Do you guys think that bike lanes are beneficial or dangerous? Honestly, they make me nervous. It's scary enough to have cars flying by on one side of me, but to have them on both sides is a little intense for my liking. We live in a city where it is actually illegal to ride your bike on the sidewalk if there is a bike lane, so I usually try to stick to roads where there wont be a lot of people walking around on the sidewalks to avoid getting hit by a car. People are crazy these days.
I'd prefer to stay off of the roads completely. What's your stance?
At least your country has them. Here in my country it's just the wild west, make sure you cross the road when there's no car around, or learn to negotiate with them and show signals that you are going ahead. It's basically just stay as close to the sidewalk as possible, without actually being there because it will also inconvenience the other people who are walking, but you can't be on the road enough because the roads are pretty tight. So yes, it's a lose lose situation here for cyclists.
I am an advocate of the bike lane. In fact, we have submitted a proposed project for creating a bike lane to one of the presidential candidates here. Unfortunately, she landed just 3rd in the recent elections. For me, the bike lane is the safest place to bike. However, the measurement of the bike lane should be standard so as to give ample space for 2 bikes riding in tandem. Another thing is the prohibition of any vehicles to use the bike lane which is reserved only for 2-wheels, that is bicycle and motorcycles only.
I do advocate for bike lanes. I think they organize the road better for cars AND cyclists alike. I to get really nervous with cars and especially the cars THAT DON'T GIVE ENOUGH SPACE!! I live in Hawaii and the state is REALLY trying to improve the bike infrastructure on the busiest roads!
There is one major problem with bike lanes - the roads have to be wide enough for them. And consequently you'll only have bike lanes on some roads. This then means that cars will not be as experienced at maneuvering around bicycles as they could be.
