Luisa Lassova
Fri, 12 Jul 2002 15:18:56 -0700
As part of the discussion about dooring deaths I would like to add some comments about a section of Philadelphia that I ride my bike on every day: Spruce Street West of the South Street Bridge A new bike lane has been painted there recently, but instead of making me feel safe it has been a cause of major frustration. First, there are no markings that would designate this lane as a bike lane. Some drivers might actually misinterpret it as a convenient parking lane and indeed there is no demarkation line between the bike lane and the parking zone right next to it (if you are going west). Large cars and delivery vehicles are often parked halfway on the bike lane and double-parking directly on the bike lane is very popular. If I approach somebody who is double-parked and tell them politely that they are on a bike lane, I get dirty looks and worse. Another nuisance is Bus #40, which uses the bike lane to stop at bus stops. The lane is wide, but not wide enough to avoid being doored, even by cars parked properly. I agree very much with Peter Rosenfeld in that we should not encourage this kind of design. I feel most comfortable on roads like Lombard and Pine (in center city) where there is no right-hand curbside parking. Isn't this the way we should go rather than paint dangerous bike lanes? Luisa ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Luisa Lassova' Clinton Apartments #36 324 South 11th Street Philadelphia, PA 19107 Department of Neuroscience 123 Anatomy/Chemistry Building University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA 19104 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ _________________________________________________________________ MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos: http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx ---- You are receiving this because you are subscribed to the Bicycle Coalition of the Delaware Valley list named "bike." To subscribe or unsubscribe or for archive information, see <http://www.purple.com/list.html>.