San Francisco campaigners use cones to create guerrilla bike lanes after cyclists killed

Cyclists in San Francisco have been creating mock-protected bike lines with cones. Their efforts come after two cyclists were killed in separate hit-and-run incidents on the same night in June.

SFist.com reports that the San Francisco Transformation Agency (SFMTrA) has taken it upon itself to use cones to influence traffic.

Here’s an example.

We've installed a protected bike lane pilot on Howard and 7th, the intersection where a cyclist was recently killed. pic.twitter.com/OZi6LFm0jQ

— SF Transformation (@SFMTrA) July 18, 2016

And here’s another.

All #GoldenGateAve cones are in place and ready for your morning commute tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/yNwUW175pw

— SF Transformation (@SFMTrA) July 11, 2016

An anonymous member of SFMTrA said: “There’s a psychological effect of the orange cone on the automobile driver, and we wanted to bring that to the street. We want the city to have more urgency protecting bikers and pedestrians in San Francisco.”

San Francisco is aiming to eliminate traffic deaths by 2024, but while the Mayor's office recently unveiled 57 high-priority projects as part of its plans, it seems many of those included were simply repurposed existing projects which had already been delayed.

As a spokesman for local campaigners Bike Coalition said: "It's important to realise that, while this is a substantial commitment by City leaders, nothing has changed on the ground yet."

SFMTrA’s efforts echo a recent storyline in Australian soap opera Neighbours in which one of the characters, Karl Kennedy, painted his own bike lanes and broadcasted this to social media following a hit-and-run involving a child cyclist.