Try Traffic Engineering when Cyclist Solution Fails

 

Our garage equivalent of a painted cycle lane

Cyclists seem to delight in the notion that they can change motorist behavior with "education." Well, that might be so, but motorists are a powerful special interest and such suggestions go nowhere.

At my house, the motorists have trouble parking in the garage without hitting a post or straying over too close to the middle of the garage. I first tryed the cyclist solution of gently "educating" my motorists by installing a flower target for parking position as in the photo at the start of this post.

Well, the cyclist solution didn't work, so I took a "traffic engineer" approach and simply cut away the offending post. Fondly, I leave the flower in place as gentle encouragement. I think we won't see drywall on the front bumper any more...

Cutting away the post avoids problems (I hope)

Stop with the Video

What Happens When you Import Video into Blogger Via the "Picture" Button

Apparently, Blogger isn't ready for our full multimedia world. Just for jollys, I tried importing a video directly, instead of publishing one on Youtube, and then embedding it. The results may be seen above in a screenshot of the result.

The actual video is shown below.

The video was an attempt to take shots showing how few if any motorists actually stop for stop signs. Such a video requires at least minimal videography skills, so I gave up. Still, even the short clip illustrates how motorists often run stop signs at speeds similar to a cyclist who doesn't even bother to interrupt his/her cadence.

Indeed...

Bicycle Connections

Google Maps Satellite View of Where Patrick Francis O'Rourke was Killed on his Bicycle in 2001

As my loyal reader knows, Beto O'Rourke ("e" as in prounounced in the word "President," not "e"as pronounced in the Canadian word "eh') is from Texas and has announced a run for President. This post, however, is not about Beto. This post is about Beto's dad. 

Most people do not know that Beto's father, Patrick Francis O'Rourke, was an avid cyclist - AND a politician. Pat sent a "payment due" bill to Ronald Reagan's US Government in 1986 for reimbursement to El Paso, and was Jesse Jackson's 1988 Texas Campaign Chair. In his day, in his mostly Latino area, Pat was known as the "Tip O'Neill" of El Paso politics. Like our current President (and Ronald Reagan before him), Pat was a lifelong Democrat that became a Republican - in Pat's case, finding what he considered a better way occurred sometime before 1992. But I digress.

In 2000, Pat O'Rourke made a cross-country trip on his recumbent bicycle from Oregon to New York. Pat blogged about it on the Stanton Street Blog,  which Amy O'Rourke, (Beto's wife) sold in 2017. I was unable to find Pat's original bike posts, and a search on it for "bicycle" revealed nothing. Perhaps my loyal reader can find something. I will update this post if I make a later discovery. My loyal reader might also contact Stanton Street to see if they want to 'fess up and repost.

Unfortunately, Pat's cross-country bike trip is not the end of the story. After Pat got back to El Paso, he continued to ride until one day in early July 2001. On that day; a day like many others, Patrick Francis O'Rourke was riding his bicycle near Artcraft Road and Westside Drive. The intersection is about a block from the New Mexico border on the western outskirts of El Paso. Somewhere nearby, Pat was struck from behind by a motorist and killed. I don't know the crash details (newspapers called it an "accident" - some misnomers just continue on and on), and I will update this post if I find more details later.

The crash in which Pat O'Rourke was killed illustrates something that is not well understood within the cycling advocacy community, but SHOULD be. In my blog, I constantly issue the refrain that "the danger is from ahead" and my refrain is true - in urban areas that have intersections, driveways and other hazards, and even more so in these places when the cyclist is controlling his or her lane in accordance with good practice. However, My refrain is NOT nearly so true on high-speed rural roads, such as that where Pat O'Rourke was killed. Statistically, "from behind" collisions are rare, but they have a very high fatality rate because of the sheer energy with which the cyclist is impacted when hit by a heavy, high speed motor vehicle, or even a protrusion from a motor vehicle such as a side mirror.

Hit-from-behind collisions are more common than in the past because more cyclists take long, country rides - they don't like urban traffic. Shoulder riding on a highway reduces the likelihood of a collision because it can be avoided by the simple expedient of the motorist staying within his or her traffic lane, but all the reflective material on the back of police cars and fire trucks, and all the mirrors cyclists and motorists swear by, do not obviate the fact that any highway shoulder is a dangerous place, even if one arrived there in a heavy motor vehicle. Lots of cycling advocates and traffic engineers have  gotten enamored with the notion of "protected" cycling lanes to reduce "hit from behind" fatalities, but cones, lane dots, rumble strips, any of their variants, or low curbs won't protect a cyclist on a rural highway that is in the wrong spot at the wrong time. Protecting non motorized road users on high speed country roads is something that we, as a society, have not really even BEGUN to come to grips with. Even John Forester relates fearful journeys he made on such roads when traffic got heavy.

Beto doesn't speak about his father much in public, though his father was also a politician. Beto shares the middle name of "Francis" with his father, grandfather, and great grandfather, and his childhood nickname avoided confusion within the family. After Beto's rebellious youth, in which he acted more like George W Bush than any other recent President, he came back home to El Paso and delivered the eulogy at Pat's funeral. Two links to stories involving Pat may be found here and here. Patrick's grave memorial including his obituary may be found here.

From now on, when I hear people try to denigrate Beto by calling him "Robert" or even more, by calling him "Francis," I will inwardly smile at how they are ignorantly honoring his immigrant family, or his cyclist father. From a Facebook image at left, taken from one of the links above, you can see Pat and Beto.

Patrick O'Rourke's life is memorialized here. At that site, you can also trace his ancestry back at least into Ireland. Cycling may be fun and safe - but we should remember that there are unexpected occasions when it is NOT. Be especially careful on high-speed, narrow, country roads where at least SOME motorists do not expect a cyclist or anything else to "suddenly" appear in front of them...

Sympathy for the Motorist

Whilst some cyclists might entitle this post "Sympathy for the Devil," we should all remember that the traffic engineers sometimes make things needlessly complicated for all road users. While I'm not generally a fan of taxpayer-subsidized car storage (free, on-street parking), signage such as above gets my sympathy. Mostly, such signage doesn't concern cyclists.

Presuming that the motorist actually KNOWS whether he/she is facing north or south when looking at the sign combination above, it still requires a bit of thought to realize where one is allowed to park and where one is not. Hopefully, most motorists would realize what day of the week it is and that parking is not allowed next to fire hydrants or in front of driveways in any event. I'm not sure why they allow parking anywhere along this road. That'd certainly make things simpler - "NO PARKING." Still, such signs make it clear why sometimes motorists stop in the middle of the road, making us wonder what they are thinking...

Flag Follies in Ocean Shores

We're Nearly as "Hip" as Seattle Here in Ocean Shores!

Apparently, one of the new trends in street crossings are flags. I’ve seen a few in Seattle popping up, and now we’ve got flags in Ocean Shores. They’re at the very same roundabout I’ve written about here and here.

Flags Piling Up

The idea of these flags is that pedestrians will take them and wave them in order to avoid getting run over by careless motorists. In that regard, they are a low cost alternative to various beg button systems and they’re probably effective for pedestrians, crossing from either the first or second photo. I’m not sure what a pedestrian is supposed to do when coming upon a sign (black letters on a white background being “regulatory”) like that in the third photo. Fortunately, most pedestrians (and motorists) are blissfully unaware of the yellow versus white background rules that cycling advocates blather about interminably.

The flags, however, are a bit problematic for cyclists. If you’ll recall from my FIRST OS roundabout post, their bike lane directs unaware cyclists to ride on the sidewalk (possibly illegally), where they’re then expected to cross across four lanes of roundabout traffic, back on to the sidewalk at LEAST once, before getting dumped back into another bike lane or onto a street without any guidance at all. Apparently, the traffic people did not realize this is FAR more dangerous than simply having cyclists operate as traffic through the roundabout since even a SLOW cyclist is going twice as fast as any pedestrian. I’m also not sure how they figured how a passing cyclist was supposed to grab a “take it to make it” flag as he/she passed by in a situation where he/she was at FAR greater risk than any pedestrian.

This was brought to the front of my mind yesterday as I saw a four seat, four wheel rental pedal car first go the wrong way down the street and then blissfully go through two successive crosswalks. If the peoples’ eyes driving the pedalcar were any guide, they didn’t look at either crosswalk. Can you say “accident waiting to happen?”

 Myself, I’ll continue to ignore the dimbulb attempts at directing me to do stupid things on my bike until/unless they come up with something that actually does anything more than check off some “complete streets” fantasy that comes from behind a windshield. In the defense of the traffic engineers, however, the flags probably DO help pedestrians better than doing nothing, though I’ve not heard of anybody actually getting hurt at the roundabout. Perhaps a couple of pedestrians got scared by tourists that did not understand how the roundabout works?

Lonely Flagless Stand With Sign Advising "Take it to Make It" - Is This a Serious Danger?

Round About the Roundabout

Google Maps Satellite View of Ocean Shores Roundabout
More About The Bike Lanes Later...

Not long ago, the Bike League instructor email list had a discussion about roundabouts. Roundabouts are an up and coming feature of roads that allow traffic flow without the disruption of four-way stop signs or traffic signals. They work quite well for motorized traffic, but cyclists and traffic engineers do not seem to understand how they can also work quite simply and well for cycling. The Ocean Shores roundabout is a case in point. The roundabout replaced the only traffic signal in town.

Uneventful Traffic Flow Through Ocean Shores Roundabout
The Wrong-Way Motorist Wasn't Using it Today!
If You Ride a Bike, The Bike Lane Striping Appears to Direct You into the Crosswalk

At the beginning of this post, you can see a “Google Maps” overhead view of the roundabout. Mostly, traffic flows through it without incidents of any kind, though I heard a motorist tried to go through it the wrong way a few days ago. Most motorists are competent enough to go around in the right direction and mostly they also pay attention to the signs. Ocean Shores is a tourist town, and so a lot of these motorists that do well have not encountered roundabouts prior to their visit.

I’ve ridden through this roundabout many times now and, up until a week or two ago, it’s been the height of simplicity to simply follow the signs that apply to the rest of traffic. Basically, if you plan to turn right or go straight, you stay in the RH traffic lane. If you plan to make a left or U turn, get in the LH traffic lane and exit into the street appropriate to your destination. As with most well-designed roundabouts, traffic entering the roundabout must yield to those already going around. This works well for motor vehicles OR for bikes, since bikes can go around in a circle at least as well as the typical motor vehicle. It is a simple case of elementary destination positioning. For those not recalling this principle, it states “stay in the rightmost lane that serves your destination.”

Simply Follow the Arrows and Get in the Lane that Goes Where You Want to Go

HOWEVER, recently, the city restriped the bike lanes, creating needless conflict. The approach reinforced my belief that traffic engineers are often clueless dweebs that are ignorant about how to keep all people safe. In short, remembering that Ocean Shores made it ILLEGAL foranybody to ride on city sidewalks (even little kids on bikes with trainingwheels), these traffic engineers striped their bike lanes to direct cyclists on to and off of sidewalks into their painted lanes. You might wonder how this puts anybody in danger, considering that there are few crossing driveways on these sidewalks. Well, once so directed, people on bikes then use the pedestrian crosswalks across the roundabout. This IS a problem, since pedestrians without wheels travel fairly slowly and have the equipment to stop without problems. On the OTHER hand, people on bikes are going much quicker and they cross the roundabout in a manner that is unexpected for motorists using the roundabout. Personally, I also have a problem with city-installed infrastructure that encourages behavior that the same city has made illegal.

Following the Striping "Suggestion" Leads a Cyclist onto the Illegal Sidewalk and to Cross the Road at Right Angles to Traffic

Once again, traffic engineering in action – creating danger and encouraging illegal behavior when doing NOTHING would have been far better AND safer. I look forward to their next folly, when they create problems on the street immediately north of the roundabout…

Odd Striping Strategy for a City that Made it ILLEGAL to Ride Bikes on Sidewalks. I Guess They Expect Everyone Will WALK Their Bikes for a Block?

MUTCD Muddle

Sign Seen in North Richland Hills, Texas. What Are We Being Advised About?

On occasion, you'll see bike blogs that pay more than a decent amount of attention to signs, and complain about the finer points of "Share the Road" or "Bicycles May Use Full Lane" items. Recently, there was a story in "Streetsblog" that expounded on an advocacy organization that fell into this trap. Khal's "LA Bikes" skated out on to that thin ice, though I don't think he actually fell in to the trap. IMO, his main error was in forgetting that the whole MUTCD thing is a result of mixing engineering and politics into an area where few people know or care about the finer points. In this post, I'll attempt to avoid falling through the ice that Khal so bravely stepped out onto. Gulp!

In the first place, and in reality, we should remember that all signs are basically intended to give us information we need to safely go down the road or to make our lives on same nicer and more pleasant. Way back when, someone came up with the notion that different sorts of signs ought to have different colors and ought to be the same from place to place. Hence, the "MUTCD" was born. And THAT was the start of much arguing about the best ways to do things, much as people used to argue about how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.

Basically, the idea behind sign coloring is a pretty good one, and the colors are supposed to align with the purpose of the sign. The BEST summary of this that I've seen is on Richard Moeur's pages, with the color guide here.

Speed Limit Lowered in Work Zone

 Red, white, and black are regulatory colors. Stop and yield signs are red and white, speed LIMIT signs are white and black. Seems pretty straightforward. Similarly, yellow signs are advisory/warning signs. If there's a slower speed needed for an exit, it'll be on a yellow sign. Part of the problem is that people also get creative with signs, such as with the "share the road" sign at the top of this post (what are they warning us about) and with the "duck crossing" sign. Signs mainly in blue are for useful things off the road that it's good for the traveller to know about. Ditto for brown signs. ORANGE signs are used around construction. I can't really say I've seen pink signs or any of those other colors, well, except for the green signs that are the general roadway information signs.


Advisories Suggest the Lane to Reach the Informational Destinations



This Sign Advises There's a Way to Avoid Death if Your Truck's Brakes Have Failed
It is Otherwise Illegal to Simply Park There!

 

Rest Stop Bathroom Signs are ALSO Blue

 

 

Both Signs in this Photo are "Regulatory"

 

Advisory Speed

Regulatory Speed Sign

These colors are both the strength and weakness of the system. People don't seem to like "advisory share the road" signs. "Bicycles May Use Full Lane" signs seem to be prefered by the "no share" crowd, but IMO, a "BMUFL" sign is somewhat akin to implying that using a full lane is not otherwise allowed. Some might feel, on the other hand, that a BMUFL sign is akin to the "runaway vehicle" sign in that runaway vehicles clearly ARE allowed to stop places other than the runaway vehicle trap. But bikes ARE different as any cyclist that has read newspaper comments on cycling stories will know.


Ducks May Not be MUTC "Orthodox," But it's Pretty Easy to See the Warning Intent

What's the RIGHT answer? Well, IMO, I don't think it really matters. Cyclist rights are independent of any oddball signage and most people really don't understand the finer points of same in any event. Note below many signs that really don't entirely fit with the rules.



Is This Sign Warning Us We'll Fall if We Have No Front Wheel?

Someone Invented This Sign and Zip Tied it to a Pole

Business Sign Attempts to "Look" Like a Recreation MUTCD Sign



I Guess RED Makes it LOOK More Official

Business Sign Using MUTCD Green

Regulatory Looking Sign Telling City Employees Not to Cut the Wildflowers

Note the Duck Sign, and the "Construction" Barricade, Along With the Political Sign



What Regulation Does the Contractor Fall Under?

The Road Work Sign on the Bike Path is OK, but Watching for Pedestrians is a "Regulation?"
Note that the "signless" pole USED to be a Stop Sign

And YES, the "Share the Road" placard under a bike picture might fit in this bunch of pictures as well since, while one might consider the bike graphic a "warning" of bikes ahead, the "share the road" really isn't simply advisory. OTOH, how many angels CAN dance on the head of a pin? Can you spell "POLITICS?"



This "Advisory" Sign Predates MUTCD!

Respectfully Meaningless

Sharrow on NE 75th Street in Seattle - one of the TOP Cycling Cities in the Entire USA!
I Watched - Every Person on a Bike I saw Rode About Where the Back Wheel Ends.
As "Linda A" Said - "Nobody Cares Where the Arrows Point"

This is a topic where I fear to tread. However, the "Institute for Sharrow Research" can remain silent no more. You see, sharrows are one of the subjects on which bicycle advocates MOST love to argue with each other. Which makes it dangerous for me to tread, for fear of being accused of ridiculing same. And hence the title of this post. I really DO mean that first word. I really like the post that Waco made over on Biking in Dallas - one of the best I've seen on that topic. He didn't get all officious on us. As Dragnet once said - "Just the facts, ma'am."

The problem with sharrows is that they're put in place to enable bicycle planners to claim they're connecting bike routes and making stuff better for commuters. Legally, they mean absolutely - NOTHING. Well, another problem with sharrows is that bicycle ADVOCATES seem to LOVE to argue about how far out the sharrow should be painted. Is this one far enough? Well, "AASHTO says" and so on. Perhaps that is the use for sharrows - it keeps ADVOCATES from further belaboring us with stuff that helps nobody.

Personally, I  find sharrows amusing. They come a close second to the "Share the Lane versus BMUFL" debate for useless futility. In either case, regardless of what the advocates decide when they argue with each other, most people on bikes ride close enough to the curb to scare such as me.

For myself, I'd like to see police simply understand the law as its already written - including the exceptions to the discriminatory "Far to the Right" (FTR) language. That'd be a MAJOR advance. So far, I have seen no evidence that the Bedford Police operate otherwise and I salute them. YOU GUYS ROCK! I hope that continues, because Texas law supports my right to ignore sharrows, "share the lane," OR "BMUFL" nonsense. My motorists ignore all that stuff too, so we're in solidarity - well except for a few rare idiots who most readers of this blog have encountered - or at least their cousins in spirit.

God BLESS British Engineers



Who's the Guy in the Top Hat? Abraham Lincoln? No - an ENGINEER!

The Olympic Opening Ceremonies contained a tribute that passed mostly without remark in American coverage of them. Among others, they honored one of the great engineers of history and one of my personal heroes: Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

For those that are not engineers (or a few architects), Brunel was a giant of the Victorian age. He broke new ground in railways and railway construction. He also did the same in other construction with ships such as the "Great Eastern."

I had to argue a bit with my kids as they only knew the actor as Hamlet. Well, he played an engineer as well this last week. Thanks, Brits, YOU ROCK! There is a reason many polls list IK Brunel as the #2 Brit of all time - after Winston Churchill and before any "Royal."

Passing of the Torch - Another Brunel Connection

Brunel - In a Classic Photo as Shown in Wikipedia. Compare With the Actor at the Top Shot

Twenty to One and "The Lost Post"

Posts on other blogs can cause us to reconsider things. Andy Cline, at Carbon Trace, made a post about clueless cycling behavior. It wasn’t the post so much as the combination of the post and observations that cyclists disobey traffic controls even when they know better, that caused me to ponder. You see, elements of this appeared in comments guessing content of what became “the Lost Post.” I found the comments amusing at the time, but they tie to what JRA called “Total Cycling Support.” Even the “twenty to one” in the “Lost Post” gives clues.

There is truth to newspaper comments claiming that “roads are for cars.” If you doubt it, drop me an email and I'll do a "Gruesome Threats" post. But I'd rather not. People on bikes FEEL it and it bothers them. They FEEL it even if they don’t get honked at, or harassed by a motorist police officer while operating safely and legally. The roads really ARE optimized to accommodate a uniquely dangerous major use – four-wheeled motor vehicle operation. Because these motorists mostly kill and delay each other, and have lots of votes, other users are rarely considered seriously, and are almost never considered as part of “real traffic.” In effect, others are marginalized by design. The “Lost Post” showed that to be true – even though it EXCLUDED any safety elements whatsoever. People on bikes or walking are at a disadvantage. If you doubt it, go push just about any crosswalk signal button. While you wait, wonder why the signal is at the corner instead of midblock. Now imagine that motorists are making free right turns, and there are mud puddles, and it’s windy. Feeling vaguely disadvantaged, many bike riders and pedestrians try to compensate in some way. It isn’t just motorists that don’t want to wait. I’m sure you can think of many examples. If not, speak up and I'll do a "blood and gore" due to people trying to live around cars post. But I'd rather not.

I have a major advantage over most cyclists when it comes to legally avoiding delay due to motor-centric roads. I KNOW how to trigger all the traffic signals along my commute route. I KNOW where to turn to avoid most of the stop signs (especially those at the BOTTOM of hills) that exist only to stop motoring excesses. I KNOW how to safely interact with motor traffic. And I get delayed twenty to one. Think what a person without that knowledge does – so they don’t get delayed even more. Good road design balances the needs and, indeed, the DELAY that various types of users experience. Good road design is rare in the US today. “Shared Space” is considered radical. While the current state of “Complete Streets” might be poor, it is an attempt to restore balance. We need to do better.

I don’t suggest that people should start ignoring traffic signals, shooting through crosswalks without looking, riding the wrong way, or all the other idiotic things people on bikes do (I am NOT a victim!), but I do suggest good road design should take the characteristics of various road users into account and balance things better. It isn’t entirely “bad” or “ignorant” people that are the problem. Motorized traffic IS different than non-motorized traffic and there is no excuse to let the designers hide behind a “same rules” mantra. Twenty to one says non-motorized users are being treated worse.

So, I recovered “The Lost Post” and repeat it below. Consider it in the context of whether horrid behavior of many pedestrians and bike riders might be worsened by a road AND educational system that marginalizes them. Sometimes, looked at a second time, data suggests a different story than we intended. Twenty to one was pretty simple to discover in my case, but in many cases, things are far worse than twenty to one – and the total time gets bigger the further you go.
-----------------------------------------------------

"The Lost Post" March 2012

I apologize to my loyal reader, who wondered what I might be getting at when I posed the question:
"Has anyone out there really added up the time cost of stopping at a stop sign compared to nonchalantly riding through same?"

Perhaps noting that I had an ulterior motive got comments off on the wrong track. Perhaps I have been too strident in the past. For, you see, sometimes a question is EXACTLY what it seems. You see, this post is not hypothetical, as Pondero couched his theory. Then he and others talked about momentum lost and rhythm. Khal even touched on a hot button of mine when he used that "w" word. Well, all that goes into the hopper for a future post, but today, simply, this post is about who gets delayed - cyclists by motorists or motorists by cyclists.
What? You might ask, motorists are forever complaining about cyclists holding them up. Well, let's examine the facts.
FACT 1: Today, as usual, I didn't see any other cyclists or people on bikes on my commute. That means that any motorist that might have been delayed was only delayed by me. That keeps the motorist delay math simple. In total, we're talking about a second or less. If you live somewhere else - like Boston or Portland or Seattle, let's be generous and multiply the motorist delay by a factor of ten and count it as ten seconds.  (MAY update - COUNTING MOTORISTS waiting at stop signs for me, you might add as much as four seconds to my previous estimate - still a lot less than I bumped things up to. Ten seconds still seems safe.)
FACT 2: In saner moments, even most of the "more militant than average" motorists will concede that motorists are really more likely to get held up by other motorists than even the most offensive spandex mafioso. This is particularly true if you ask the motorist right after he/she comes off a freeway after a two HOUR stoppage.
CYCLISTS DELAYED
In reality, besides the question I asked, cyclists are delayed (even if they do NOT obey all traffic directions) by many motor-centric road features. I do not pretend to come up with a complete list here, but all of the following apply to the commutes or other cycling of a LOT of cyclists and all are caused by motoring:

Short and efficient routes where cycling is banned (freeways and other roads) or effectively banned because of heavy and fast traffic. Many of these roads are paid for with my property taxes and not any sort of user fee.

Stop signs and stop lights that are only needed to keep motorists from crashing into each other or into innocent bystanders, or, increasingly, in a mostly futile attempt to keep speeds down. While compliance by cyclists might be better, the delay is still real.

Alternate routes taken by cyclists in order to avoid harassment or otherwise lower their stress levels. Paths are a common refuge, despite being somewhat riskier for falls than even MEAN streets.Regardless, these longer routes represent delay due to motoring.

Seriously, Little Ol' Me Delays ALL These Guys or Do THEY and Their Infrastructure Delay Me?

COUNTING MY DELAY DUE TO MOTORING
This morning, I tried my best to note all these delays. Now, keep in mind that after I bump up the delay I create by cloning myself, it totals ten seconds. First, my quickest route would have used the 121 Airport Freeway for a mile. Between the construction to widen it and the lurid news stories about pedestrians run over by multiple motorists (some being on-duty police in high vis vests), I took a delay of about 30 seconds necessary due to the motorists. Next, I encountered ten stop signs along my route. In reality, NONE of them would have been there except to keep motorist animal urges under control. Counting five seconds of delay at each would put me behind by 50 seconds more. That puts me up to 80 seconds. Third, I made a few route detours that further lower stress. The extra 0.2 miles adds an extra 60 seconds since I average about a mile every five minutes (what can I say, I'm no spring chicken any more). Now we are at 140 seconds. Stop signs are a big time waster. I hit four of the eight stop lights red along my route. I confess I didn't time them all, but the ones I did time led me to conclude a 20 second delay at each red was about right for a total of 80 seconds more. However, in fairness, if there were no motorists, I'd probably want stop signs so we have to subtract 20 seconds off - and add 20 seconds on for the green lights; leaving us at 80 seconds for a total delay of 220 seconds in order to keep my motorists safe. Hmm, I didn't mention it, but I also had another 20 seconds of direct delay since the motorists are slow off the line at left turn signals when in a line.

BOTTOM LINE

I think it goes back to Pondero's note in a previous post - there are a lot of motorists and so that makes a lot of comments about road hog cyclists. Votes do count. The majority do, however, forget that much of what is put on those roads delays other users who would not need those devices at all if motor vehicles were not so dangerous. Four of those ten stop signs I encountered were before the first traffic light and two were within a block of my house.

I don't begrudge all these delays that exist simply so motorists can "rule the roads;" it is part of the cooperative network that forms our road system. HOWEVER, the next time I hear some whiny, er, "perturbed" motorist complain about BIKES holding him/her up, I'll think back on this post, and smile mysteriously about a "delay ratio"over over 20 to 1 AFTER I bump up the "1."

ORIGINAL COMMENTS ON "THE LOST POST"

cafiend said... I used to ride a route three miles longer, over a much higher summit, to avoid the highway on my ride home from work. The extra miles took longer than the same distance on terrain and pavement comparable to the highway. It was wonderfully peaceful but got me home too late for domestic harmony.
My two routes out of town even on the direct route are a big detour out a side road to avoid a section known for impatient motorists or a scoot out the rail trail with all its shortcomings, to reach the highway outside of town. All these delays have more to do with avoiding motorist friction than with a strong desire for more mileage or a particular enjoyment of the path.
On the UF campus in the mid 1970s, cars were forbidden. Masses of cyclists filled the streets between classes. Everyone just flowed. The only time I had a problem was when I created it by being a speedy jerk.

March 19, 2012 8:54 PM RANTWICK said... Great perspective. I think your plan to smile mysteriously rather than go on a rant along these lines is also a wise choice.

March 20, 2012 10:02 AM Steve A said... If traffic was war instead of cooperation, the vehicle of choice would be the one I posted about at: (photo of tank along my commute route omitted)

Inspired by Hurst

Sometimes, it can get discouraging to be a member of a vanishingly small minority such as a cycling commuter. If I believe the US Census, we're about 1 in a thousand amongst road commuters. We see dangers thoughtlessly placed in our paths simply because people don't think about the one in a thousand very much, though children also ride bikes to school. One such case was noted a bit over a week ago. Here.

I was reminded yesterday that most people really WANT to do the right thing and when something is brought to their attention, they will do so. I received the following email at work yesterday. Now you understand the title of this post. Now, we won't read of a child crippled someday by a dangerous grate, nor will we have some spokesman making excuses or some advocate using the incident to suck off more of my tax money. I find it all inspiring in a simple way. There was a little extra spring in my pedaling on the way home yesterday.

To the City of Hurst, I have only one thing to say. Thanks. You guys ROCK!

Click HERE for a Photo of the Offending Grate

Traffic Engineers Distracting My Motorists

Mostly, I have a lot of respect for the various branches of engineering. Our lives have been enhanced greatly by the advances they've made. Just the very fact you can read this is due to engineers. Thank an engineer next time you fly and have landed safely. My respect is greatly tempered by engineering that attempts to mix psychology with science. A notable offender in this regard is traffic engineering. To a large degree, this is unavoidable, because keeping traffic from terminally clogging up and from crashing into each other requires understanding of what and why people do what they do while IN traffic.This is not just the idle observation of a structural engineer; the Arizona Department of Transportation, here, states: "Traffic Engineering applies engineering principles to help solve transportation problems, and brings into play a knowledge of psychology and habits of users of the transportation systems."

Bellaire Before the "Improvements"

The real problem is that traffic engineers tend to get a little wrapped up in the mechanical aspects of traffic. They start adding more signs and dots and other traffic gew gaws that promise to make traffic "flow" and "keep us safe." Pretty soon, the forest has been lost amongst the trees and we start getting zones where motorists can run off the road without damaging themselves and markings that are more distracting that helpful. What's more, they tend towards ever increasing "channelization" without regard to any useful purpose it serves and sometimes without remembering that creating traffic channels can create conflict between motorized traffic and the rest of the road-using traffic. Indeed, the same Arizona source linked above, forgetting that many road users are NOT motorized traffic, and getting tunnel vision, also states: "...chances of ...becoming involved in an accident are least when he/she is traveling at the average speed of traffic." Other than getting bikes and pedestrians OFF the road entirely, the document does not explain how this is to be accomplished other than also noting it is not a good idea to set speed limits too low. So we have an inherent conflict. A conflict, which, because most traffic engineers are mostly motorists and NOT cyclists, tends to get resolved in favor of a motoring-centric approach. This tendency is exacerbated because a lot of traffic engineers work for cities and their political masters want to go faster and with less delay from those poor and pesky pedestrians and idiotic people on bikes. Of course, being politicians, few would actually SAY something like this.

Protruding Dots Represent a Diversion Fall Risk for Cyclists
and are Worse in Front of an Elementary School Where Children Can Be Expected

I've posted about elements of this before. Traffic engineers created my nemesis road. They took a perfectly good and usable road and made it a stress creator for cyclists. They compounded the error by making something dangerous for cyclists under the cloak of "Safe Routes to School." What's more, any emergency response now finds itself unable to proceed due to traffic engineers not creating any way to pass at all. I offered special scorn for "the killer B's:" these are Bollards, Bott's Dots, and bricks. Especially offensive are situations where the traffic engineers ignore established guidelines and use an even number of bollards that create added collision risks. Or they use BIG dots as if they meant to create a fall hazard for cyclists.

Even Numbers of Bollards Lead to Head-On Collisions.
Bricks Make Things Worse

However, I really got a little hot this week (beyond the amount justified by our continuing heat), when I saw the local engineers get carried away with dots and stripes in a local school zone. Specifically, Bellaire Elementary in Hurst, Texas. Crimeny, this is NOT a freeway onramp. A couple of traffic calming devices would have done the trick admirably. Why, I might wonder, would anyone feel it necesary to put in left-turn only and two-way left turn lanes in front of an elementary school? Would you allow YOUR school child to ride down this street after the traffic engineers got done with it? I guess the traffic engineers think they have done their job. They got any bikes OFF the road and thus reduced speed differentials. I hope they're happy (he says very sarcastically). We really DO need to cut government waste! Better to have simply left bad enough alone than to spend a lot of money to make things worse.

Northern Approach to Bellaire Elementary, Looking Like it Did in the Olden Days. A Simple Four Lane Road with Sidewalks

Northern Approach to Bellaire, Where the Traffic Engineering Distractions Start. A Left Turn Lane at a Four Way Stop Onto a Local Residential Street?
You Gotta Be Kidding!

Another Shot of the Road Desert They've Created at Bellaire Elementary.
Would YOU Let Your Second Grader Cross This Gauntlet?

Temporary Traffic Cones - Ready for the Motorist Dropoff Rush. The New Road Features Makes the Rush Even Worse

Traffic Engineer Handiwork Across from Bellaire. Any Cyclist Hitting These Dots Will KNOW IT!
Before the Traffic Engineers, This Portion was Simply One Lane Each Direction with Wide Lanes

No Reflector in Front of this Fire Hydrant. Just a Splash of Blue Paint