In the photo above a merge by a person on a bike² into the traffic lane as a motor vehicle travels in it over 50mph could mean instant death. Yet a merge for someone on a bicycle with a vehicle at 35mph is still frightening and risky. In the Netherlands and some other places - within city limits and close to schools - this bike lane/traffic lane combination would be unusual, as bikes would most typically have physical separation on streets where speeds are higher than 20mph.

Engineering - not Enforcement - is the primary way to reduce collisions. The recent thread on NextDoor - sorry, I know not everyone's on that - after a driver collided with a tree just south of the Pole Line entrance to Oaktree Plaza and after a crash further north knocked out the electricity in parts of Davis focused only on driver behavior, the lack of enforcement and alcohol. Good infrastructure takes these things into account and creates resilience to prevent deaths, injuries and property damage.

Pole Line and East Covell (east of Pole Line) encourage high-speed driving because the design makes it comfortable to speed.. The greenbelt paths on the north side of the street are circuitous, not in great shape and are shared between slow and faster users. Denison Drive, the frontage road on the south side of the street that terminates to the east at Poplar Lane, is slow, but requires stopping at all cross streets, with constant attention required as vehicles turn in from the fast boulevard. The smoothest, fastest bicycle space is the lanes on the street. These bike lanes adjacent to speeding traffic feel uncomfortable and dangerous for many users. Sacrificing convenience for safety is a bad strategy, and seems to be central to the design of many arterials in Davis. This is enforced by Davis policy and frequent verbal and written support by City staff and some consultants, referring to "vehicular cycling" as an option. Better policy would reduce risk on our streets through simple measures like preventing “safety” signs from creating danger, and through more complicated measures such as codifying better street design and slower speeds.. When asked to do enforcement, the police should support Engineering as the priority solution. The Bicycling, Transportation and Street Safety Commission is forming new standing sub-committees to focus and speed up discussions, and both the short- and long-term fixes need to be brought to their attention

Please share your opinions on my opinions with the City Council at [email protected] and the Bicycling, Transportation and Street Safety Commission at [email protected].

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1 - Enforcement - as one of the "E" pillars of safe cycling, was removed from the League of American Bicyclists Bicycle Friendly America criteria.

2 - As opposed to "cyclist", because people walk, drive, run, swim, float... and ride bikes. "Driver" is used in this text, so it's not so much a rule as a way to humanize the operator of a bicycle. At worst, a description of a collision might say a "bike collided with...." totally leaving out the fleshy thing on it.