Portland's Bike Boxes: Making Cars More Polite
by Jesse Fox, Tel Aviv, Israel 
on 03.23.08
"Wait Here." One of Portland's new bike boxes (Courtesy of www.BikePortland.org).
After recognizing the economic benefits of creating a network of bike paths on city streets, Portland, Oregon has unveiled a new traffic tool designed to ensure cyclists' safety in the city. The bike box is a bright green rectangle painted onto asphalt at intersections and reserved exclusively for bikes. By moving car traffic back several feet from intersections, space is created for bikers at the front of the line, giving them visibility and a measure of priority while waiting at streetlights.
The bike box was created as a response to traffic accidents involving right-turning cars running over cyclists, known as a "right hook" accident. The bike box is meant to give bikers greater visibility by positioning them directly in front of waiting cars. Green-colored bike paths will also lead to intersections, and right turns will not be allowed during red lights. Oregon law requires cars to yield to bikes in bike lanes.
The bike boxes are being installed at 14 particularly accident-prone intersections, and the city plans to monitor the intersections to see how the bike boxes affecting cyclist safety. An educational campaign, including signs and billboards, is also planned.
For a first look at pictures of Portland's new bike boxes, check out this link at BikePortland.org. Also, check out the City of Portland's brochure explaining the bike box here.
Via:: The Oregonian
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More information about the debateable safety of using ASLs is on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_stop_line
We have had this system for cyclists in the UK for many, many years!
Yes these will work in Conservative cities. So long as the driver has a loaded weapon in their Hummer and the rectangle is painted red.
We've had these in Ireland for quite a while as well, although ours are painted red for some reason. In principle i thought they seemed like a good idea, until one day I got rear ended by an over eager driver when the light turned green and I didn't move off as fast as he expected!
Other than getting a shock, and the back of my bike being banjaxed, I was alright. But to be honest, I think an unobservant driver is an unobservant driver and no amount of road markings will change that. That's why I like the Swedish method of keeping motorists and cyclists separate ... this also allows cyclists to take more direct routes while cars must navigate complex junctions, one-way systems, etc.
China is known as the country of bicycles. I prefer bicycles to cars because it's much cheaper than cars, good to our health and friendly to our environment. So why not get yourself a bicycle on http://www.madeinchina.com/2718154/P5362338/Folding-bike.shtml?
I agree with Robert. I live in Portland and ride a bike, but have also lived in Stockholm with their nice bike system - although not as built-out as some Danish or Dutch systems. An inattentive driver is an inattentive driver. Cycles should be separate from auto traffic and pedestrians.
fyi, I've posted a short, tongue-in-cheek film the City of Portland commissioned from me to mark the launch of the bike boxes here. Its primary audience is motorists, however, since the City felt bicyclists would easily figure the boxes out without any prompting -- thus more car and less bike in the film. Aside from relaying the overall messages they wanted to convey ("don't turn right on red in a bike box," for example), and that it was to be an online-only piece, the City left me pretty much alone to figure out how best to talk to (and not down to) motorists.
How'd I do? Let me know what you think:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WntSobDhVlI
Stu-pid.
Why?
So more idiot bikers can get hit when the swerve into the bike box?
Why don't we make bikers who bike on the road pass a test like drivers? maybe pay registration fees? Maybe contribute to society?
We've had these in intersections in Vancouver, BC, Canada for some time now. Found on many of the bike lanes in the city. Nice to have in the downtown area.
wow gary, cyclists DO contribute to society. that cloud of smog above your city is a direct result of the license carrying drivers. cyclists are using vehicles that generally last longer (check out how many people are riding ancient bikes around the city), use less materials to produce and maintain, and don't require fossil fuels to run. cyclists, as most citizens of any country, also pay taxes that go towards road maintenance. you should be thankful that more people are riding bikes, thus reducing congestion, which apparently allows YOU to drive your car on a less busy street. roads were not built for cars, it just happened that cars took over, and pushed the rest of us aside. bikes are the answer!
wow gary, cyclists DO contribute to society. that cloud of smog above your city is a direct result of the license carrying drivers. cyclists are using vehicles that generally last longer (check out how many people are riding ancient bikes around the city), use less materials to produce and maintain, and don't require fossil fuels to run. cyclists, as most citizens of any country, also pay taxes that go towards road maintenance. you should be thankful that more people are riding bikes, thus reducing congestion, which apparently allows YOU to drive your car on a less busy street. roads were not built for cars, it just happened that cars took over, and pushed the rest of us aside. bikes are the answer!
If there were no bike boxes or bike lanes or separate bike paths, and cyclists simply shared the roads with cars as I have done for 35 years with complete safety, there would be no intersection problems that need expensive fixes. John Forester described in "Effective Cycling" and in "Cycling Transportation Engineering" what he called the Cyclists Inferiority Complex, wherein people are inadvertently trained from childhood to believe they are inferior on the roads when riding a bike, and should always defer to cars, and then when they become motorists they feel cyclists should always get out of the way. This puts them at risk as they are riding in a manner inconsistent with normal traffic patterns, and are then unpredictable. In enlightened countries in Europe, cyclists have long shared the roadway with cars, and they are accepted. I don't mind if someone honks at me when I am in front of them on a bike. It means they see me and it makes me aware of them too. Let's start training kids to share the road with cars (not just the other way around). Throwing money at the problem just makes the anti-cyclists more agitated, as they already feel that cyclists are freeloaders, and now we are spending money so they can freeload easier. Let's not aggravate the situation with anti-cyclists. There will be no converting them. Education, starting early in grade school, and continuing through high school, about how and why cyclists should share the road with cars, that is the key.