Get Up 8

How To Turn Left

At the last Focus Area Committee meeting, the conversation turned for a while to the bike lanes downtown, and how we like them. It doesn't have anything to do with our Focus Area, and I can't remember how we arrived at the subject, but it was a lively discussion.

I haven't talked to anyone who loves the bike lanes: avid cyclists don't see the harm in them; casual cyclists are frightened of them, being between lanes of traffic as they are, despite the known advantages of their placement; timid cyclists would never go out in the street, so they putz along on the sidewalks, and don't see the point of the lanes, anyway. But no one, no one I know anyway, loves them.

Though planners and engineers worked to keep the bicycle lanes between lanes of motorized traffic, away from parking areas and clear of turn lanes, in some places compromises had to be made. In some places, for example on 11th between L and K, the placement of the bike lane is not ideal. It's up against the parking spaces, and complicates a left turn by motorists from 11th onto K.

At the meeting, a non-cyclist expressed confusion about the procedure for turning at intersections like this one. As a public service, is how to turn left when contending with a bike lane:

1. Though not a lane with motorized traffic, a bike lane is a lane, so you shouldn't just turn through it. You have to merge with it first. Here's what the Nebraska Driver's Manual says about changing lanes:

   Lane Changing

   • Signal.
   • Check in rear view and side mirrors.
   • Check over left or right shoulder. Check blind spots.
   • Check for other drivers who may also be moving into the same lane.
   • Change lanes.
   • DO NOT change lanes in an intersection.

   An unpopular consequence of this is that motorists may be requried to slow down and wait while bicycle traffic occupying the lane pulls ahead, clearing the way for the merger.

2. Once merged with the bicycle lane, the motorist should make a legal turn. Again, this is described in the Driver's Manual. I won't go into it here, because the tricky bit, I think, is merging with the bike lane.

That's it; not too tough. The merger is important because it communicates the motorist's intentions clearly to cyclists. This issue was on my mind because someone turned through the bike lane right in front of me this afternoon. There was plenty of time to avoid a crash, fortunately, but a merge would have made it a bit less harrowing for both of us.

Wed, 23 May 2007 17:35

• cycling