Bill Sellin, BCI#2

Last Saturday BCI riders were observed making some really wrong moves on the Left Turn to Crawford Canyon from Newport Blvd.

Newport Blvd in Cowan Heights (County) is fast - posted 50 MPH so drivers go way faster…
The road curves a bit to the right - meaning if you don’t check for traffic and start merging over early, you can get caught - unseen - by 2 lanes of speeding vehicles before you get over to the left turn pocket… and it’s uphill so harder to do it as fast as you might think.
We are legally required to signal and merge - without impeding other traffic, so even if speeding, it will your fault if hit from behind while making an unsafe lane change. And to get from the bike lane across two travel lanes to the turn lane means 3 merges. Don’t push your luck - if not SURE you can make it, remember you can make a safer Box Turn left. Stay in the Bike Lane, Use the crosswalk to proceed left. Here it has a signal, button to activate the WALK light and is on the correct (right) side of Crawford Canyon for your direction of travel.

Often BCI members filter up on the right of cars already in a left turn lane. WHY!
You are either sharing their lane, then cutting the line & going to slow down everyone turning ( including those of us waiting as we should in line who will miss the light because the traffic was slowed down) or worse, you are straddling the right edge line between the turn lane and the through lane; Cars to your left will be slow & overly cautious when you go, and while you wait - or start to clip in & go - you will have cars passing inches off your right shoulder at lethal speeds. Just TAKE THE LANE & wait in line; if there are cars ahead they will be quickly out of your way by the time you turn. If there are cars behind, you will have lane control and will not be inviting them to share your lane as you turn.

On this particu;at turn last Saturday, some of us actually filtered up on the LEFT - riding in the narrow center island - risking a head on contact with the other direction of traffic - to be at the limit line, cutting off & holding up drivers who were there first and being on their left as the signal to turn went green!

Just TAKE THE LANE & wait in line; if there are cars ahead they will be quickly out of your way by the time you turn. If there are cars behind, you will have lane control and will not be inviting them to share your lane as you turn.

Once the light went green, the ‘cheaters’ at the limit line, cut off the drivers and pedaled UPHILL in a straight line, not swinging out in a curve to allow the cars to pass. This was not lane control; it was lack of situational awareness or arrogant entitlement. The rest of us waiting in line missed the signal because the ‘cheaters’ slowed traffic & blocked up the turn.

The only thing even stupider illegal (that was not observed here but has been seen elsewhere by bad driving cyclists) was to stay in the Bike Lane, then take the left arrow & cut uphill across all lanes to make the left onto Crawford Canyon. If that move seems stupid to you, dear reader, that is how those other common “bad moves” look to those who know better. If it seems OK - I really hope you will take a cycling class and review the rules of the road before you get hurt, and one more motorist lumps me in with your bad driving.

Ideally - the more you ride and observe these things, the more situational awareness you can develop. Unfortunately the more experienced a rider is seems to make us think we already are doing it right & we stop noticing or learning… A big help With checking Situational Awareness is having a team of riders on our ‘6’ who will call out situations and discuss what can be learned. The risks of ignorance are too great to avoid.