 extreme tips =-.
@Bucksome Boomer -I’m with you, the sign is very confusing to both drivers and cyclists!
@Car Negotiation Coach – That road sounds like it would make for a beautiful bike ride. Yet, it does sound frightening if there isn’t much room for a cyclist and it’s a windy road! You also hit the nail on the head; cities think that just by adding signs for a little icon, voila! A bike lane is made! City planners are obviously not cyclists.
I think you have a right to move freely around your country. Cycling is still the only FREE way of covering large distances. There for I think there is a manifest right to the use of the roads by cyclists. I don’t think you need any special cycle lanes, just ride to the left and the cars can go round. Seriously don’t they have the spare 20 seconds? Are the Jack Bower and the’s a nuclear bomb going to go off if they don’t get there?
Sorry I jsut get miffed by the idea that there needs to be some “special” cycling lane
Great photography, by the way. This is a terribly confusing picture. Is the road sign a heads-up to drivers? Is it a thumbs up to cyclists that want to use the entire lane? Confusing.
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@Hunter – Terribly confusing indeed. I think it’s for the drivers to know that they need to share the road and for cyclists to feel a little safer riding in the street. A few miles up on this same road is an actual bike lane so I’m guessing they marked the road for all to be aware. But the placement of the markings is really bizarre, it’s practically in the middle of the lane!