On 2018-02-19 15:14, Wolfgang Strobl wrote:
Frank Krygowski :
On 2/19/2018 1:42 PM, Joerg wrote:

Anyhow, I would never pass a truck on the
right unless I have established an acknowledged visual contact with the
driver.

Or so he believes. In fact, its just the oposite far too often. A
cyclist is stopped on a bicycle lane by a traffic sign or a red ligth at
an intersection, then a small or large truck catches up, waiting at a
point where eye contact is not even possible. Quite often, cyclists
_not passing_ but waiting on the right side of a truck have been killed,
because they followed that advise above. For the reason, see
http://www.bbsoft.de/imgProd/strasse...kurve_04_g.jpg
(ractrix curve?)


If the green is a bike lane or path that intersection design is
completely screwed up. I would never advise anyone to stay next to a
truck there. With my comment I meant cycling facilities designed by
competent traffic engineers, not by incompetent ones.


A few years ago, I documented a severe accident which happended a few
hundred meters from my house and my childrens school. It's in German,
but the pictures may illustrate the situation. It comments on an article
in my local newspaper, which was illustrated by the crushed bike under
double tires of a truck - frightening, but not very informative.

http://www.mystrobl.de/ws/fahrrad/rwbilder/hausdorffstr/index.html

"Truck overruns cyclist on bike path when turning right

When he turned right into August-Bier-Strasse, he caught a 34-year-old
cyclist who was traveling in the same direction on the Hausdorffstraße.
According to the police, the truck dragged the woman a few feet. The
34-year-old suffered severe injuries and was hospitalized after first
aid on the spot with a rescue truck."


So did anyone report in _detail_ _how_ these accidents started? What
precipitated them? Did the cyclists blindly trust their rights? Usually
there are tire marks and such when a cyclist hits the brakes hard. Were
there? How long? Speed? Et cetera, et cetera.

Sure, the motorist is nearly always at fault in such situations.
However, I have, especially in Germany, seen cyclists blow through
intersections at high speed without as much as even a slight head turn
to the left. One guy proudly posted a video in the German NG where
someone (might have been he himself) blew through a city at full speed.
Just watching it made me cringe.

[...]


In other words, who would design an equivalent lane stripe for a motor
vehicle? Not even the most incompetent highway designer. Yet American
bike advocates lobby for such nonsense until the politicians cave in.


They generally don't. European ones sometimes do, they have to learn a
lot more. This is how it's done right:

https://goo.gl/maps/2spLh13Junn

It is not. I've cycled to and from work almost my entire professional
life. Indeed, it is often painted that way. Unfortunatly, it hasn't
worked, and it still doesn't work.


So tell us, _why_ does it not work? It works for cyclists in America.


Btw. I've never seen working road paintings which need additional fine
print on traffic signs on the sidewalk. "BEGIN RIGHT TURN LANE YIELD TO
BIKES". In actuall fact, these are symptoms of a failing construct - too
much boilerplate necessary.


No, they alert drivers and they usually work.


Quite some years ago, on my way to work, such a construct allmost got me
killed, exactle here https://goo.gl/wHu6jE. In order to go to my
workplace, I had to turn left on that intersection, following the left
turn arrow on the road. It looks quite easy on the drawing board. Well,
if you turn around and look back, you will see two details. First, the
road has a slight curve. Second, its slightly rising. A third fact isnt
visible by streetview: on two of three day, a few cars are parked just
curve-upwards. In combination, it is very advisable to leave the bike
line early, before the curve and arrange to the left. Not doing so is
dangerous. Drivers of cars coming around the corder wil see you too
late, for example. As a principle, one tries to avoid changing lanes in
a curve, especially as a cyclist.


1. Go and measure the remaining width of the straight-ahead and
left-turn lane. Sans bike lane. Then you will realize that even a little
Isetta would have trouble getting through there without violating the
required space to cyclists. Now imagine a big van or truck with the
driver being in a hurry (like you were on the bike) barreling through there.

2. The left turn "bike lane" also reduce the left turn lane to way below
regulation width.

3. The left turn "bike lane" is way too short. Maybe they only have one
bicyclist in that town and figured it suffice for him or her.

4. They didn't even bother to write bike lane or a symbol on either bike
lane in the area leading up to this intersection. Has paint become so
expensive in Germany that it would have bankrupted the village?

5. If people come around that corner too fast there is a simple
solution: 40km/h speed limit or less. Or do you think it's ok if they
run over a kid that happens to be in the road? Or crash into the back
end of a traffic jam?

This is almost the classic case of gross incompetence on the part of
whoever designed this "solution" and those who signed off on it. If
people are too incompetent to get it done right or if it can't be done
correctly because of existing buildings then don't build a bicycle
facility at all.


Well, on a certain day, some driver, perhaps already angry because of
some earlier events, got angry when noticing a cyclist, as they say, in
the middle of the road, blocking traffic. So he started to overtake me
on the left turn lane, forcing me to the right, while intending to go
straight thru the intersection, as I learned later.

What could I do? I just slowed down, then turned left again, again
overtaking him on the left (to be precise, just following the marked
left turn lane, according to my route). What I didn't foresee was the
fact that this driver understood that innocent maneuver as an attempted
agression against him. So he struck back by ripping the stearing wheel
to the left, in an attempt to hit me side by side.


You've got such lowlifes everywhere. Unfortunately they keep their
driver license until something terrible happens. And even then they
sometimes keep it. Most people don't report such incidents and that
fuels their "success".


Whether it was sheer luck or skill, I don't know, somehow I dotched the
murderous attempt by making an almost instant left turn, as well.
Fortunately, there was no oncoming traffic.

Personally, I was neither angry nor frightened at that moment, just
puzzeled. We normally just don't have shootings in the schools.


Sure you do.

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amoklauf_von_Winnenden


... Almost
as rare are people who behave like that in traffic.


The amount of road rage I have seen on German autobahns is beyond
compare. I lived there a few decades.


... I can only assume
that road paintings like those blandished by Joerg generate false
assumptions and so trigger such behaviour in some people.


They don't. If a guy with road rage shows up nothing will stop him,
signs don't matter.


How did it end? The motorist fled the scene, another motorist stopped
behind me, got out of his car quickly, shouting something about him not
believing what he saw, then asking in a more quieter tone, whether I'd
like to have a witness, even offering his mobile phone to call the
police.

Unfortunately, I was already somewhat late for an important meeting at
the office, so I thanked the man for his offer and went my way.


Now that was a serious mistake. If you had a witness and the license
plate info then that meeting cannot possibly have been as important as
getting such a knucklehead off the road. Why did you not at least
exchange names and phone numbers with this witness and got in contact
later that day? That takes less than 15 seconds.



If you virtually move along that road you will see that the bike lane
switches to the middle, in this case even across two right-turn lanes. I
nearly always have to go straight ahead there and despite coming through
there during rush hour never had a problem.

Joerg, there absolutely are advocacy groups lobbying for bike lanes on
_all_ streets, and wanting them to the far right for protection. They
even lobby specifically for bike lanes in door zones. I know of two
cities in Ohio that caved into those demands.

Have a look at the "Pützchens Chaussee" from the link above. This bike
lane is less than 1 m wide and has parking on both sides. Lots of it.


Exactly, and the lanes on the road in the intersection area are way to
small. An accident waiting to happen. Now look at my link again and you
will see that they did not make the mistakes I listed farther above.

It's not that American bike facility planners never mess up but after
having lived long enough in Germany, the Netherland and the US I can
rightfully say that the German bike facility planners are the worst of
the three groups. By far.


Fun fact: this road was a model project for bike lanes in Germany, there
was a scientific study which was input to what now is now called
"Schutzstreifen" in our StVO (Straßenverkehrsordnung), a lane which is
too small to meet even the minimal requirements to be used safely and
which is not mandatory - in theory. Of course, that study preceded the
building and expansion of residential areas left and right of that road.
There where almost no junctions, no driveways, no parking on the
sidewalks. Ein Schelm, wer Böses dabei denk (Honi soit qui mal y
pense.)


Sorry to say but that being a model project confirms my belief that bike
infrastructure planners and "infrastructure scientists" in Germany are
largely incompetent.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/