Scott Bricker, the newly appointed head of the Bicycle Transportation Alliance (BTA), was a guest on OPB’s Oregon Considered radio show today.
In a report titled, Seeking Solutions to the Deadly Bike/Truck Conflict, he touched on several issues that are weighing heavily on the minds of many in our community right now.
Here’s what Bricker said about bike lanes:
“Bicyclists have the right to the bicycle lane and we believe that they should be able to maintain those rights and that a motorist should not be permitted to effectively cut a bicyclist off in a bicycle lane while making a turn or doing another movement.”
And about the Police Bureau’s California-style bike lane law proposal:
“At some point a motorist does have to cross the bicycle lane, the question of at what point the motorist crosses the bicyle lane, at any point the same hazard occurs, whether it’s at the traffic signal (like our current situation) or whether it’s before the traffic. So, we think that the law already has a lot of strong elements in it that are similar to the law that the police are suggesting might be useful.
We have concerns about laws that would effectively put motorists lining up in the bicycle lane because we think that would have other consequences.”
SE Clinton is rarely used properly.
(Photo © Jonathan Maus)
About bike boxes:
“The major benefit is that it puts bicyclists into a position where motorists can see them, in front of their vehicle.”
Host: And so that wouldn’t require a whole lot of money?
“It would be the cost of striping the road. We think it would be a very cost-effective measure.”
(KATU TV has reported Lt. Mark Kruger of the Police Bureau as saying, “big [meaning bike] boxes may not be the most feasible idea because they take up so much space and would require a massive amount of work.”)
Listen to the entire interview (it’s less than five minutes) on the Oregon Considered website.