I read Richard Schmitt’s opinion piece, “Wrong Side of ADA” with great interest and agreement with his stance. I, too, have serious concerns about many of the bicycle lane changes within the city.
I have heard from several business owners downtown that they themselves or their customers have experienced close calls or accidents caused by electric bicycles speeding down those bicycle alleys on Marsh. I have heard from several elderly residents who have parked beside one of those “alleys” and had close calls with oncoming traffic when they stepped out of their cars.
Those with limited mobility have complained of having to heft their walkers, canes, and/or arthritic limbs over the outside concrete curb, through the bike lane itself (hoping no bicyclist will run a red light behind them), and then up onto the curb connected to the sidewalk.
And at least one non-electric bicyclist I know has been hit by a speeding electric bicyclist. So not only is the bicycle lane infrastructure ill-conceived and dangerous, but many bicyclists (usually of the electric kind) are using it as their personal racetrack by speeding and running stop signs and red lights. As I told Mike Boswell, our new City Council member, the city bicycle project may have made the streets safer for many of our bicyclists, but it has made it much more dangerous for our pedestrians!
Dr. Nicki Edwards
San Luis Obispo
This article appears in Dec 12-22, 2024.
The bike lanes were and are very poorly thought through. This town can’t effectively support cars and bike lanes and sidewalks because it does not have the space to accommodate all the moving parts. Since you’ve asdded how many thousand homes that bring 2 cars a piece, you forgot you can’t have everything you visualize. Like it or not, old time residents can’t appreciate the dog pile of people you’ve brought into the community and remain happy, polite and bike riding carefreely.
As a cyclist, these “protected” lanes scare me. Cars and pedestrians don’t see us, and we don’t see them. (Forget about making lefthand turns!) We cannot take evasive action because of the curbs, posts, and other barriers meant to keep cars from hitting us. And pedestrians, especially those parking, struggle to navigate the barriers too.
And when I drive or walk those areas, I continue to worry about what I cannot see and what can’t see me. Drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians alike are at risk.
I feel much safer cycling on an open shoulder or bike lane where I can see you and you can see me — and where we all have room to maneuver around an unexpected pedestrian or jogger, car door, or turning vehicle (and, yes, around stop-sign runners of all types). The notion of barricades might have seemed smart in theory, but the reality is actually more dangerous. And not just in SLO — San Francisco has seen a jump in accidents on its equivalent lanes for the same reasons.
My strategy is to avoid those death-trap barriered lanes on Higuera, Marsh, Nipomo, Chorro, Santa Barbara, etc and instead use quieter, more open side streets when possible. There’s just less to go wrong.
Change is hard, especially for older people. Give it some time and you will be used to protected bike lanes.