John will premiere “Riding the Eakins Oval” to a live audience at this weekend’s Philly Bike Expo. He and CyclingSavvy Instructor Pamela Murray are leading a one-hour seminar, Bicycling In Traffic Is A Dance You Lead, at 10:30 AM Saturday, Nov. 2.
At 3 PM Sunday, Nov. 3, Pam will give a seminar on How to Create a Biking Revolution. If you’re at the Expo, go. Pam is a charismatic dynamo, and walks the talk.
Here’s a link to the weekend’s complete seminar schedule.
Don’t forget to visit the CyclingSavvy/Coalition for Appropriate Transportation booth (number 2009) at the Expo. At the booth, you’ll be able to “drive” an HPV through a busy intersection and see how to avoid the hazards (yes, it’s 100 percent safe).
The Philly Bike Expo is celebrating its 10th year. This remarkable bicycling event brings together under one enormous roof outstanding vendors from throughout the country, including dealers, distributors, advocacy organizations, and specialty frame makers.
If you can go, don’t miss it! I wish I could be there. Sadly I must settle for a cameo appearance in John’s video ;-)
So many ways to bike on Philly’s Eakins Oval.
https://cyclingsavvy.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Screen-Shot-2019-10-31-at-5.36.36-PM.png10261274Karen Karabellhttps://cyclingsavvy.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/CS-logo_xlong-header.pngKaren Karabell2019-11-01 11:00:202019-11-01 10:24:25Eakins Oval, How Do I Bike Thee? Let Me Count The Ways
…about bike lanes in Philadelphia, I showed how I rode on Spruce Street, a narrow one-way street in Center City with a bike lane.
When my safety required it, I merged out of the bike lane — for example, whenever I might be at risk from a right-turning motor vehicle. At those times, it was safest to be in line with motor vehicles, where the driver behind me could see me.
Such Assertiveness May Seem Strange and Forbidding
It’s indeed counterintuitive to practice “driver behavior,” and take your place in the queue with motor vehicles. Yes, they are big, and heavy, and they can go fast. But these vehicles also are controlled by drivers. You use head turns and hand signals to communicate with drivers, and move into line when one has made room for you. That driver’s vehicle is protecting you from all the other ones behind!
Putting “driver behavior” into practice on Spruce Street was easy, as traffic there is mostly slow. I had no trouble just falling into line with vehicles waiting at a traffic light.
A First-Timer’s Mistakes
If you think that CyclingSavvy Instructors always do everything right, watch today’s video. This was my first ride ever on Spruce Street. I wouldn’t do everything quite the same way a second time.
There were a couple of times when I didn’t move far enough OUT of the bike lane. I was in line with motor traffic, but I stayed in the right tire track — on the passenger side of cars — so that bicyclists in the bike lane would show in my video.
Right Tire Track Distracted Me From My Safety
That distracted me from an option which would have made my ride go better. As I reviewed raw footage, it dawned on me that most of the streets which cross Spruce Street are one-way. Some are one way right-to-left, others left-to-right.
I could take advantage of this!
Avoiding Unnecessary Delay at Intersections
Look at the incidents at one-way left-to-right cross streets. In one of these, a motorist ahead of me pulled over to the right curb just past the intersection. In the other, a motorist behind me turned right. Neither used turn signals. The driver who merged right delayed me, and I delayed the one who turned right.
Things would have gone more smoothly if I had been riding farther to the left. That is my usual practice where traffic can turn right, but it is even more emphatically correct where traffic can’t turn left.
I still won’t pull all the way over to the left, out of line with the motor traffic: even if a motorist is unlikely to turn the wrong way into a one-way street, one could still merge over to the left curb, like the one who merged over to the right curb in my video. It’s safest to wait in line.
Just For Fun
I’ve included a third incident where the mistake was made years earlier, in the design department of an automobile manufacturer halfway around the world.
In this segment, the driver did use a turn signal, but it was so far around on the other side of the car, I couldn’t see it.
This driver was yielding right-of-way to me when I should have yielded to him. To avoid a “no, you go first” situation, I went ahead. If I’d known that the driver wanted to turn right and would have to follow me, I would have been more assertively polite. Why would I want motorists behind me if they don’t have to be? I don’t!
The first two incidents illustrate why I never assume motorists will use their turn signals. The third incident brought home to me that I sometimes can’t assume that they are not using turn signals.
Savvy Cyclists Learn From Their Mistakes
While I kept safe, the encounters I’ve described could have gone more smoothly. Every ride can be a learning experience, and the next ride can go better.
More to Come
I have one more post about Spruce Street on the way. So far I’ve done my best to avoid discussing politics and religion.
But in my final Spruce Street post, churches are involved. In that post I’m going to let loose!
https://cyclingsavvy.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Screen-Shot-2019-09-30-at-1.39.50-PM.jpeg744873John Allenhttps://cyclingsavvy.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/CS-logo_xlong-header.pngJohn Allen2019-10-04 09:00:202020-07-21 23:26:25A Philadelphia Bike Lane Learning Experience
In November 2015 I spent part of a day exploring Philadelphia by bicycle. I shot video of my ride, as I like to do.
I ride with a forward-facing camera on my helmet and a rearward-facing one on the bicycle’s rear rack. The video accompanying this post was recorded on Spruce Street in downtown Philadelphia.
Spruce Street is straight, narrow and one-way, lined with brick row houses. There are a couple of big, old churches. The street has sidewalks on each side and, from left to right, a parking lane, single travel lane and bike lane.
Then in December, one block from Spruce Street, a truck turned right and ran over Becca Refford, also 24 years old, leaving her seriously injured.
These heartbreaking events
moved me to edit my Spruce Street video and place it online.
Let’s be clear.
I can assure you that I wish this post didn’t have to be written.
I wish Emily and Becca — and every cyclist — knew what I know: How to protect yourself when choosing to use bike lanes.
I want you to understand why what happened to them doesn’t happen to me.
I want you to know how to avoid a catastrophe when you use a bike lane.
Pragmatic vs. Dogmatic Use of Bike Lanes
A cyclist who insists on never using bike lanes is, without question, rigid and dogmatic.
But a cyclist who insists on always using bike lanes is equally rigid and dogmatic.
My use of bike lanes is pragmatic.
I use a bike lane when it works. I get out of it when it doesn’t.
To Use or Not To Use
The bike lane on Spruce Street is entirely reasonable where it does work. The bike lane is next to the curb — parking is only on the other side of the street — so the bike lane doesn’t create a problem with a door zone or blocked sight lines.
I used this bike lane to let motorists pass me when they were faster. The bike lane also let me pass motorists when they were slower. Here’s what’s important:
When I use a bike lane to either release or pass motorists, I do so with caution — and constant observation of what’s happening around me.
Especially when approaching intersections, riding in line with motor vehicles is safer, and often easier.
Traffic Safety is a Dynamic Condition
For much of Spruce Street’s bike lane, sight line obstructions are minimized and there’s no door zone to worry about. But the remaining hazard killed Emily Fredericks and put Becca Refford into a body cast. You can avoid this!
How to Avoid Right-Hook Collisions
Merge left to ride in line with motor traffic. It’s easy to communicate with slow-moving motorists. Look over your shoulder and signal to the driver behind you that you want to take your place in the queue.
In the video you’ll see me take my place in line. I followed our traffic system’s Rules of Movement and passed right-turning vehicles on the left.
Yes, I waited a few seconds longer than some of the cyclists who stayed in the bike lane, but I also could get moving while others were trapped behind right-turning motor vehicles.
No motorists had to wait for me before turning right. So this worked better for the motorists too.
Complain to the Preacher?
I rode Spruce Street on a Sunday morning. In the video, you’ll see worshipers’ cars parked illegally in the bike lane.
I preferred not to get into the middle of a dispute involving politics and religion, so I got into the middle of the travel lane instead, avoiding the door zone on both sides.
Pragmatic, not dogmatic.
It’s easy
to get into a bike lane, once you decide it’s OK to use.
It’s much harder
to get out of a bike lane, once you find yourself in danger.
Tune in again…
for a post about a couple of encounters on Spruce Street that could have turned into real trouble, and how I managed them.
https://cyclingsavvy.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Spruce-Street-in-downtown-Philly.jpeg494498John Allenhttps://cyclingsavvy.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/CS-logo_xlong-header.pngJohn Allen2019-03-29 11:00:492019-03-30 13:33:57Pragmatic vs. Dogmatic Bike Lane Use
I am a proud savvy cyclist…and I have a confession.
I took CyclingSavvy twice, first in Philadelphia and then Charlotte.
You might ask: Didn’t I learn anything the first time?
Using the top floor of a downtown Philly parking garage for Train Your Bike, the parking lot skills session. Even experienced cyclists – like Marc – learn new things. From left: instructor Karen Karabell, Marc Caruso, Camille Gervasio, Shannon Walsh and John A Petty II
Yes.
I learned an incredible amount about training my bike and how to ride comfortably and confidently with traffic. But some things don’t sink in until later or, in my case, the second time around.
In Philly, I learned from Karen Karabell that there’s nothing scary about empty pavement behind you. How do you get “scary” roads to yourself? You make the lights and the law work for you.
A great example is choosing where you enter a road from. Use traffic lights to your advantage by turning right on green. You have no obligation to turn right on red.
By turning right on green, motorists on the road you’re turning onto are stopped at a red light. When they finally get a green, they’ll be far enough back to use one of the adjacent travel lanes to pass you, in whichever lane you’re not in.
Strategy, Courtesy and Mindfulness
We practiced the right-on-green technique in Charlotte, too. Before I tell you what happened, you need to know that the on-road Tour is like nothing you’ve ever done before.
You’ll be riding on roads you can’t believe you’re using — and you’ll be doing it by yourself, unless you don’t want to. Then an instructor will ride with you. But by the time you get to that point in the workshop, almost everyone wants to try on their own.
Marc making a left turn in Charlotte
A Savvy Cyclist Can Go Anywhere
As a savvy cyclist, I’m not a road warrior. Just the opposite!
CyclingSavvy instructors teach strategy, courtesy and mindfulness. They figure you’re probably OK riding on your neighborhood cul de sac, or on a trail. What they want is to show you how to make connections, so that you can ride out of your neighborhood, or not have to put your bike on a car to go to the trail.
When Motorists Want to Turn Right on Red
In Charlotte, we watched each student set off to practice right-on-green. It was a busy road and motorists would appear behind them. John Allen instructed the students to move to the left side of the lane and wave the motorists to pass on their right.
Staying to the left side of a lane allows motorists to turn right on red while you wait for a green light.
The motorists passed and made the right on red. When the light turned green, the student doing the feature would turn right.
The result was obvious: No cars on the big “scary” road behind the student. By turning right on green, motorists on that road were held back by a red light.
After making the turn, we were instructed to go directly into the lane we wanted. Motorists turning right on green with us could choose another lane and pass us easily.
Epiphany In Charlotte
Instructor Pamela Murray shook my thinking about shoulder checks.
Marc leads other savvy cyclists on the Tour of Charlotte
I use a helmet mirror, so some shoulder checks seemed unnecessary in my mind. Before taking CyclingSavvy in Charlotte, I only did shoulder checks when making lateral movements.
When I merged or turned, I’d do a shoulder check, signal, and shoulder check again to make sure it’s safe. Otherwise, I just used my mirror and then communicated with hand signals like “slow,” or “pass” when it was safe to pass me.
What this does, though, is make it seem like the motorist is communicating with just an inanimate piece of metal.
A Fellow Human
When you turn your head over your shoulder, you’re showing your face to the person behind you and making yourself recognized as another human being, not just a bike.
As a result of seeing your face, they’ll be more apt to take direction from you. People like to help other people out.
I’m grateful for the incredible, knowledgeable CyclingSavvy instructors who’ve helped change my street game into a savvy cyclist dance.
Celebrating last November after a great day in Charlotte. Left to right: Carl Fenske (who became a CyclingSavvy Instructor in February 2018), Marc Caruso, Doug Guerena, Pamela Murray, Charlene Poole, John Allen, John Gaul and Shannon Walsh
https://cyclingsavvy.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/P1060496.jpg516894Marc Carusohttps://cyclingsavvy.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/CS-logo_xlong-header.pngMarc Caruso2018-08-15 11:30:392018-11-07 10:02:04Learning A New Street Dance