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San Francisco cycling campaigners form “people protected bike lane” in call for safer infrastructurePeople protected bike lane (picture via SFMTra on Twitter).jpg

San Francisco cycling campaigners form “people protected bike lane” in call for safer infrastructure

Initiative comes after city authorities made one of the group’s guerrilla bike lanes permanent last year
by Simon_MacMichael
Sun, May 14, 2017 18:33
7

Cycle campaigners in San Francisco have formed a ‘human protected bike lane’ to call for safer infrastructure for people who ride bikes in the northern Californian city.

The initiative from the San Francisco Transformation Agency (SFMTrA), involved 15 campaigners dressed in yellow t-shirts linking arms to provide physical segregation – literally – between cyclists and motor vehicles on Golden Gate Avenue.

It happened on 1 May, the day before the director of the San Francisco Municipal Transport Authority (SFMTA, the name of which inspired that of the campaign group) was due to meet to discuss possible protected cycle lanes on Market Street and Turk Street.

SFMTrA organiser Matt Brezina told Bicycling.com: "My friend Maureen actually came up with the idea.

“She thought, ‘I put my unarmoured body in this unprotected space next to cars – the bike lane – daily. What if a bunch of us put our bodies in this dangerous space to make a statement about our daily unsafe riding conditions and temporarily make the bike lane more safe for other cyclists?’

“I heard the idea and thought it was brilliant."

He continued: “Our shirts have an illustration of a parent bicycling with a child.

“If a parent wouldn't walk a stroller in an unprotected bike lane next to moving car traffic, why do we expect them to bicycle with their children in this dangerous space?"

The reaction, according to Brezina?

“Cyclists cheered and said ‘thank you!’ Drivers stayed in their lane instead of entering the bike lane, which was a goal of our effort.

“No-one was aggressive. We weren't blocking car lanes, we were just making an unprotected bike lane safe.”

The SFMtrA has already enjoyed some success in making conditions safer for the city’s cyclists.

In November, we reported how it had installed a guerrilla separated bike lane on the city’s Folsom Street that the authorities subsequently decided to make permanent.

> San Francisco authorities respond to guerrilla bike lanes... by making them permanent

SFMTrA
San Francisco
Simon MacMichael

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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7 comments

Avatar
muffies | 6 years ago
1 like

i live in sf and cars park in protected lanes. lol. savages.

Avatar
reliablemeatloaf | 6 years ago
2 likes

“If a parent wouldn't walk a stroller in an unprotected bike lane next to moving car traffic, why do we expect them to bicycle with their children in this dangerous space?"

 

Believe it or not, every season I pass people walking in the bike lanes pushing a stroller. Last year I encountered this twice, and even though it's early  in the season here in the Northern Hemisphere, I have seen this twice already.

I have also passed people running in the bike lanes, walking dogs, walking, skateboarding. They think it is some "extra" or auxiliary sidewalk. I think the police should ticket these people.

While this effort is nice, I think it again sends the wrong message, that cyclists are not entitled to use the roads, and should not be taken seriously. Instead,they require special accomodations, which shifts the onus of safety and protection to the state, rather than requiring diligence from drivers. When are drivers going to be held accountable for their actions?

Spending precious infrastructure money on cyclists is liable to be unpopular, as it suggests favoritism and as one commenter suggests, the whole world can't be made into a bike lane; why should it, when we have perfectly servicable roads, which are rendered dangerous by drivers, and, sometimes, scoflaw cyclists?

 

Avatar
Grahamd | 6 years ago
6 likes

Blooming marvellous, positive action, wish them every success. 

Avatar
Jamminatrix | 6 years ago
2 likes

You can't pave the entire world with cycling lanes. At some point these infrastructure advocacy groups need to wake-up and realize money spent on education/prosecution is a better long-term plan than than bike infrastructure.

Avatar
PsiMonk replied to Jamminatrix | 6 years ago
11 likes
Jamminatrix wrote:

You can't pave the entire world with cycling lanes. At some point these infrastructure advocacy groups need to wake-up and realize money spent on education/prosecution is a better long-term plan than than bike infrastructure.

Strange how the evidence is that every country that creates a network of high quality tracks has a high cycling modal share. And every country that does loads of education but no or few tracks has a low one. Bike infrastructure works. Education alone doesn't (it does when combined with infrastructure).

Avatar
DrJDog replied to PsiMonk | 6 years ago
0 likes
PsiMonk wrote:
Jamminatrix wrote:

You can't pave the entire world with cycling lanes. At some point these infrastructure advocacy groups need to wake-up and realize money spent on education/prosecution is a better long-term plan than than bike infrastructure.

 

Strange how the evidence is that every country that creates a network of high quality tracks has a high cycling modal share. And every country that does loads of education but no or few tracks has a low one. Bike infrastructure works. Education alone doesn't (it does when combined with infrastructure).

 

What are these countries that do loads of education without cycle lanes?

Avatar
Jitensha Oni replied to Jamminatrix | 6 years ago
4 likes
Jamminatrix wrote:

You can't pave the entire world with cycling lanes. At some point these infrastructure advocacy groups need to wake-up and realize money spent on education/prosecution is a better long-term plan than than bike infrastructure.

You can't expect the whole world (or at least Uk drivers) to behave themselves (especially with road policing at its current levels).

To reinforce PsiMonk's point(s) - I see this on a local scale in the UK - cycle to an off-road route in the SW London-N Surrey area - you'll encounter a few roadies and the odd other rider. Cycle on the off-road routes - loads of people on bikes! Many have driven there to use them. Conclusion - most people won't use busy road routes, so to achieve mass cycling they need protected provision (yeah I've missed a few steps of logic out, but you can fill them in for yourselves).

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