Want better bike lanes? Make room for wheelchairs and mobility scooters
So far, Quebec is the only Canadian province that has updated its legislation to allow wheelchairs and mobility scooters on bike and roll routes and low-speed roads.
It appears a lot of you think that cyclists should be restricted to pedestrian speeds.
There are already sidewalks that are usable for mobility scooters and wheelchairs. Forcing them to use cycle paths is forcing them into unsafe areas.
On the contrary, in my experience there are no sidewalks or bicycle lanes or shoulders on the road. So what might be a terrible goal in relatively alternative-transportation-friendly spaces could also be a massive step up for other locations.
I'm sorry, but I'm pretty sure that most wheelchairs and mobility scooters aren't designed to handle going at 20km/h+ for long distances. Not to mention that they're wider than bikes.
This is horribly naรฏve and is just turning bike lanes into extended sidewalks because someone doesn't want to walk around disabled people. Instead, make sure that sidewalks are wide enough for people to walk anything wider than single file. Side walks and bike lanes are only a fraction the cost of normal roads, support far more people, and increase local businesses because a car's not gonna park every two blocks to buy a coffee then a single t-shirt, then a new notebook before going to work, but pedestrians and cyclists can and do easily do this.
I brought this up a few days ago.
It only makes sense to allow wheelchair and mobility scooter access to "bike lanes" (i.e. realistically, Multi-use paths), so that it actually remains protected and there's some legal fist that forces places to expand on their networks.
They need to be wider by design, never mind this 1m bullshit when cars come within inches of hitting you. Give us "bike lanes" that are the width of a single car lane. That's not asking for much.
Shared bike/pedestrian paths tend to be dangerous for both, because pedestrians tend to take up the whole width or jump right into the path of a bicycle or scooter.
Shared bike/pedestrian paths tend to be dangerous for both, because pedestrians tend to take up the whole width or jump right into the path of a bicycle or scooter.
Anecdotally, yes, I've experienced that happening.
Whether it's statistically true that shared multi-use paths are more dangerous, I'm not sure. Data does suggest that wider is better.
But in my experience, conflicts are common when you have narrow shared pathways, or have shared infrastructure in places where bike/pedestrian paths aren't normalized.
We have a section of trail along our waterfront that splits into a pedestrian and cycle path (dual lane) that's separated by several meters of grass, bushes, and trees. This is well away from any roadways.
While this might seem ideal, I can't tell you how many times you get cyclists in the pedestrians on the wrong path, which creates even more conflicts because you're expecting the separation.
Granted, there are parts of the world that have different forms of cyclist/pedestrian separation that I don't have here, so I can't comment to how effective other forms of trail design are.
Best practice around the world has been "make it as wide as you can", and also having a centreline seems to reduce conflicts and speeds (interestingly enough!).
When I have experienced conflicts with pedestrians (while I'm riding my bike or e-scooter), it's almost always because they are distracted, don't have control of their dog/child, or are walking in a group of more than 3 people and taking up both lanes of the pathway. I rarely, if ever, experience conflicts in sections where the path is wide.
But perhaps the caveat of my experience is that I cycle defensively, always ring/call out when I pass, and never speed past pedestrians.
So are you cool with my 90kgs barreling past you at ~30 km/h? Because thats why I want bike lanes and ride on the street when there isn't any dedicated lanes.
I'm not understanding. Are you saying that even with very wide bike lanes, you would be barrelling down it at 30km/h while other users were nearby?
Wider lanes doesn't mean that we become inconsiderate. Wider lanes make things more accessible to a larger user base. We should still be moving along those lanes at a reasonable speed.
Unless I totally misunderstood what you've said.
Make bike lanes wide enough so that they can be used by emergency vehicles!
Honestly, I'd like everyone to take back the road. Enforce lower speeds in streets AND in bike lanes. I don't mind bikes in the streets and runners in bike lanes, so long as we limit speeding on both so they can safely coexist.
So, what's your ideal speed?
Edit: lots of hate and no answers.
Edit 2: can no-one answer what speed this magically wide all use lane would be restricted to?
30km/h is typical on shared streets like that. That doesn't fix the issues on the connecting streets tho.
30 km/h and city centres should have no access except for vehicles with deliveries.
Where I live, that seems like a truly terrible idea.
Cyclists move really quickly and are somewhat reckless and selfish as they try to maintain their speed and momentum in traffic. It barely works with cars despite the dedicated lanes. It always causes problems anywhere that bike and pedestrian traffic meets, especially in areas n like temporarily diversion or construction.
I support bike lanes and, for quite a while, I use them extensively biking from the suburbs to my work downtown. I was probably the same.
We should not place slow-moving ( and vulnerable ) traffic in the path of cyclists. We do not need grandma or a paraplegic getting wiped out by a 180 pound guy going 25 km an hour.
You could try to make the bike lane massively wider. This would be a poor use of space. It would greatly increase congestion and the โslow alternative vehicle laneโ would be almost empty all the time. It would be 30 empty wheelchair parking spots at the mall while cars get in accidents trying to find a spot but worse.
Of course, out of the city, things are different. My family enjoys a nice bike ride every Sunday on a local road that has quite a wide lane running side it that pedestrians, wheelchairs, scooters, and cyclists share. The lane is wide enough and traffic density is low enough. There are no buildings to move so, the โroadโ got wider with the extra lane rather than space for cars being reduced.
I fully agree. Also if your bike lanes are like the ones in my city, these people (wheelchair and mobility scooter users) would find themselves suddenly in traffic. Right where they are in serious danger from cars.
