Jefferson Avenue Streetscape

[Király]

Protected bike lanes do a lot to give the illusion of safety, which does encourage bike use. As far as actual measured safety, that question is still out. Protected bike lanes also perpetuate the myth that cycling is dangerous and that cyclists should just get off the road. They also make things like left turns impossible because you can't move over to the leftmost lane; you are boxed in to the end of the block. Don't forget that debris like broken glass is much more likely to accumulate and stay in protected bike lanes, as those areas are usually passed over by the street cleaners.

Sorry to take the thread off-topic, but as a daily urban cyclist here in Vancouver, where there has been an explosion in protected bike lanes and other bike infrastructure over the last 15 years, I really prefer the days when we just had regular roads that everyone shared together. The new bike infrastructure is fine for cyclists who are slow, afraid of cars, and aren't interested in learning how to ride safely with other traffic, but for the rest of us who do know how to ride safely with traffic, we don't appreciate being pushed into the separated bike lane ghetto, where it is less convenient, slower, and often more hazardous.