Duh…or is it just dawning awareness?
Ghost bikes mark an intersection in Portland, Oregon, at which two bicyclists were killed by turning vehicles during October in separate incidents.
The city is now responding by re-marking certain intersections with so-called “bike boxes.” These are essentially stop-lines for bicyclists that place them ahead of, and in full view of, stopped motorized traffic. Motorists aren’t allowed to make a right turn on red at an intersection with a bike box. Traffic officials hope that the boxes will reduce the incidence of “right hook” collisions, in which a motor vehicle turns in to a cyclist who is trying to proceed straight (or sometimes even turning!).
Here is a permalink to the article in The New York Times.
No one deserves to die because their vehicle is smaller, or doesn’t surround them with two tons of steel and plastic. I think this is a long-overdue step in recognizing the rights of other road users.
Of course no amount of paint or signage can protect us from the stupid or malevolent driver who brings only a dim awareness of responsibility to the street. Nor is it any match for head-in-their-butts radio shock jocks who juice up the morning commute crowd with road-warrior invective against anything that gets in their way.
But, it’s a start.
