Ain’t it cool that Bike St. Louis has added 57 miles to its on-street trail system, for a total of 77 miles on top of the many car-free trails throughout the area?

If Bike St. Louis encourages more people to ride their bikes and leave their vehicles at home, I’m definitely all for it.

But these lanes, particularly the dedicated bike lanes, come with a common-sense cavaet: Be super careful.

Why? Dedicated bike lanes can offer a false sense of security for cyclists and motorists.

On these streets, the dedicated bike lanes are to the right of traffic lanes, which means a vehicle in the lane to the left of a cyclist can turn right. Considering traffic generally is prohibited from turning right from left-hand lanes, many cyclists find it counter-intuitive at best and dangerous at worst to allow vehicles to turn right from the lane to the left.

I hope cyclists remain vigilant about their safety in dedicated bike lanes. Same with motorists, who must be as aware of what or who might be in the dedicated bike lane to their right as they are of traffic in the lane directly in front of them.  

At least with shared bike-car lanes, cyclists will be directly in front of cars and in drivers’ line of sight. In fact, for me, I feel safer riding in those lanes than in dedicated bike lanes. I’m a big fella — 6-4, 2$% pounds — and wearing ridiculously colorful cycling garb, I’m fairly difficult to miss … in the right way, I hope.

Cyclists using dedicated bike lanes also need to be aware of parked cars. If a driver-side door is opened suddenly, it could be directly in the path of a cyclist in the dedicated bike lane. A danger at any speed.

So cyclists have to be cognizant of what’s happening on both sides of them while using dedicated bike lanes: cars in the left lane potentially turning right; and drivers or passengers in parked cars to the right potentially opening doors into the bike lane.

Long story short: Be careful out there, whether using a dedicated lane or a shared lane — marked or unmarked. For motorists, remember, every surface street is by law a shared lane, and cyclists have the right to be there.

–30–