motor scooter in bicycle lanes
Among the many hazards us cyclists face is cars cutting into and across bicycle lanes without giving a second thought to the fact that there might be a cyclist in that lane. Most of the time there is no cyclist and so there are no consequences which is where the strategy of safety in numbers comes into play. The more cyclists that there on the road, the more motorists become aware of them and adjust their driving accordingly. The problem is that at the moment many bike lanes are lightly used and it is going to take some time before they are more heavily used, particularly when they keep disappearing when they are most needed. I have had a thought which I would be interested to hear the views of other cyclists on. What do you think of the idea of allowing motor scooters to be able to use on road bicycle lanes to help create the safety in numbers in the bicycle lane. It would have to be strictly the scooters limited to 50km/h (and maybe then they might be restricted to say 40km/h). I don not believe that they would create a significant hazard for cyclists, but they would add to the number of vehicles in the bicycle lane and thereby contributing to the safety in numbers. Also with greater numbers using the lanes, it might encourage more investment by government in bike lanes. No doubt not all cyclists would agree with this idea, but hopefully it might make for some interesting discussion.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Luke Hallam on -
Great topic for discussion David.
My initial thought when I read your post was Noooooooo!!! A bike lane is for bikes and nobody else. It is the one semi-safe haven for those of us that live with the greater risks when no bike lanes are present. A reward for doing the right thing and riding a bike. When cars, motorcycles (I'm a motorcycle rider), scooters or anything else use a bike lane I feel like other people are abusing my often fleeting entitlement.
Interestingly, I know a very keen cyclist who has recently started riding a 50cc cooter. As a cyclist he would readily abuse car drivers for impinging on the the bike lanes but you know what? He now rides his scooter in bike lanes. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes.
On reflection of your proposal I do see the logic. However, as you say there would have to be a speed limit to ensure consistent speeds. Car drivers regularly turn in front of cyclist because they either don't look or they don't realise you could be travelling at 30kph+ or they just don't care. Either way having a scooter in a bike lane doing 50kph is asking for trouble.
The other thing that bothers me is how you would police which scooters were allowed in the bike lane. You can buy 800cc scooters these days that are huge. Obviously these would be readily distinguishable from the 50cc versions but keeping the 125cc and 250cc scooters out of the lanes when they see their smaller cousins enjoying the benefits of the lanes could be a problem.
Looking to the future I can see an easy way to distinguish which scooters could legally use bike lanes. Anything with an internal combustion engine would not be welcome. Electric scooters, just like e-bikes would be welcome. That would be one way of encouraging people to buy electric scooters.
And while we're solving the world's problems we should remove the stupid 200W limit on e-bikes but that is perhaps a topic for another discussion.
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Permalink Reply by David Bowler on -
Your initial thought is the instinctive response I would expect from most cyclists including myself if I had come across such an idea without having thought it through. I has certainly occurred to me that the policing of it could become an issue and it would have to be very clear that it was only for the smaller scooters which can be ridden with a car license and are limited to 50km/h. Actually I think having scooters on the road which can only do 50km/h when most arterial roads are at least 60km/h is not a good idea anyway. I think they would be safer on the road if they could at least do 60km/h and keep up with the traffic flow- but that is another issue which I will leave to scooter riders can discuss in some other forum.
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Permalink Reply by Paul Hamon on -
I like the idea... in Bangkok I ride in the scooter traffic all the time
...and it's better to be with them than the cars!!
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