Making Buffalo Safe for Cyclists - Sign the Bicycle Lane Request Form

Thank you for posting this. The need for improved bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure, and to tame the automobile, is sorely evident. This seems to be shaping up to be a banner year for bicyclist fatalities and severe injuries in WNY. Just yesterday an elderly man was struck and killed by an apparently distracted woman driving on Transit Road in Olcott. And now today another man was struck by a driver in Wheatfield and flown to ECMC with critical injuries. It feels like every other day there is an article in the Buffalo News about another pedestrian or bicycle rider killed or critically injured by someone driving a car.

Please take this petition to the Dept of Public Works and put some real pressure on them to accelerate the good but slow progress that has been made recently. And don't forget to remind them that bike lanes and other complete streets elements calm traffic and improve safety for drivers as well! Everyone benefits from these improvements, not just bicyclists and pedestrians.

The only way Buffalo is going to be become more safe for cyclists is not only based on building more bike lanes and paths but also compelling cyclists to start obeying all traffic laws. I see too many cyclists who run red lights and stop signs, ride against traffic, ride the wrong way down one way streets and the worst safety bugaboo, riding on the sidewalks. It is obvious that bicyclists are among the worst and most persistant law breakers. They are putting themselves at serious risk of injury and death because of their stupidity and spitefulness. You can't blame motorists for everything, the bicyclists have to accept a large amount of the blame. I also blame local authorities for being way too lax on enforcing traffic laws especially with bicyclists.

Distracted Driving.
We are doomed to hear more and more of this upcoming epidemic.
And it's not just the teenagers, it's everyone.
Too often WE see a 40-something constantly looking down at thier "Lap" while doing 40 in a minivan.
Nobody is that important.
These habits are exponentially more hazardous than the current fines suggest.

I love riding my bike, and I would love to see more bike lanes. I would ride more places if it was safer.

But if cyclists want to be taken seriously then they need to follow all the road rules. Today most of them don't. It doesn't matter that it's the car that causes the actual injury, if a cyclist cuts across traffic against a signal, then he was at fault and caused his own injury. Most cyclists assume that stops signs, red lights and other rules just don't apply to them. These aren't exceptions, they're the norm. That has to stop.

I know cyclists get stubbornly opposed to accepting responsibility, or anything that might cut into their "freedom" of riding, but responsibility works 2 ways.

And no, I'm not saying Cars aren't responsible too. They are. And most deaths are totally the fault of the car driver. But deaths would be 1000 times worse if it weren't for car drivers avoiding the cyclists who ride all over the road.

Bike lanes and signs will be good for everyone. Both sides need to be more educated and aware of each other.

Go to Colorado, Boulder in particular has it clear that bikes and cars share the road. It should be obvious to both cars and bikes what the rules are and who has what right of ways. I do both in Buffalo and see both sides, the way i see it is too many misunderstand the rules of the road. I've seen plenty of bicyclists do stupid things mentioned, as well as auto drivers not have a clue that bikes have a right to the road, and have been yelled at many times to get on the sidewalk and out of the road!

Not up onto the sidewalk? The picture reminds me that heading west on Porter towards the water that cyclists are supposed to go up onto the sidewalk after their lane ends no? Why does it end anyway? It shouldn't, everything goes so smoothly with everyone having their lane until after Niagara St.

It's also annoying when you try to be respectful on a street like North and you wait and wait to pass a cyclists then when you finally manage to get around them you hit a red and there they go zooming up the right of you and or through the light and you have to do it all over again. Curses!!

Not every road needs a bike lane, but honestly there should be more. It's better for everyone.

I am currently in Madison, WI for a conference and cannot get over how many bicyclists there are here. They understand bicycle usage. Their lanes are divided with concrete, others by a line, and most by the simple rules of the road. There are also just as many moped riders. (most of whom as I would consider of the "preppy" type) Buffalo needs to use a similar bicycle outline on its streets. Its so popular here that mostly everyone, follows the rules of the road, on both ends. I had three bicycles stop for me when I was in a crosswalk, as did cars. I am very impressed with this small city's transportation system; Very easy to use bus lines, many biking options and moped usage. But it starts with the city realizing that there are other transportation options, and they need to help regulate them. Bikers need a "lane." Bikers need places to put their bikes, Mopeder's should be able to park on the sidewalk just like bikes. Once its visual for drivers to see, they most likely will be more aware of riders on the sides of the road. People will probably think twice before crossing over two white lines, where now there are none. I hope the best for this. Buffalo needs to do better with their bike system....Also we need to have the "rent a bike" Ive seen them in Denver and Madison. What a great way to go places when you dont have a bike. (ie. travelers)

@bufwego - Buffalo is in the first phases of inaugurating a bike share system, starting at UB but supposedly eventually encompassing the whole city: http://www.facebook.com/BfloBikeShare . Buffalo will be the first city east of California to use the Social Bikes (SoBi) system, so it's a bit of an experiment, but it could be pretty cool.

If bikers don't follow traffic laws, it makes car drivers wary and worried about hitting someday and so it makes them slow down and watch where they're going. Right now anything that makes car drivers slow down and be aware is helping both bikers and pedestrians (and other cars), so ironically bikers that don't follow the law are good for society. (I do, as a side note, always follow traffic laws on a bike, for self-preservation, but that's a personal choice.)

How about we treat cars and bikes equally? I'm OK if a cyclist doesn't obey all rules and wants to SAFELY run a red or a stop sign, but I am so tired or driving down a street, esp. a one way street, only to be faced with a cyclist coming towards me - against the traffic. This isnt' a random occurence or only a few cyclists. I enounter this nearly every day and honestly I don't drive far at all.

Or how about the cyclists who feel the need to ride on the sidewalk - especially through the busiest parts of Elmwood? That's a serious danger to pedestrians that also happens constantly.

I honestly think that a large part of the problem on both sides is ignorance, not disregard. I don't even care if the cyclists are ticketed - but if the police dept would do a one week blitz of stopping and informing cyclists of these major infractions I think it would go a long way towards educating cyclists and gaining them some respect.

And while I'm on the subject of cyclists and traffic - as a frequent runner at Delaware Park - could somebody please tell the cyclists that the "Sharrow" means that they are to be riding with the car traffic in the direction indicated by the arrow part of the sharrow? I'm tired of trying to dodge the cyclists coming at me in the pedestrian lane. A pedestrian-cyclist accident is no fun either. And apparently we need more signs at the entrances to indicate to cars that the vehicular traffic is one-way because I frequently encounter cars driving the wrong way through the park. Oh, and tell nearly all the cars to SLOW DOWN because the speed limit is only 15.

OK. Done for now.

Two quick stories about bike riders....

1.
Me and my GF were making a left onto Depew and we came to a stop sign. We looked over to the right and there was a guy on a bike about 5-10 seconds away from the stop sign. So thinking that he's going to stop we drive on through. Little did we know, he never stopped and when we turned he was right on my tail, and we pulled over to look at a house for sale and he rode past giving us a dirty look for about 20 feet. After we pulled away from the curb we saw this guy ride all the way down Depew blowing each stop sign, then making an illegal left on red at Parkside and Depew and causing a car to stop and beep its horn.

2.
My buddy's driving down by the Hockey arena drinking a diet Coke in the summer time and he passes a group of 20 something hipsters who yell at him, "hey look he's drinking a beer!" So what did the hipsters do? They spit on his car and told him to pull over so they could kick his ass, keep im mind my buddies 6'4" 310 pounds and can duck a basketball. But back to the story. So after they spit on his car he shows him that it's only a Diet Coke and the one kid rids up to his door and says, "hey guys dont worry it's only a coke." So now all of a sudden their best friends and the kid tries giving my buddy a pound doggie through the passenger window and scrapes the side of his car.

So to make a long post short, I hate bycycle riders. If you guys want bike lanes, follow the laws, wear a helment and pay fees to register you bikes. And if you break any of the laws you should get a ticket.

I love bike lanes, but also get a little concerned about competing space needs. Some people want wider sidewalks, wider tree wells, bike lanes, bike buffers, curb bulb-outs, rain swails, etc. On some roads like Main St or Hertel there's room to add some or all of those things. But on most roads there may only be room for one of those features.

Riddle me this, Batman:

Every round-about on Richmond has stop signs... except Symphony Circle. Why? That circle is dangerous for anyone who goes near it, even cars. Did the city run out of stop signs? Why the other circles but not this one?

Meanwhile, in the promised land of bicycling.

Commuters Pedal to Work on Their Very Own Superhighway

The cycle superhighway, which opened in April, is the first of 26 routes scheduled to be built to encourage more people to commute to and from Copenhagen by bicycle. More bike path than the Interstate its name suggests, it is the brainchild of city planners who were looking for ways to increase bicycle use in a place where half of the residents already bike to work or to school every day.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/18/world/europe/in-denmark-pedaling-to-work-on-a-superhighway.html?pagewanted=all