Description
Bikers are riding in bike lanes in the wrong direction. This creates dangerous situation with oncoming traffic, but especially with drivers making a right turn onto Orange from side street. If bikers are travelling in wrong direction there is ZERO visibility of biker behind parked cars, This is a serious accident waiting to happen.
16 Comments
Brian Tang (Registered User)
Ken, what would you recommend as a solution?
Also, do you think you could please drag the issue marker to the correct location using the edit link in the email confirmation you received when you reported it? Thanks! —Brian
CT Livable Streets Campaign (Registered User)
At the East Rock School last night, Lt. Thaddeus announced he would be doing a major enforcement crackdown against bicyclists this summer.
The residents in attendance uniformly called for vehicular traffic enforcement to be prioritized (given the number of unsolved, hit-and-run deaths recently caused by drivers in New Haven, among other factors), but unfortunately there's no established way to track actual tickets issued so it will be hard to measure what actually happens.
Ken (Guest)
A number of things:
1. Bikers should be taught how to ride safely. This can be part of a public information campaign.
2. The lanes could be marked with huge directional arrows making it obvious to the rider when they are going the wrong direction.
3. If bikers refuse to use the lanes correctly, remove the lanes. They are now creating the illusion that bikers can do anything within those boundaries.
Also note that drivers need to be educated about opening car doors when parked. I have seen many throw their doors open without checking for either vehicular or bicycle traffic. A sudden car door suddenly thrown open in a biker's path could result in serious injury and even loss of life.
CT Livable Streets Campaign (Registered User)
I agree, Ken. Some cities have passed anti-dooring ordinances that increase the penalty for dooring and provide educational campaigns.
My sense is that people also ride the wrong way here because they are concerned about speeding on the street. Many drivers obey the speed limits, especially with the new pedestrian signs in place. However, 1) those signs should be left in year round instead of just being there for half the year, 2) they aren't sufficient enough to control speeds, and 3) 25 miles per hour is far too high of a speed limit for a residential street like this - it should be reduced to 15-20 miles per hour.
If citizens were less worried about dooring and extreme speeding on Orange Street, they might be more comfortable riding the correct direction.
GregL (Registered User)
Ken (Guest)
Ken (Guest)
juli (Registered User)
Anonymous (Guest)
CT Livable Streets Campaign (Registered User)
I ride on Orange and see this behavior often, among adults, kids, families -- really don't think it is very rare.
However, I agree with you that the speeding is far worse and a much greater detriment to safety and quality of life overall. Although I don't own a car now, I used to drive on Orange Street almost every day and during that time was almost killed at least twice by drivers blatantly running through red lights and speeding (bad combo) on Orange.
Anonymous (Guest)
These cyclists give good cyclists a bad name. They also make drivers annoyed at all cyclists, as opposed to considering that one bicyle on the road = one fewer car on the road.
All cyclists should (i) wear a helmet, (ii) have front and rear lights when cycling at dusk/night, (iii) wear high-visability clothing, and (iv) obey every traffic rule (including stop signs and traffic lights).
I do all three and have never had any problems on the road.
thirdeye73 (Registered User)
GregL (Registered User)
Anonymous (Guest)
クローズド Ken (Registered User)
クローズド Ken (Guest)