Shek's Footprint

This is a story on a section of two lane road on Deerwood Park Blvd between Gate Parkway and Centurion Parkway. It is about 796 yards long. I usually ride my vintage Dutch bike at 14 miles per hour lending me to finish that section at a little less than two minutes. This excruciatingly lengthy period of time is apparently too much for a motorist to yield.

After a year of staying on the right of the very narrow lane and getting shouted at, honked at and spat at and almost tackled down, I decided to send a stronger message. Invoking traffic law 316.2065(5) exception 3, I decided to control the lane on that section. I ride on that path usually four times a day which ensures a daily doze of 1.67 honks and 1.55 abuses shouted out to my honor (these stats are not accurate but very close). I get anxious and nervous while taking the lane.

This afternoon, Jose Falqez, a fellow commuter shared an alternate route with me.

The red line is the section of road which is a narrow two lane. The blue pin denotes my work place. The blue line is the route I usually take to go home. I tried out the alternate route in green today. It adds another 796 yards to my trip and an extra two minutes. This alternate route allows me to leave work at around 5 PM without having to wait any longer for traffic to clear. I usually wait till 5:30 PM to be courteous to the motorists. This way, I can leave on time, keep motorists happier, add two minutes to my trip and a few more years to my heart.

This is how they roll in The Netherlands: Directness 

The red rectangle along the road is a construction zone. They are widening the two lane section to a four lane road. I hope they put in some kind of a bicycle facility along that road. There are five right turns on the west bound lane: two hotels and the South East Library which post a hazard for cyclists by motorists negotiating a right turn. This makes the outer lane of the newly widened road an appropriate venue for Sharrows. See Sharrows in LA here: Link.

A proper two lane road with adequate signage for bicycles will add much needed Actual Safety and Subjective Safety (definitions) to the trip.