Portland, Oregon is doing an interesting thing to promote bicycle commuting: making intersections safer by painting "bike boxes" on the road where cyclists can wait for traffic lights to change.
Calling it a "bike box" makes it seem really involved. Folks, it's paint on the street. Which is to say, 1) it's cheap 2) you don't have to physically change the road and 3) enforcement against auto drivers is going to be tough. Still, I don't see why Austin couldn't do something like this on its existing roads.
That said: apparently cyclists in Portland can be pushy, mean, and rude, just like drivers anywhere. But I'll never stop believing that cyclists are just more enlightened than auto drivers.
I believe that any one who wants a driver's license should have to spend 1 month riding a bicycle, so they can learn to give the proper right of way when they're driving their screaming tons of metal deathbox off to pick bluebonnets for baby. This is apropos of nothing; I just wanted to write "screaming tons of metal deathbox."
2 comments:
Bike boxes are one of the ideas recommended by the City of Austin Street Smarts Task Force, Infrastructure Task Force. The recommendations will be presented to the Austin City Council for approval within the next few months.
http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/council/streetsmarts.htm
Also see http://tinyurl.com/2vpnuk for a calendar of bicycle advocacy events in the Austin area.
I'm glad to hear this!
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