If you're a cyclist, how do you answer these questions?
- You're approaching a set of steel trolley car tracks that cross the street at an acute angle. How do you cross them on a bike? Is there more than one way?
- You're riding on a road that squeezes from two lanes down to one. You're in the right lane and traffic is passing on the left. How do you react when the lane merges? How do you react when the road goes BACK to two lanes?
- You are making a right hand turn, but within 1/4 of a mile, you need to make a left-hand turn. This may sound like a simple question, but it's got some complexities, like 3 thru lanes and two dedicated left-turn lanes. What will you do? How do you handle this?
Think about how you ride, where you ride, what you ride, and what determines the routes you choose. Think about lights, think about intersections, think about routes and lanes and timed lights and flow. And if you have ANY questions, seriously - don't jump to a berate of the system and demand change. Be the change you want to see - become the driver of a bicycle. Train your bike to follow your commands. Pedal where you want, and see the world in which you live open up. Come sign up for classes, or give us a call. We DO know better, and we DO want to help you, help yourself.
More later. And don't hesitate to post your questions in the comment sections, or send us a link of your favorite challenging piece of road via Google Maps or ridewithgps.com. We'll post our answers on CycleDallas, and maybe we can even video the perceived problem, and the solution, via helmetcam.
5 comments:
Thanks for making a difference in Dallas! The level of empowerment and confidence is truly fascinating!
Since you ask, I'd be interested in hearing what they suggest you teach between 3300 and 3700 W Glade in Colleyville. Well, beyond "grit your teeth and continue on." It was NOT something taught in the CS class I went to. Actually, neither was the stretch west of 3300 either. Control and release is a whole different world out in the suburbs. Y'all don't even have any buffalo over in the East.
Steve, I can't speak for Richard, or Cycling Savvy, but how wide are those sections?
What's the posted speed limit (and is it close to being observed)?
And what's the traffic volume during peak hours?
If the lanes are 14'+, FTR comes into play, as it's basically a wide outside lane, even though it's a single lane road.
Between 3300 and 3700, it's a single 12 foot lane with a median down the middle and a driveway-crossed "safe routes to school path" off to one side. West of 3300 it is a 25 foot road with double yellow lines down the middle.
The speed limit is 30mph, and people really don't drive a whole lot faster than that. Traffic volume is high enough that you get "trains" of cars at peak hours. On Glade, before they added a roundabout, you'd get traffic stacked up for a couple of blocks at the four way stop at peak.
FTR is not a consideration for me, except that Lieutenant Cooper of the Colleyville PD stated he'd ticket a cyclist himself for "impeding." The impetus for the discussion is at http://dfwptp.blogspot.com/2010/09/colleyville-pd-follow-up.html
My current approach is to use the "five vehicle rule" that is enshrined across the Western US, though not in Texas. If I have three cars stacked up behind, I look seriously for a place to safely pull off.
As I said, "control and release" on such roads is like nothing I heard in CS class, or like on Commute Orlando. I'll do a post on my blog so you can see what the two lane road looks like and the typical motorist approach to an assertive cyclist. In short, most of them pass safely despite the law. A few try to obey the law and THEY cause most of the conflict.
Most of these questions don't provide enough detail to answer concretely. That is to say "it always depends on conditions." I have 6 "acute" RRXs each way on my usual commute route. I tackle them this way.
Some of those roads sound like great ones to simply not ride on, if it can be helped. That's not to say you don't ride. But around Kansas City's suburbs, I can almost always find a more pleasant route that doesn't add too much time to the ride. Left turns are left turns. I'll take an opening, yes, even 1/4 mile back from the start of the turn lane, especially where there's a median, and simply ride on the left side of the left-most lane before the turn starts. Depending on where I need to be, I'll then take the right side of the right-most left-turn lane, or the left-most side.
And if traffic is positively bonkers and on the rare chance EVERYONE on the road seems to be in a fit of homicidal rage, AND there are no alternative routes that are any better? I'll be honest, I'd probably use the sidewalk, with all of the insane caveats and precautions that it entails. At that point, I might as well be walking, anyway. It's such a rarity, though, that I can't recall the last time I had to resort to it.
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