Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Provocation: "Bicycle lanes are a stupid idea"

OK. Deep breath.

Ireland, well maybe it's Dublin specifically, has gone "Bike Lane" mad. There are bike lanes everywhere.

Even on roads and streets where there is just enough room for two cars to pass comfortably and safely they are putting in bicycle lanes.

So what! (I hear you exclaim / mutter)

well where are all the bikes????

Not on the bike lanes, that's for sure. Well maybe some of them are on the lanes but with the amount of lanes around the place you'd think that we were in Beijing or Amsterdam or some other cycling-mad place. Disproportionate, that's what it is.

The other thing, ahem, that must be pointed out, is the small matter of cyclists cycling on the road "next" to the bike lane. I will not elaborate on this most heinous of misdemeanours (what a great name for a song that would be).

I sense a heinous,
a heinous misdemeanour,
could it be the cleaner,
my face is turning greener,
etc.

Bike lanes are a stupid idea.

Q.E.D.

4 comments:

Megan said...

I think "Heinous Misdemeanour" would be a great name for a band, not just a song!

Stephen said...

Some idiot almost hit me on the sidewalk yesterday with is bike.

Megan said...

I always like the people who not only don't use the bike lane and insist on riding in traffic, but ride on the wrong side of the road.

My favorite stupid biker sighting was yesterday: an entire family (mom, dad, and two smallish children) riding their bikes across a busy street, not in a crosswalk, not at an intersection, and with oncoming traffic.

Is it bonus points if you take out the entire family?

Stephen said...

Haha. I saw a family with three young kids crossing the US-Canada border on bicycles a few months back. They just got in line with the cars.