Separated bike lanes the best solution

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If I could ride on paths like this all day, I would. Coyote Creek Trail.

I’ve gone from being an advocate of Effective Cycling (ride like a car) to advocating separated bike lanes. I’m talking about a berm of some type that divides cars from bikes.

The more miles you ride, the more likely you are to get nailed by a car. It’s the law of averages. Over the past several years, I’ve changed my riding habits to emphasize recreation paths, and I stay off of roads with traffic, like Pruneridge, Homestead, etc.

Despite all this, I still got hit. I will avoid riding in what I consider “riskier areas,” going forward. That was my mistake.

However, in my case a berm divider would have definitely prevented the accident. I’m not saying all bike lanes need them. Put them where there’s a lot of traffic. They create a hazard to bikes in themselves, but the right design can reduce the risk to an acceptable level.

An outfit called CityLab has the same idea. I don’t know anything about the group, but their name came up first in a search. They point to studies that show dividers can be effective.

When you’ve ridden as many miles as I have, those odds I mentioned start going against you. It’s something that should be foremost on all cyclist’s minds. The more we can separate bikes from cars, the better off we’ll be.