Articles
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BUUD Alert #3!
November 4, 2008
This is Bicycle-Unfriendly Urban Design (BUUD) Danger Alert #3!
Location: Hollenbeck Ave at El Camino
Issue: The traffic signal yellow-light duration is way too short for a bicycle to make it across El Camino before the light changes to red. Even at >15 mph, a bike entering the intersection on a green light can’t make the other side before the light is red.
Proposed solution: Increase the yellow light duration.
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Building a replacement battery pack for a NiteRider 12V light
November 3, 2008
Read moreSince it was quickly getting very dark in the evenings, and I knew the “fall back” time change was soon to be upon us to make it even darker, my thoughts turned to bike lights.
More specifically, my thoughts turned to the general inadequacy of my current white-light setup… I’ve been using a little Cateye on the handlebars in blinking-mode (to get the attention of cars) and a bigger Cateye HL500 mounted down on the fork blade for trail/road illumination. But it just can’t cut through oncoming cars’ headlights, and on a trail with twists and turns, it has too narrow a beam.
Last year, I put the small Cateye on my helmet, to get around the HL500’s focused beam; that wasn’t bad, but the combo just wasn’t bright enough. I started using these lights after my NiteRider halogen’s battery pack finally died. I got several years’ use out of it, but a replacement battery pack is over $150, and I was having a hard time justifying the expense.
So, having decided the current combination was just not cutting it, I weighed my choices: get a completely new system (maybe a hub generator? can’t switch it between bikes very easily, and quite expensive. New-tech rechargeable LED stuff? Nice, but pricey) or revive the old one (but a new battery pack is almost as much as a low-end LED light!) But perhaps there was a less-costly option…
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BUUD Alert #2!
November 3, 2008
This is Bicycle-Unfriendly Urban Design (BUUD) Danger Alert #2!
Location: E Evelyn Ave and Hwy 85 onramp
Issue: Bicycles headed east on Evelyn for the Steven’s Creek trail must a) enter left turn lane, b) change course in the middle of the left turn, making a right turn and entering onto the south sidewalk, c) ride the wrong way down the sidewalk to the trail entrance.
Proposed solution: create a bicycle/pedestrian crosswalk directly under the bike bridge.
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BUUD Alert #1!
November 3, 2008
This is Bicycle-Unfriendly Urban Design (BUUD) Danger Alert #1!
Location: W Evelyn Ave and Hwy 85 onramp
Issue: Bikes exiting the Steven’s Creek trail find themselves on the sidewalk, with no ramp down to the bike lane prior to this intersection. The curvature of the intersection makes visibility difficult, and cars making a right turn are frequently in conflict with bikes/peds heading west.
Proposed Solution: Cut ramp in sidewalk at junction of bike trail and sidewalk, to allow bikes to join lane where visibility is better.
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Bicycle-Unfriendly Urban Design
November 3, 2008
This post inaugurates what, unfortunately, will become a regular feature here on the blog. I see so many gratuitously bad and dangerous examples of the urban-bike interface that I decided I should:
a) keep track of them, b) share awareness of the hazards with other cyclists, c) have a convenient place to which to refer public officials and planners when I d) make a habit of alerting said officials and planners to the dangers.
The first example will be highlighted in the next post. You will be able to find all the related posts by searching on “buud” or “bike danger”.