As I posted earlier, our neighborhood has nice bike lanes running through it on both sides of the road which is a divided roadway. Our subdivision is bisected by this divided roadway with half of the homes on one side and the other half on the other side. There are no homes that directly access this road; all homes are on loops or cul de sacs.
The total paved area in each lane, left to right, is 22-feet and the bike lanes (both sides) are 6-feet wide. This road is not a shortcut to anywhere and usually only the residents travel it. The Speed Limit on this road is 25-MPH and there is an “enhanced fine” for speeding here…
However, I have written that “power bike riders;” all who think they are in the tour de France race through here at up to 35-MPH and when they come through on a weekend, they often come in mobs of 10 to 20 strong.
As you can see there are no sidewalks and the walkers (both young and old), joggers, pet walkers, and young couples pushing baby strollers, all use the bike lanes.
It is not uncommon to have these bike riders scream and curse at anyone who dares to walk in the bike lanes and they do not care if it’s young or old… It’s the mob mentality…
So I say to you if you take some action against the “mob” to get their attention, such as with an air horn, do you really think it is not going to escalate to something physical or worse? The Sheriff’s Department has run patrols, but our neighborhood is not the only one they hit…
As I also wrote, I wish I had the “Rolling Coal” feature on my diesel truck to slowly pass them and cover them is a sooty, oily mess, all over those expensive riding outfits…
We don’t have any shared bike lanes that I’ve noticed in our little town. We do have bike and hiking trails though so not hard to find a place to ride. Here’s the thing though, I and the other neighbors on my road, had to pay for the rod when we bought lots, and had to pay again for the overlay. Every gallon of gas I buy goes to pay for the roads I use. Folks on bikes don’t pay anything. I don’t deny they should be able to use them, but just think the main purpose of vehicle travel should not be infringed on.
Thanks for the photo. Definitely looks like a road I’d enjoy to bicycle on. If a pedestrian was using the bike lane I’d either move into the road lane to pass them if no cars, or would stop and wait for the pedestrians to pass by. Do the pedestrians walk in the opposite direction of the bicycle riders, facing traffic? They should imo. That would make it safer for all the road’s users. .
I see that here too, groups or just individuals. For some unexplained reason these folks believe if they wear the cycle-racing kit, the rules of the road don’t apply. Not uncommon to see groups of ten go directly through red lights w/out even slowing down. There was one location where this was really common, and the Sheriff’s dept took notice about a year ago. I haven’t seen this sort of rude behavior at that intersection since. I don’t see the kitted-up riders there either, they must be using a different road.
The main roadway through our subdivision is just about 1-1/2 miles long and if you were to walk, jog, or bike all the cul de sacs and loops, it would be just over 8-miles. The Bike path is only on the main roadway.
As for pedestrians walking or jogging, they seem to not care which side of the road they are on unless it is hot… I personally will only walk facing traffic. As for bike riding, I always ride with the traffic flow, but looking behind me often…
The roadway meanders, snakelike, through the subdivision going North and South and East and West, so the folks who are trying to avoid the hottest part of the day may cross back and forth, from one side of the road to the other to “Hug Shade…”
Since most folks using the bike path for any reason live here, they generally respect the rights of others, as we are all neighbors and generally know folks from all over the subdivision.
Another point, our subdivision is managed by volunteers.
We do not have a Managing company that costs many thousands of dollars. And our HOA fees are only about $200 a year.
Since we control our subdivision, we have quarterly member’s meeting where you can voice issues like abuse or safety issues with walking or biking.
It seems that 95% of our problems are caused by “interlopers;” we generally get along fine…
That is very similar to where I live. Difference is the main road doesn’t have any sidewalks or a bike path. You ride at your own risk. And over half the dead-end roads are NOT paved.
