this post was submitted on 30 Aug 2023
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Lowering the speed limit isn't going lower the amount of cars stopped in the bike lane, opening car doors in front of bikers, or turning in front of bikers. What we truly NEED is more people just all around paying attention to what they're doing while in a car. It may be anecdotal, but all the bike crashes I've seen or heard of have been with cars going well below 30 mph, if they're not stopped or stopping. I'm all for medians separating bike lanes and car lanes, but I'll be real here, building infrastructure costs money. Lowering the speed limit increases ticket revenue.
Speed is the number one factor in the deadliness of a crash. It's true that speed alone isn't what makes cars so dangerous to cyclists and pedestrians, but it is very important. Also, while riding a bike having cars whizzing past at 40+ MPH a few feet from you is unpleasant and scary. This discourages people riding, and causes fewer bikes on the road, which means car drivers think about them less and you get more "she came out of nowhere!" statements from drivers.
I apologize if I made it seem like speed is unimportant. I agree with you completely that speed is a factor. But also, if a driver is going 40+ mph, they're already going above the speed limit and breaking the law. What I'm trying to get at is that having cement medians between bike lanes and car lanes will solve more problems vs ticketing. I mean the amount of people who get tickets, don't pay, get a suspended license, and still drive is huge. The way I see it is that speeders are gonna speed regardless of the limit, so putting physical barriers between the cagers and the bikers is a more effective solution. I mean I've seen a stretch of Wicker Park where there's a cement median separating the lanes and there's no way a car can get over it (in most circumstances).
Speed on the surface streets in Chicago are pretty much by default 40+ because enforcement is so lax. Until very recently speed cameras wouldn't even ticket you until you were past 40 in a 30. Only earlier this year was the limit reduced to 36mph.
I'm not arguing against separated bike lanes, or bike lane enforcement (at all!) but I don't think it's an either-or thing. One thing to consider is that there will never be separated bike lanes all over the city because there simply is not room. Having separated bike lanes in only some places doesn't do anything for most potential bike trips because if there is even one "scary stretch" on a potential bike trip, most cyclists will leave the bike at home.
For bikes to be a viable option there needs to be a non-dangerous way to get from any given point in the city to any other given point and that necessarily requires that shared roads be safe for cyclists.
Valid points, I see what you're saying. Speaking to "by default 40+", I guess I'd rather see better enforcement for the laws in place before making the laws stricter for everyone. I am a big fan of what Paris is doing though. Making "peaceful zones" where they're closed to through traffic. That doesn't really solve the problem for traversing the entire city though. Gosh I wish we can just fully overhaul the city's infrastructure to have such good public transportation that I don't have to worry about needing to drive my car to get anywhere in an adequate amount of time.
Good point, we could also use cameras mounted on CTA buses to photgraph motorists parked illegally in the bike lane. These photos could be used to fine the owner of the vehicle and proceeds could fund expansion of safety infrastructure.