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Bike Lane SymbolPainted cycle lanes result in closer passes by motorists finds study
Far from protecting cyclists, painted cycle lanes are likely to result in closer passes from motorists, according to a new study published in the journal Accident Analysis and Prevention. Researchers concluded that when a cyclist is in a bike lane, a passing motorist has a clear lane ahead and is therefore less likely to carry out an overtaking manoeuvre.
The study followed 60 people who regularly commute by bike in Melbourne, Australia, following them on their daily routes.
A custom device known as a 'MetreBox' was installed to quantify the distance drivers allowed when passing the cyclists. More than 18,000 passes were recorded from 422 trips.
The researchers found that one in every 17 passing events was a close pass (defined as under 1m).
Passing events that occurred on a road with a painted bike lane and a parked car had an average passing distance that was 40cm less than on a road without a bike lane or parked car.
"Our results demonstrate that a single stripe of white paint is not sufficient to protect people who ride bikes," said Dr Ben Beck, lead author of the study and Monash University's Deputy Head of Prehospital, Emergency and Trauma Research.
"In situations where the cyclist is in the same lane as the motorist, the driver is required to perform an overtaking manoeuvre. Whereas in situations where the cyclist is in a marked bicycle lane, the motorist has a clear lane ahead and not required to overtake. As a result, we believe that there is less of a conscious requirement for drivers to provide additional passing distance."
Beck, who is also President of the Australasian Injury Prevention Network, said the findings indicated there needed to be far greater investment in segregated cycle lanes.
"We know that vehicles driving closely to cyclists increases how unsafe people feel when riding bikes and acts as a strong barrier to increasing cycling participation," he said.
A 2013 Canadian study found that painted cycle lanes had virtually no effect on cyclist injury rates. It recommended a programme of slowing traffic and separating bicycles into their own lanes as effective ways of reducing the number of collisions.
Belgium’s word of the year for 2018 was “Murderstrip” – defined as a painted bicycle lane on a dangerous street next to fast-moving cars.
Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.
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17 comments
And that horrible green "sandtex" paint shown in the picture, it makes it feel like you are cycling against the wind.
A local favourite of mine is where they could barely squeeze the painted bike in, as the width of the "bike lane" is so narrow. I stopped once and best estimate is that it's about the width of a wheel, so 75cm wide at most.
The section of road is on a bend with high hedges/trees so, if you're insane enough to use the bike lane, you are very close to the edge of the road making it just that bit later before drivers see you as the come round the corner behind you.
Of course it's not maintained, and the vegetation is encroaching making the lane itself even narrower. Again, if you're brave enough to cycle in the lane then there's also the fun of random branches sticking out.
The worst part though is the width of the carriageway that is left, and that there are solid double white lines down the middle. So someone actually believed that you could ride within that lane and have a car pass you whilst staying to the left of the solid white lines.
The bike lane ends as soon as you come out of the bend onto the straight, so for me it really is a case of WTF were they thinking:
BikeLane.JPG
I don't think the problem is the painted cycle lane in itself, but rather the width of it. During my 20-mile commute I always look forward to a particular section of road with a cycle lane in it, as it's wide enough to guarantee there's sufficient space between passing vehicles and me. Other bits of cycle lane elsewhere on my route are so narrow that I totally ignore them.
My own experience is that if I ride centrally down the main road, car drivers are more likely to pass fully into the other lane to pass me. It also gives me a larger area to quickly move away from close passing cars. So I now ride everywhere centrally whether country lane, B or A road
I'm sure you're right that you get more space that way. It takes a bit of nerve to do it.
I'd be interested to know, do you get much abuse, or many punishment passes? Or do most drivers accept it gracefully?
I seem to get less close passes and abuse-hardly any abuse, and its not going to stop the nutter driver wanting to harm you-that wouldnt matter where I positioned myself.
I l live in the countryside but venture into the nearest town, half is country lane the other is 60mph B road. Before I changed my riding postion cars would hardly slow to pass me, now I sense/hear alot slowing down to go by.
Yes it does take a bit of nerve, Im always happy to move over when nothing is coming in the other direction to show drivers Im aware they are behind. However I will hold up traffic when I see anything in front that I feel is a pinch point. The upside is you slow traffic down to your speed and once a few vehicles are backed up they all have to re-assess how to pass me- instead of the usual carry the same speed as the vehicle in front if I were to give them room to sneak by.
The Aussie report is like many others, all of which say the same; painted cycle lanes don't work.
They might work a bit better in this country if any of them were actually to the recommended width, 2m, but they are always to the minimum width, which is pretty much whatever the local authority thinks it can get away with. I'm sure I've seen some which are less than the width of handlebars.
My own experience is that if I ride centrally down the main road, car drivers are more likely to pass fully into the other lane to pass me. It also gives me a larger area to quickly move away from close passing cars. So I now ride everywhere centrally whether country lane, B or A road
I probably don't represent most drivers, but when I drive, I find the cyclists who ride in the gutter very annoying - when I am emerging from from a junction, they are often not visible until quite late. When I driving behind them, they are a often in the corner of my vision - which they wouldn't be if they were riding in a more central possition. The worst thing perhaps (actually there are plenty of worse things on the road), is the cyclists who cycle on far left of one lane, on a road that has two or more lanes in the same direction - just take the lane, make it clear to other road users that they need to take one of the other lanes.
There does need to be clear and enforceable minimum standards for cycle infrastructure. Narrow painted lanes should not be allowed - you either have painted but wide, or a physically segregated lane
Of course, if you can put in a wide painted lane, you can put in a segregated lane...
Their only real value, if less than about 5 feet wide, is to leave a clearish area when the traffic stops.
the familiar sight of a car waiting to turn right, leaving a 2-3ft gap and the next car will move right over to the left as if they think they might get through that space, and then are surprised to find it is less than the width of a car, but they have effectively blocked any cyclists from making progress
No shit Sherlock. And it's hard to blame the motorists, much as it galls me to say it. "Your lane, my lane, must be safe". There's a road near me which has central islands to protect turning traffic, fair enough, there have been many accidents historically, it then widens out with a solid white line which for the most part is wide enough to cycle in. Cars will then pass you closely irrespective of the fact they probably have a good metre and a half to the centre broken line. I now bike in the main carriageway where ironically I get more space. This research is no surprise to me.
This doesn't surprise me at all.
How often have we read comments to the effect that "It wasn't a close pass or dangerous - I didn't go into his lane!" as a cyclist riding in a painted cycle lane is passed by a HGV leaving about a foot's space at 30-40 mph?
Problem is, that many motorists think that its perfectly reasonable to do this, for the reasons stated in the article.
Other problem is, that many motorists get really quite het up if you then exercise your right not to ride in the 70cm wide painted lane...
As I drove down the A5 the other day in the company of Mrs Worcester, I asked her, 'Do British drivers not get taught how to overtake anymore?'
She passed her test a lot later than I did.
'Yes, they do,' was her reply. She said that she at least was taught that when overtaking another vehicle, you wait until you can see its headlights in your inside rear-view mirror (and not just in the left-hand 'wing mirror' as it used to be called) before you move left back into the same lane.
My question to her was prompted by a thick c--t in a - surprise!!! - white Audi who had just passed us and pulled in front us when the rear nearside of his penis substitute was about eight to ten inches from the front offside of our car. This is a common enough occurrence that it appears to be systematic on British roads.
And I think that the 'get in the bike lane' thing is similar: drivers are not taught that cycle lanes are not mandatory, and that if cyclists want to ride elsewhere, then we fucking can, and no amount of high-pitched shrieking from them can - or should - affect us in any way.
number of cyclists surprised by study results: 0
Around here (UK) there are a number of roads with the dashed white line 'cycle lanes', containing the obligatory squashed-in painted bike symbol. They mark the gutter, and encourage close passes, so I avoid & cycle slightly to the right of the lane; asserting my road space. They can be useful in heavy queuing traffic for filtering, always assuming motorists don't ignore the lane and stop in it.