Author Archives: Dan Gutierrez

Problems with Bike Lanes Striped Solid to the Intersection

Some of our friends in other states, as well as some local advocates have asked me about why bike lanes shouldn’t be striped solid at intersections. Here’s a picture of just such a facility in Florida, care of our friends at CommuteOrlando.com:

http://commuteorlando.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/onramp1.jpg

Bike Lane Striped Solid at Intersection in Florida

Bike Lane Striped Solid at Intersection in Florida

Here’s a slide that gives a visual representation of the problems created by this bike lane treatment (and even a wide lane under Far To Right law guidance): http://www.cyclistview.com/uploadedphotos/Incompatible-Destination-Lanes-Draft.jpg

Incompatible-Destination-Lanes-Draft-600x450 Problems with Incompatible Destination Lanes

And here’s a detailed explanation in terms of Engineering and Planning and the Legal/Operational issues that result: Continue reading →

Conviction of motorist for assaulting two cyclists in Mandeville Canyon

The LA Times covered the conviction of an ER doctor who assaulted two cyclists in Mandeville Canyon last year in a case of road rage turned deadly:

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-cyclist3-2009nov03,0,761131.story

The question has been asked by the press and local advocates, “What can we learn from this incident?”

Last year, shortly after the incident occurred, CABO VP, Brian DeSousa and CABO District 7 Director, Dan Gutierrez, made a quick turnaround video answer to this question in order to help local advocates brief Los Angeles City Council members on improved cyclist/motorist relations.

The key is to improve motorist/cyclist cooperation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKSVwhLMjBk

City of LA Draft Bicycle Master Plan – Engineering Policy Problems

The current draft of the City of Los Angeles Bicycle Master Plan (BMP) gives up on bicyclist use of the vast majority of the roads in the city and focuses on bikeways. In effect, this plan allows LA Dept. of Transportation (LADOT) to simply ignore the overwhelming majority of roadways as facilities that bicyclists will use and relieves them of any obligation to make the surface standards, intersection designs, and signal detection support bicycling on this majority of roadways. What follows is a re-write of the top level policies with existing policies augmented and a small number of important new goals and policies added. My changes are identified by [square brackets]. Continue reading →