Bike lanes

Does anyone actually think they're safer because someone puts white
paint on the road?

Bike lanes marked next to parked cars. How stupid.

I can only imagine the train of thought. Give the bicycle riders
somewhere to ride - a place on the road, because the motorists can't
cope with or don't know that bicyclists have more right to use the road
than them - and they will feel safer and more will ride their bicycle.

Well, yes some novice bicycle riders *feel* safer, but in reality it's a
case of...

Oh, thanks - sit me on a time bomb and see if I can guess when it will
go off so I can jump clear.

No thanks.

The law says you don't have to use a bike lane if it would be hazardous
to do so - great, let's all not use the bike lanes marked next to parked
cars and suffer abuse and intentional close passes from the masses of
cagers who think we *must* use a bike lane if there is one there,
regardless of the impending cracked sternum.

Then they (the powers that be) realise, hey these bike lanes next to
parked cars has caused a huge increase in doorings. Einsteins! Their
solution? Copenhagen style lanes. Segregation. Yep, now you have
pedestrians and turning traffic becomes even more hazardous. Sheesh,
you'd think they could rub their crystal balls a little harder, wouldn't
you?

Wait for it, some bright spark has an idea to put a bike lane to the
left of a left turn only lane (think Spring St, Melbourne, heading
north). For ***** sake! It is illegal to pass on the left of a vehicle
that is indicating to turn left, so what are you supposed to do? It's
virtually impossible actually use the bike lane.

It's no wonder I call these things "farcilities". They are by
definition a farce.

Show me a bike lane (on the road), and I'll tell you why it sucks.

The sooner the powers that be wake up to themselves, and educate the
motoring masses that bicyclists are legitimate road users, and that any
motorist that causes injury to a bicyclist will face heafty fines,
drivers license suspension or cancellation and gaol terms, the better.
It'll save us all a lot of money, time and lives, in wasted attempts to
change the infrastructure to solve the problem of cycling safety in
Australia.

rant_off/

--
JS.