Hey guys. I’m curious about this type of scenario, because I see two ways of approaching it and neither seems like the best way.

Legend for the photo: MUP = multiuse path; SW = sidewalk; BL = bike lane (sharrows, but it turns to a bike lane).

Assuming you were on the MUP going north, and wanted to turn onto the bike lane heading west.

What’s the best/safest/legal way to do this?

A. Use the crosswalk (not a crossride, so you’d need to get off your bike and walk) and position yourself on the lane facing west?

B. Turn from the MUP straight into the bike lane on a green? This would mean going across two lanes.

C. Position on the left turn lane of the road, and make the left turn from that lane? Cars turning right don’t make this easy or safe.

For context, there is a bus route going south to north, and this particular road has a lot of speeders. What I’d think would be safe, usually isn’t.

If this were an intersection with cyclists in mind, it would have a large green box for cyclists to move into to make the turn safely. In that case, I’d think C would be the most ideal. But without that, what’s the next best?

I tend to choose A at this particular intersection, but that’s nearly gotten me run over by people turning left from the north side.

Thoughts?

EDIT: Thank you for all the input, guys. I will stick with “A” (which is a Copenhagen left turn), and will suggest to my city to add a proper green painted bike box at this intersection for cyclists to safely make these turns.

  • sugar_in_your_tea
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    9 months ago

    I would go with C, taking complete control of the right lane (ride about 2/3 to the left of the lane), using hand signals to make it clear where I’m going. If it’s not safe, I’ll fall back to A.

    B is always unsafe and illegal in my area. A and C are both legal in my area, so I’ll pick whatever is safer at the time depending on traffic. I’ve done both in my area, which has roads posted at 35mph and 45mph (so 60-70kph), and people often go 50-60mph (80-100kph). It’s scary the first few times, but I can usually time it for either a red light or a lull in traffic.

    A is always going to be safe if you wait for the light to change, it’s just time consuming. So I usually try to make C work.