South Florida bike lanes — designed to kill?

Having investigated bike paths in Chicago under the heading “Designed to Kill,” Iwas shocked and appalled to see the laying out of bicycle lanes in Florida. They are often too narrowand too close to high speed traffic— some times over an actual 50 miles per hour. This is especially dangerous for children, seniors and the less experienced cyclists.

These bike lanes often appear and disappear withoutwarning. Cars must cross bike lanes to make right turns or enter turn lanes. They are alongside parked cars where an open door can force the cyclist into the car lanes.

As if all thatwere not bad enough, the most recent innovation, “sharrows,” (as reported in the Sun Sentinel on Sunday) are traffic lanes designated by a bike icon and chevron type arrows to indicate an equal use by bicycles and motor vehicles. This is madness. One of the most basic concepts of traffic safety is to never put slowmoving vehicles in the same lane as fastmoving vehicles. That is why limited access highways have a minimum speed limit. It makes no more sense than to have cars and pedestrians share the same lane.

In many areas, cycling on sidewalks is prohibited, but this is the safer practice. It was once common parental advice to tell our children to ride on the sidewalk as much as possible. Just as one example, Yamato Road, betweenU.S. Route 441 and Federal Highway, has miles of virtually unused sidewalks. Yet, cyclists are forced to use a very narrow shoulder next to speeding cars and trucks.

And what is the policy and practice when there are not bike paths designated? Are bikes not allowed? In fact, there are many places that bikes should not be allowed, but there are no such restrictions except on the major expressways.

We found in Chicago that every new designation of a bike lane near traffic resulted in increases in injury and death— usually to the cyclist.

In response to our findings, and the proliferation of lowspeed motor vehicles, such as Segways, golf cards, and motorized boards, we proposed the “Third Avenue Project.” Over time, communities should design and develop special routes for lowspeed vehicles of all sorts. Just as people developed the sidewalk to separate pedestrians from various forms of horse drawn and wheeled traffic, we should develop a series of third routes to accommodate the newer forms of personal conveyances. This can be done in the short run by repurposing of existing infrastructure and vacant land (of which Florida has an abundance) and more comprehensively by incorporating the Third Avenue approach in future transportation plans.

We should always keep in mind that in a conflict between horse power and pedal power, the latter usually loses.

LarryHorist moved to Boca Raton from Chicago, where he was a business leader and civil activist. His consulting firm had extensive experience with the design and construction of urban transportation projects. As head of the City Club of Chicago, he proposed the concept of The ThirdAvenue.