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study: painted cycle lanes make close passing worse!
OK, it's a study from Australia, but the methods look interesting and sound
(https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0001457518309990)
Key finding was that "Specifically, on-road bicycle lanes and parked cars reduced passing distance."
Painted cycle lanes are NOT infrastructure - they only make things worse. Let's never use them (unless they are really wide).
If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.
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12 comments
My experience of painted lanes is very limited as there are only a couple of short one on my regular routes.
My observation is that they are only painted where the road is wide enough to accommodate bikes and cars side by side, so are unneccessary, and they disappear where the road narrows.
I find that drivers (mostly) keep well to the right of them, but that's a result of the road being wide I guess.
I dont know if this is similar in other places but here in Scotland I find the "cycle lanes" are often covered in this extremely sh*t red surface, perhaps intended for extra grip? This surface over time disintegrates and leaves the already rubbish narrow "cycle lane" a genuine hazard with broken surface and potholes.
There is a fairly long stretch through a town near me which is unrideable and to be fair I've not had any grief from motorists while i avoid it completely but I'm sure its coming one day.
Even at the best of times other painted "cycle lanes" are full of gravel and debris.
Not sure it's for extra grip - I think it's just intended to make it more distinctively a cycle lane. Around here they seem to come in a variety of reds, blues, greens, depending on what the favoured treatment was at the time they were installed. Often they make the lane more slippery, rather than less, and invariably they either break up as you described, or quickly wear away from all the motor vehicles that are most definitely not driving in the cycle lane.
I agree.
This twat in an ice cream likes cycle lanes so much. He wanted to join me in it.
Just by chance I was to the left of the lane.
(Hopefully the picture will show up).
I can't remember the reference, but there was a believable study done on the A6 somewhere near Preston which found the same thing.
Thanks.
I'm sceptical about Australian safety studies (especially ones co-authored by Jake Olivier) but this one looks okay (as in the results aren't surprising to me).
However, I'm wondering whether there's other factors in play such as the average speed of vehicles and the width and type of road. If there's a correlation between faster roads and closer overtakes, then this could also explain it as faster roads are more likely to have painted cycle lanes (citation needed).
I wonder what device they were using to measure the passing distance as it'd be interesting to perform similar tests in other countries (maybe even see if helmet wearing does make a difference to overtakes). Even better would be a device that measured the speed and distance of the overtake.
I've got mixed feelings about painted cycle lanes. On the one hand they do provide a more welcoming environment to cyclists, but most of the ones that I've seen in the UK are poorly thought out and can make the road more dangerous to use.
A survey by Warrington Cycle Campaign several years ago found that cyclists get less road space when using bike lanes, because motorists drive right up to the white.
No surprise. From personal experience, I've found further issues:
1. occasionally a driver will get sh*tty if you ride on the line itself or outside the lane, as I will do if necessary for my own safety, because they then have to think and change their line to overtake instead of skimming past.
2. some lanes are too narrow or change width because they are designed/painted by someone who doesn't care about cyclists. I've seen lanes that are just 12" from the kerb or verge - totally inadequate, even on fairly wide roads with plenty of room. A few years ago the Council has removed the bike logos from these so they're effectively an edge of carriageway marking. I used to tell people that it's not a cycle lane.
3. they stop and start in an erratic and unpredictable way; the busy arterial road to the main hospital in Shrewsbury has an intermittent 'cycle lane' for about half its length; the paint stops near junctions and across the entry/exit to a busy Co-Op and the roundabouts at either end. And of course car & van drivers happily park in it. It's a complete waste of paint.
Hi Simon
I think you have listed all the problems.
Simply put, most cycle lanes are not fit for purpose.
The road belongs to the motorists, and they are going to use all of it
Not quite. There's randomly turning at right angles onto a 'shared use' path; being used as a convenient place to locate signs about roadworks, diversions, and the like; having most of their width filled with double yellow lines which are are slippery when wet; glass, grit, and other rubbish getting channelled into lane and left there; those bypass channels at pinch points that have half a forest growing in them but you're still expected to use them...
You mean like this example, taken from the Streetview for the Clifton-side approach to the Clifton Suspension Bridge?
Even without the sign, the 'cycle lane' is narrower than the handlebars on my hybrid.
Anecdotally, from 40 odd years of riding in Australia I'd agree with the study. Where there's no bike lane paint drivers go around you, using whatever passes for judgement to make a suitable distance (in their minds). Where there's a bike lane delimiter they seem to feel that so long as the left wheel doesn't quite cross it, they're ok. "I'm in my bit, you stay in your bit" Pretty much the same with centre lines on country roads; if there's no centre line they'll pull out and pass with a larger gap than if there is a centre line. They focus on the paint and not on the person; "can't cross the centre line" "can drive anywhere up to the bike lane line"