San Diego Bike Lanes
Mon, January 18, 2021 
San Diego has to be the perfect place to ride a bike all the year ‘round, the weather is continually “Nice.” It is also nice to see that the City is making a real effort to make San Diego a “Cycling Friendly” place. Kudo’s to them, however, when a city embarks on an ambitious program like this, it becomes impossible to please everybody, least of all the motorist.
Bike lanes are being installed, some with raised concrete barriers, and plastic posts to separate the cars from the bike lane. The problem is when cars have to turn right across the bike lane, or for that matter a left turn from the opposite direction, to enter a business, or side street.
The cyclist is now in greater danger than if he was on the street without a bike lane. In some cases, there is a row of parked cars outside the concrete curb and plastic posts. Now the situation is even more dangerous as the turning motorist cannot see the cyclist, and the cyclist does not see the car until it is nosing its way across the bike lane.
In a recent article in the San Diego Union Tribune, a city traffic engineer said that the bike lanes were not designed for people who wanted to ride at 20 or 25 mph and made that clear in this statement.
“The design was not meant to make things more convenient for them,” said Abraham Bandegan, the Encinitas traffic engineer who oversaw the project along the coast. “The design was supposed to make life a little bit miserable for them, but now a 6-year-old kid can ride to the beach and feel totally protected.”
I cannot understand how someone without a basic understanding of what bike riding is about, can be placed in charge of designing a major city’s bike lane network? Has Mr. Bandegan never heard of momentum? One cannot ride any distance on a bike at any reasonable speed above a walking pace and keep stopping and starting. It is why there has always been controversy over cyclists rolling through stop signs.
So, the real bike enthusiast, the roadie or commuter riding to work each day is screwed from both sides. 20 or 25 mph is considered too slow the ride in motorized traffic but is too fast to ride in the bike lane. I am not sure if there is a local bylaw that prohibits the cyclist riding in traffic where there is a bike lane, but even if there is not, he will still suffer the wrath of every passing motorist who perceives he should be on the bike lane.
And don’t be so sure that a six-year-old will stop at every intersection, I have seen some that age on electric bikes that will do 15 mph or more. They scare the crap out of me, a child that age has no concept of danger. Don’t tell me that a child won’t get ahead of a parent and blow through an intersection just as a car is turning.
Please do not let anyone else die. Local cycling enthusiasts speaking out about the design flaws in these bike lanes are not all arrogant assholes, many are simply frustrated that they know how to fix the problem through everyday experiences, but getting the powers that be to listen, therein lies the problem.
My thanks to Steve Farner, friend, long-time reader and commenter on this blog, for sending the two articles that prompted this post, and are linked in the text. Well worth a read to further understand the issue.
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Reader Comments (6)
You're viewing this through the lens of a cyclist. I am too.
Bike lanes aren't for bikes, they're for cars. Well, specifically to keep bikes out of cars' way.
They have nothing to do with safety and everything to do with the convenience of the drivers
Period
Gummee,
An astute observation, one I have to agree with.
Dave
I commute through San Francisco. The bike lanes I use separate me from cars and enhance my safety. I don’t bike in them the same way I ride on a rec ride.
Though not adding to this discussion per se, I just discovered that Golden Gate Park contained America's first exclusive bicycle path (1897). It was a five mile loop constructed with crushed gravel with a raised crown for drainage, 15-30 feet wide.
Fortunately, I can ride where there are no bike lanes, in North San Diego County.
The push for bike lanes, from the state as well as cities, is like other government projects: it is on a time frame. I was at the public comment meeting for Vista’s bike lane plan, in November, and the plan had to be submitted by the end of the year or the monies would go away. Their slide show had a rider going the wrong way in a bike lane, and when pointed out, they ignored it. There also is no coordination between adjacent cities, so a lane can end at city borders (are you then unsafe?), and there is no money or plan for educating drivers and riders on the usage of newly designed bike and “Sharrow” lanes. But Vista fulfilled their Public Comment obligation, with no requirement, or time for consideration.
Recent virtual city meetings in San Diego County have cut off public comments, saying they do not want to hear any!
These public employees hate competent riders and drivers. If you know how to ride a bike, and drive a car, you don’t need them to make you feel safe, much less to tell you how to ride or drive. Maybe they know they create a problem packing people in tighter spaces, frame a fake “housing crisis” to backfill lots with multi-level residences, and then blame people for not riding a bike instead of owning a car. How many people have you seen riding a bike to shop at Costco or Walmart, where they fill SUVs?
I have yet to see bike racks in front of either of those stores, or most other businesses. Even Rouleur Brewery in Carlsbad, a bike-themed brewery, is not allowed to have a bike rack in front!
In City Heights, parking spaces were taken away for those bike lane barriers, thus pissing many businesses off. They are still there. The irony is that cyclists rarely rode on that street, they ride on adjacent streets which are not as crowded and nicer to be on. There was no need for such a street change, but again, the money was there, rooted in agenda, and besides, isn’t it true “If you build it, they will come”?
Separating bikes from cars only makes things worse. As the Vehicle Code states, we are considered a vehicle with the same rights and responsibilities. None of these designs changes those laws.
We are not going to become Amsterdam; we are not giving up cars. So why are we being told to? Isn’t the government supposed to work for the people, not the other way around? Like an abusive person, they say “This is for your own good”. Oh no it’s not.
> Local cycling enthusiasts speaking out about the design flaws in these bike lanes are not all arrogant assholes
Wait, we're not?
Just kidding. I'm in North County San Diego too (and I have ridden my bike to Walmart and Costco many times), but I have no knowledge of these bike lane plans. On my daily commute I feel safe in zebra-stripe-buffered bike lanes on wide, straight (high-speed) suburban arterial roads.
Rest in Peace, John Forester.
I’m always disappointed that people are satified with bike lanes but not with a complete lack of skills training. Bike lanes MIGHT make cycling safer, but skills defineitly will and are more easily passed along and copied. Keeping people ignorant is a way of keeping them weak.