STROAD bike lane from hell
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 3 ก.ย. 2022
- In this video I take you down the most chopped up impossible to navigate unsafe bike path on a STROAD here in Sudbury. It begins, it ends, it begins again, it ends again. As a main artery to downtown I use it a lot but I'm supposed to bike on the road when the path doesn't exist. With cars going over 60km/h with a seizure disorder......yeah that makes sense.
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![Stroads are Ugly, Expensive, and Dangerous (and they're everywhere) [ST05]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/ORzNZUeUHAM/mqdefault.jpg)
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My city has token bike infrastructure like this, alongside cheeky little signs saying "share the road". I bet the planners have a chuckle when they paint a line between two car lanes and call it a bike lane. I'm also convinced that nobody in local government has ever biked a day in their lives.
"There's room for it"
This is such a sad statement if you really stop and think about it. It implies that cars are the default, and anything else better not inconvenience cars.
There's almost always room for a bike lane. Sometimes, that room happens to be taken by one of the six car lanes. THERE'S your problem.
One the worst things about Bike lanes is once a city puts them in, they make it illegal to bike on side walks. Seriously I'll take my chances and go slower on a side walk than risk it on a road, painted bike gutter or not.
Looks like a typical North American design that is obviously an after thought. My city has an awesome protected bike route that is part of a rapid transit bus line. But, unfortunately when it ends you get dumped into a stroad🤦🏻
When there's no infrastructure and the road feels unsafe I bike on the sidewalk guilty free, simply because I feel safer. Of course I go with a speed compatible with pedestrians.
Lol I always bike on sidewalk. You think I’d entrust my life into some people potentially not even looking at the road ahead? Fuuuuck that. Especially in florida where any moron with half a brain can obtain a license. No thanks. Sidewalk for me.
I do too, I don’t know why some people treat this like a mortal sin. It’s all about being considerate of pedestrians when they are present but so often there aren’t any because people don’t walk places that much anyway (unless it’s an older city like NY)
If Im on my mountain bike more often than not Im on the sidewalk instead of these roads. I only really commute to and from mountain bike trails on it, I more often use my ebike to get around town I find it too hard to get around people on a 60lb fat ebike you know. Its no sin to stay safe your life is more important than a cars convenience 👍
Due to a terrible accident involving a bicycle and a mother and a baby carriage on the Bike trail in the late 1990s, Pennsylvania rewrote it's Bicycle laws. Prior to that accident, if a bike trail existed next to a road, bicyclists had to use that trail. The actual accident involved a badly design bike trail (The County tried to pass it off as a rails to trails, but it was a trail built UNDER a elevated test track, the elevated test track was removed and the trail built where it had been including going down steep grades the elevated track had eliminated by going with a much lower grade on those hills).
Anyway, a high speed cyclist was going down one of those grades, at the bottom of which was a radical turn. The Cyclist made the turn, hitting the mother killing her. This trail was open not only to cyclists but pedestrians and part of it had been an old horse path, now paved over (It was also in a county park).
The issue was who was to blame for the accident? The cyclist, by law, had to use that bike trail. There was no speed limit on the bike trail. The mother had the right to be on the trail. The state had passed a law that forbade the cyclist to be on the 25 mph four lane highway next to the bike trail. The County had built a bike trail with very steep grade and sharp turns. It was clear the COUNTY was at fault, and unlike many local governments, County Governments are viewed as part of the State Government. It was a legal nightmare for the County and the State. They managed to keep the settlement out of the press but Pennsylvania then adopted its present Bicycle laws that:
1. No longer require cyclists to use a bike trail,
2. Permitted Bicycles on Sidewalks except in Business Districts (but did not define what is a "Business District".
I can almost feel sick from watching going up and down a bump every time there is a parking lot entrance.
I spill so many drinks using the bike path when Im working Uber Eats. All because of those uneven bumps.
If car lanes were designed like the bike lanes here in the video, there would be riots.
That's so insane. I have a parent with epilespy. Unfortunately for her, she was also legally blind and had some nerve damage so she wasn't able to ride a bike safely. Still, the lack of accessability stinks. Thanks for sharing this.
Absolutely terrifying. I don't know how you have the courage to even attempt this...
Most days I dont, but thank you. If you stay tuned to my channel Im currently working on a video showing some alternatives to biking down roads like this, such as gravel paths and bike lanes while showing how inconvenient they can be compared to the direct route.....a STROAD with no bike lane. Even to my own surprise safe travel on a bike in my city can take twice as long as the most direct routes which are least safe atm.
@@theepimountainbiker6551
That last road BADLY needs to be resurfaced.
“I don’t know what the city engineers were thinking when they designed it.”
I don’t think anyone put any thought whatsoever into this
My city gives a helpful "bike lane ends" sign just before the intersections. Basically just a "we couldnt figure it out. Sure hope you do" sign.
Thanks for the tour! I went to Sudbury Secondary in 86/87. Brought back a lot of memories. cheers
Those roads look horrendous! So many wholes, cracks and lose stones.
Yup, pretty average for Sudbury sadly.
"room for a bike path".... NO ! It's room to add another car lane to the road 🙂
Its already 6, must add 1 more just in case 👍
In situations like this I use the sidewalk. It may be illegal but I have never been cited or harassed for using a sidewalk instead of a stroad and I've been riding for a long time. Yes, I encounter "bike infrastructure" like this all the time. Almost every ride into town includes brushes with death. Like someone in another comment said the people who plan these things probably haven't ridden a bike since the day they got their driver's license.
Most of the time, the engineer is overruled by the town/city council.
Telling traffic to yeild to bikes is like asking bikes to get hit. When you assume you have the right of way problems happen. I can't count the number of times I was walking in a visible bright blue jacket and a car turning didn't notice me. That is walking at like 1-2 mph, at no point did they turn their head away from on coming traffic to check for pedestrians, bikes etc. Yet traffic engineer's expect people to notice a bike that might be going 20 mph or more.
2:26 you definitely safer for everyone else
but let's be honest if US of A really cared about safety then SUVs and stroads wouldn't be so popular
The bike lanes are like this everywhere where I live smh. I usually go on the sidewalk when there's no lane because I'm a very slow biker and drivers here are insane so I don't feel safe riding on the road unless it's a quieter one :(
You have much better bike infrastructure than I'm used to. We have many stroads with curbs and no space between the driving lane and the curb. If you don't "take the lane", which really ticks people off, you're riding through sewer grates and debris. If there is space, you have to dodge delivery trucks, landscape trailers, etc. Bottom line - if there isn't a way to detour through a residential street and there's a sidewalk on the stroad, I'm riding on it. It's a bumpy ride, but I've never had an officer tell me I couldn't do it. I have, on the other hand, had people in cars yell at me to "get on the sidewalk where you belong".
Not that the details of the cyclist should have any impact on how they're treated by drivers, but I'm 69 years old, riding conservatively on an upright commuter bike, with reflective clothes, helmet, flashing lights, and a mirror. I've still had way too many close calls.
This is a winter city and the city council uses white paint to "solve" all of their problems. Might be one small problem with that? Towns like Timmins, Sudbury, North Bay, etc. - even cities like Saskatoon - have compact "downtowns", all the extra right-of-way they could need, no traffic at all, giant empty parking lots everywhere, could have been turned into utopias with ease just by dieting a couple of roads and building out a fully separated multi-use path network. Instead they tread water, do the bare minimum and state some unachievable goal with a distant deadline like "achieve a 35% active transportation mode share by 2050."
where the lane is, it's similar to the design used in Germany - at least up to 50 km/h; at higher speeds the crossings need a massive offset (like a so called "Dutch intersection"), so a driver first turns and then lets the cyclists pass. That uphill section on the way back was probably because cyclists there are *very* slow (many
You manged to make something very depressing very fun!
Thanks. Soon Im going to do the other half of the stroad, it gets worse.
As a person living in Europe - that's a long way to go to your closest pharmacy!
I know right, even in a car its a good 5+ minute drive.
The biggest problem with bike lanes is that they are spotty and unconnected. Until that is solved, many will not use them, and rightly so.
bicyclists should start using the whole right lane on four lane roads. If we did this (and yes, I know, it's scary) then local governments would not be able to ignore us anymore.
I do, it forces people around.
@@theepimountainbiker6551 sure, I also do it from time to time. but mostly I (along with the vast majority of bike commuters) avoid those streets like the plague, even if it means going miles out of the way.
Bikes lanes are more often than not, death traps
WTH why bother making a bike path if youre going to make it like that
Just minimal adherence to the city’s code.
It was actually pretty nice for the first minute.
They did a pretty decent job on whats there I'll give them that. Just mind boggling how its sat that way for 2 years now, nothing else was added to extend it.
I live in a college town and the second you step off campus, it’s just stroad after stroad. No decency to add a painted bike path in the stroad and sidewalks just end.
American urban planning is a scourge.
Quite representative of my local municipality
Not the worst. I have seen a bike lane brightly painted at the edge of a stroad outside an industrial complex with heavy traffic of cars and lorries (I'm not British), with pebbles littered everywhere, and on one end is a road that runs parallel to a motorway. The saddest part is a row of cars parking on the bike lane.
You should see the other half of it. Thats just the part that ends downtown. To get to the other half you go through downtown, cross a 4 lane bridge or if you want go under it and cross a walking bridge, make your way to the parking lot for the beach. Its unmarked but starts back there. Go through the beach area, come back out to the stroad its a 2 lane bike path. After about a km or so the 2 lane ends and you HAVE to cross the street or else youre going the wrong way🤦 Maybe some day I'll film the other half. Heres to hoping some day getting around isnt an afterthought to city engineers for everything but a car.
On itermittent bike lines: just a theory: they have a master plan with bike lanes all alog, but only implenent it on sectiosn of roads/sidewalks that need to be rebuilt. And BTW, i had it when at corners, they force ikes over a concrete "bump" that delimits bike path from road. Why do they insist on adding bumps for cyclists?
This looks like if south Florida bothered to have bike lanes, instead we have stroads, stroads, and more stroads! 6 lane high speed roads that also have businesses and side roads with no slip lanes 🙃
I would be Biking on the sidewalk!
The poles aside, there is room for additional bike lanes. That 2nd one looks pretty crappy.
You wont believe this, according to our police service regardless marked as a bike lane or not that paved area between the road and sidewalk can be used as a bike lane if none exists. I grew up with that rule then they changed to EVERYONE BIKES ON THE ROAD, would have been nice to know it never really went away
Funny enough, this is amazing compared to what my city whipped up. Fighting them tooth and nail on this
In general they probably think about the damage that can be caused when someone has a seizure, while it is possible to kill someone when hitting them with a bike it is less common than getting hit by a car.
So obviously my safety isnt even considered. But consider this, I have a seizure on a bike, truck swerves to avoid me and takes out 6 cars with him. How is that any more safer???? Or, a truck doesnt swerve, hits me, I have a whole lot greater chance surviving with the collision features a car has vs none the bike has.
@@theepimountainbiker6551 I never said it's great reasoning.
They could take 6’ off the island and add the bike/snow lane on each side.
What a horrible place. Hope it improves!
It is slowly. Over the summer they built less than a km of bike lane on this stroad but it made a big difference. It at least safely gets you to the grocery store from 1 direction.
LOL 0:08 and already there is the stupid construction sign that could literally be anywyere, like up on the massive expanse of grass but of course the city workers dump it in the bike lane instead of walking more than arm's reach from their truck.
I'm so sorry you have to live like that
Almost makes me want to suggest you buy a hi-vis jacket, paint and some lining tools + stencils and just start drawing the bike lanes in. Send an invoice to the city's billing department and see if they pay for the service
The room is certainly there in a lot of places. Having the lanes level and plowed would be nice too
That's bad and it's still way better than here in Northern California. Most bike lanes are right next to street parking, which means having to ride close to the car lanes and also reduced visibility at intersections. In the inner city, streets are designed for car traffic, so be prepared to come to a complete stop at every other block. And moving towards the suburbs, forget about having any bike infrastructure for a long commute. I would kill for some protected bike lanes, or at the very least, ones set apart several feet from the rest of the road.
It does seem to be raised from the street
I advise to look at "not just bikes." 😉
I just take a lane and slow traffic to my speed lol
Same......until I started having seizures again. If I go a month or longer without one I take the road more but if I had one recently I'll stay on the sidewalk
This one is not that bad, the stroad I have has 0 bike lanes period and 6 different goddamn lanes and the vehicles are going 50 mph. Yeah good luck biking on that and not dying
I could tell just by the thumb
Break the "rules" and ride on the paved path/sidewalk. Better to pay a fine than pay with your life.
Lucky for me with my disability my bike acts as a mobility aid, which in Ontario is legal to have on the sidewalk. Just found this out, its a hidden law but its there for disabled people.
I don't know the statistics in US, but in Europe, it's usually more dangerous to drive on sidewalk than on the road. Reason is that the most often deadly accident are right turning cars not seeing you. And this happens often when you are right out of their mind and sometimes hidden by parking cars. It's what the video poster also talks on the beginning.
When you are on the road, you're not overseen (for at least in Europe).
Overall, it's less friendly to drive on a 4/6 lane road with the traffic, but still more safe. But as said, I don't know whether that's true for the US. Some of dash cam videos I've seen are really scary including the comments where very often the bicyclist is blamed. In Europe, usually for at least, if there's an accident, the driver is more or less automatically responsible and guilty for the contact, what doesn't help you in case, but still gives some kind of protection of over aggressiveness. And of course, speed limits in cities are lower in average, too.
Classic
I would just use the sidewalk anyway
I do usually. The way I see it is if they can take my drivers license for having seizures call me a hazard on the road I shouldnt be on it on a bike either.
Looks like it was designed by clowns to discourage cycling 🤪
Whatching this gives me nausea, thanks
But its not even really bad compared to some of the stuff you see in america it at least had curb seperated path for part of it
Thats the issue, only part of it. They half arsed the job, didnt even finish it, then let it sit for years just dumping riders on the road mid-crossing
safer for other people, as with a car you can kill someone, and with a bicycle is unlikely
wait till you see the biking lanes in the Philippines lmao
For the love of god, dude, ride on the sidewalk here.
Cars turning right across the bike lane is why John Forester opposed bike lanes. He said it was better for the cyclist to be in the same lane as cars that might turn right, as oppose to being in a lane cars had to cross to turn right.
They can look just fine for people walking across the street, they need to cross their lane to walk in. We're supposed to stay within 3 feet of the curb, cars need to cut in front of us regardless to right turn. See my video on biking down lasalle ( th-cam.com/video/A9leEUoBd6M/w-d-xo.html ) I was nearly hit in a car lane by a car right turning twice. Now, as a disabled person with a seizure disorder I strongly oppose being in a lane with traffic doing 65+ in a 50 zone. A human body often loses vs a 3000lb hunk of steel
@@theepimountainbiker6551 Actually the proper procedure is for the automobile driver to move into the bike lane BEFORE THE TURN, and thus turn right from the bike lane. This forces any cyclists to go to the LEFT of the vehicle turning right.
You may not like that but that has been found to be the safest way to permit motor vehicles to turn right where there is a bike lane to their right.
@@paulmentzer7658the “safest” way for a completely broken system that should have bikes completely separated and removed from car traffic. Bike “lanes” are the issue they should be separated paths that don’t need to follow the roads
Even as a bicyclist, I don't get what you would expect on a road like this. In ANY bike lane where there are parking lots/businesses to the right, you have the potential of getting hit by cars turning onto those lots. There is literally no way to stop it other than putting you in the middle and that has its own problems.
Id would KILL for this bike lane. My city has none. And ZERO shoulders. Literally a negative shoulder, as in the right most lane is very narrow because they increased the lanes from 2x2 to 3x3 without widening the road. They just took the shoulder that existed in the 80s, removed it, and narrowed the two car lanes to squeeze out an even more narrow third lane on the right. The white line is literally painted on the curb.
Car drivers being more alert and obeying traffic laws would be a good start regardless the type of bike lane. The main reason I video all my bike rides is to hold people accountable. Block a crossing, use a bike lane to turn, close pass, all those sorts of things screenshots get sent to the police and they do their thing. I seen recently 1 guy raving on social media he got a ticket in the mail for close passing a bike, it was a bitter sweet win knowing I sent that image and video to police and they held the person accountable. Sad reality is this is the only bike lane in this city as this type and as you see it doesnt even go the length of the road. Its been several years since it was started, roads are built so much quicker and have no regard for cyclists or even pedestrians.
3rd world country in terms of infrastructure and healthcare.
Me living in Germany 🤭🤭
Well, you're safer //for others// when you're on a bike, dude. But also, this stroad sucks.
But public transit and good bike lanes are ableist!!!! 😡😡😡😡😡 /s
Please never use the turning lanes when on a bike in an intersection... You should cross from the sidewalk... Too easy for cars to miss you right in the middle of the road...
Edit: the Intersection at 6:05... Please don't do that... Have the sidewalk on your right hand, bike straight across, then make a left turn.... (preferably using the crosswalk for a safer crossing..)
9:12: yes.. Exactly like this..
I often use the turning lane because otherwise I need to wait for not one, but two light cycles.
The only time I typically do this is when I'm walking my bicycle up a one-way street (since I don't have anywhere legal to cycle) and turn left onto a road I can cycle on.
And even then, I walk whichever order the lights cycle first.
Just bike on the sidewalk eh?
It's not legal. - I know it's not often enforced, but that's not the point
@@DerrickJolicoeur because the potholes and width of lane are issues.
He's on an e-bike that can kind of keep up with cars, so going fast; he would have to slow down around any pedestrians, and all those light posts. Or just go slow; I might choose that myself, but he didn't say how long the trip is as it is.
Bruh just by a car
Who says I dont have one? Maybe I just prefer biking everywhere. BRUH JUST USE A BRAIN