L St. Cycletrack Woes this morning

[bobco85]

Maybe it’s just me, but I must admit that at first I found it odd to call passes in bike lanes and cycletracks as I was only used to calling them on trails and sidewalks. Probably it was because I am used to not being able to be heard through the thick glass and metal of the cars around me on roadways (although I still try to be heard).

@Bilsko 44965 wrote:

I felt bad for yelling at him to call his pass -just as he’s about to fall- but with as busy as it was with other riders, we all need to be a little lighter on the pedals.

I think you did the right thing by giving him feedback. You couldn’t foresee an accident occuring immediately afterward.

@Bilsko 44965 wrote:

Hope he’s OK, hope he calls out his passes more consistently from now on

…and that he checks the road in front of him for what other people are doing before making a (silent in this case) pass, as clearly he did not see the person’s signal. I hope he’s okay, too.

[ShawnoftheDread]

I was silently passed on the left on the same block this morning, just 50 feet before we both had to leave the cycletrack on the right to pass the delivery truck parked in the track. I’m starting to think that the L Street track is actually too wide (never thought I’d say that about a bike lane).

[Bilsko]

@ShawnoftheDread 44985 wrote:

I was silently passed on the left on the same block this morning, just 50 feet before we both had to leave the cycletrack on the right to pass the delivery truck parked in the track. I’m starting to think that the L Street track is actually too wide (never thought I’d say that about a bike lane).

I’ve thought the same thing on a couple of occasions. I think part of the problem is that we’re otherwise conditioned to pass on the left, but with L. St. there are many situations where it makes more sense to pass on the right (either within the cycletrack, or out into the lane of traffic) because you’re on the left side of the road to begin with and when stopping, you’ll be all the way to the left anyways. Its a bit counterintuitive, so I’m not sure what design fix there is…

[Subby]

On the way in via WOD/4MRT/MVT I would say it is 50/50 that anyone rings a bell or calls out a pass. And the whole “covering your light” thing? Yeah almost no one does that.

I should probably start saying something.

[UrbanEngineer]

He clearly doesn’t understand the purpose of signaling and calling out passes if he’s passing people without calling out while they are signaling. Luckily he hit a curb and not a bus.

[Drewdane]

@Subby 44995 wrote:

On the way in via WOD/4MRT/MVT I would say it is 50/50 that anyone rings a bell or calls out a pass. And the whole “covering your light” thing? Yeah almost no one does that.

I should probably start saying something.

I sometimes call out “On my left, I guess!” when people do that to me. Passive-aggressive, I know, but it makes me feel better.

[consularrider]

@Subby 44995 wrote:

On the way in via WOD/4MRT/MVT I would say it is 50/50 that anyone rings a bell or calls out a pass. And the whole “covering your light” thing? Yeah almost no one does that.

I should probably start saying something.

I generally don’t cover my light when another rider is approaching, I just make sure my light is properly aimed and on the lowest setting appropriate for the lighting conditions. If the way a rider deals with an improperly aimed or too bright light is to cover it, that rider may spend a lot of time with a hand off his/her bars and not be in a position to avoid something in front of them either due to sight problems or balance issues.

[baiskeli]

@Drewdane 45166 wrote:

I sometimes call out “On my left, I guess!” when people do that to me. Passive-aggressive, I know, but it makes me feel better.

I thought I invented that. In any event, I’ve been using this too. It’s the best retort I’ve found so far.

[Rod Smith]

In my opinion, if you really need to call a pass, you shouldn’t be passing. Pass when it’s safe. Don’t be in such a hurry. Passing two riders on the left when they are both signaling to turn left is stupid whether you announce yourself or not.

The way this track is designed to work; cars turning left must stay out of the green zones, but bikes are not required to stay to the right of the bike lane. To discourage other cyclists from passing on the left when you are preparing to turn left, hug the curb.

[Rod Smith]

More importantly, @Rod Smith 45183 wrote:

To discourage CARS from passing on the left when you are preparing to turn left, hug the curb.

[jnva]

This was my close call this morning on L street.

[video=youtube_share;zay6WIuXgp4]http://youtu.be/zay6WIuXgp4[/video]

[brendan]

@jnva 49830 wrote:

This was my close call this morning on L street.

Ugh. Van was clearly making an illegal (and dangerous) turn. But I’d bet the driver didn’t understand the merge-into-cycle-track-before-turn requirement (or if so, realized it too late to merge legally).

Also, not a good idea to shoot between the two cars in the intersection. Not that I’d probably do it any differently.

Brendan

[dasgeh]

I fault the van most of all for not putting on his turn signal. He looked like he would go straight, in which case, shooting between the two cars is exactly what you’re supposed to do. Ugh.

[jnva]

This happens all the time and I expect it. I’ll post some more video tonight, two similar incidents this morning. Be careful out there, this cycle track is not exactly easy to navigate.

[UrbanEngineer]

In my opinion, Connecticut is the worst intersection along the L-Street cycletrack. They recently completed construction on the island along Connecticut, and it sticks out a bit into the intersection. Many cars already like to swing out unnecessarily wide to make their left turns. Put an oversized island in the way and the space for cyclists between the straight and turning traffic all but vanishes. When I’m waiting at that light to go straight, I wait in the left turn lane so as to not allow the cars to squeeze me.

[Author]

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