----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, October 09, 2003 11:21
AM
Subject: [UC] RE: Bike traffic increases
dramatically on Spruce St
Just for the
record, a few weeks ago I was riding in that bike lane and got doored by a
passenger who suddenly got out of a car in the lane next to me. I wound
up in the ER for an open fracture to the toe (weird injury, I know, but I was
wearing sandals). Before that, I was always vigilant and terrified when
riding on Spruce between 38th and 33rd, and now I just plain won't ride there
at all. It's just too busy with taxis, loading, and chaos. No one
pays attention to bikes, and despite the sign regarding ticketing vehicles in
the bike lane, I don't think people think twice about hovering there in their
cars. I honestly don't know what should be done there, but there is
still an inherent conflict between the bike lane presence and the fact that it
just isn't safe... in other words, just because you put a bike lane there does
change the nature of the street. So, what's the
solution?
(I'm ccing the
univcity list on this, not to bring up the bike topic again but just as a
reminder to be safe on Spruce.)
ELISABETH
DUBIN
On tuesday afternoon I took a one hour bike
count on Spruce St. west of 38th using a digital camera. Tentatively between
110 and 120 bikes used Spruce St between 4 and 5 pm. In 1998 a pre-bike lane
count was undertaken by the Streets Department Consulting Team at RBA 6
hours a day during 3 weeks in April. Back then the peak evening hourly count
average was 75 bikes. The absolute highest number for any hourly count
was 91 bikes in the morning.
This represents a 40 - 50% increase in bike
traffic after bike lanes were installed on Spruce St. Over the few
days I will do further analysis of the photos to determine helmet use,
wrong way and sidewalk riding.
A side note - a Penn Police van and a flower
van blocked the bike lane for several minutes in front of me., While the
police van could claim emergency vehicle status (they were answering a call)
the officers basically ignored the flower van right behind
them.
John Boyle
