Bike vs. bulbout: Missoula woman injured in crash
Becky Broeder knew it was just a matter of time before a bicyclist crashed into one of Missoula's new and controversial "bulbouts."
Broeder, who often commutes by bike, had called the city to voice her concerns over the concrete curb extensions, but figured the discussion would really ramp up once someone was injured.
"I figured that there would probably have to be a test case before we really figured out what to do with them," she said Monday. "I just didn't plan to be that case."
Turn the clock back a week. Broeder was riding her old Schwinn mountain bike home from the Bryan Adams concert about 11 p.m. Broeder lives on Howell Street, and her route home goes west on Phillips Street, which got a series of bulbouts as part of a "Safe Routes To School" grant.
The city of Missoula also installed other bulbouts around town this summer, including near Rattlesnake, Paxson, Russell, and Lewis and Clark elementary schools.
As Broeder closed in on the intersection of Phillips and Bulwer, a car came up behind her. Although she had a bright light, she wasn't sure the car could see her, so she slowed down in hopes of letting it pass before the road narrows at the bulbout.
"I think a lot of people have just been riding into the traffic lane to get through these spots safely, but I wasn't going to do that in the dark," she said.
As the car approached, Broeder watched over her left shoulder as the car came near, but didn't realize how close she was to the bulbout.
"I hit it and went over the handlebars," she said. "I hit my abdomen on the bars then went over and landed on my face."
The collision left Broeder with three broken molars and 30 stitches in her chin, which was split open nearly to the bone.
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"On a low-volume street, the driver can usually just move around the bicycle," King said. "But on Phillips, because of the median, something more than that will be required."
Stopping, for instance, King said. But who should stop and under what circumstances?
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Broeder is very mindful of the hazards facing pedestrians. She just thinks the bulbouts solve one problem while creating another one.
"Why couldn't we have something that works for everyone?" she asked. "That's what I would be pushing for."
... http://www.missoulian.com/news/local/article_c4c160ca-b239-11de-8403-001cc4c03286.html
Comments:
"I hadn’t heard about these. Once I saw this and looked up what they were, my first thought was, “I’d like to meet the idiot that thought of this!” I’m willing to bet that NASA’s not mailing that engineer any job applications." - JS
"But I hate this form of traffic calming because it does create conflicts between cyclists and motorists, especially when the lane transitions from shareable to not shareable at frequent intervals." - KC
Traffic calming is a social indicator
Speed bumps, pinch-points and the like have long irritated me. Not because they slow me down—I don’t speed—but because they’re a painful reminder of the hyper-individualism, selfishness and disrespect that plagues our communities and our traffic culture. And worse, they’re symbolic of our society’s unwillingness to solve core problems, instead opting for inadequate band-aids to control the symptoms while the disease rages on.
Traffic calming is a hardware solution to a software problem.
—John S. Allen
Worse, most of these pseudo-solutions have unintended consequences that disproportionately punish the innocent.
Traffic calming that punishes cyclists
Yes, yes, I know, traffic calming slows motorist speeds. But, in my experience, it also creates unnecessary and uncomfortable conflicts with motorists. Physical traffic calming does not solve the core attitude problem behind the behavior, so it simply creates new behavior problems.
http://commuteorlando.com/wordpress/2009/09/20/traffic-calming-what-does-it-say-about-us/
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