So, what’s a bike box?
Originally installed in 1998, Eugene’s bike box – located at the intersection of 7th Avenue and High Street (see image below) – is designed to help bicyclists merging from the west to the east-side bike lane on High Street as they travel north through the 7th Avenue intersection. The bike box allows bicyclists to position themselves in the correct lane if they reach the intersection during a red traffic signal.
A road-safety demonstration event will be held today from 7 to 9 am and 4 to 6 pm at the bike box to highlight its recent changes. The demonstration is for all road users including bicyclists, pedestrians and motorists who want to learn how to effectively use the bike box.
Information and light refreshments will be available at the event. For more information contact David Roth via email or by telephone at 541.682.5727.
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Right-of-way is not a magical shield that will protect you from inattentive, uninformed, or aggressive drivers. One should always try to pay more attention to traffic than to signage.
This kind of road infrastructure suggests to me a certain degree of naivety regarding the practical realities of cycling in a city. Drivers approaching that intersection when the light is red are, sadly, often keeping their eye out for traffic coming up along 7th so that they can make an illegal right turn onto that avenue. They are not generally aware that bicyclists might be seeking to enter their lane right in front of them at just that moment.
I am grateful for the city’s efforts to foster greater cooperation and understanding among cyclists and drivers. As someone who has never owned a car, I am especially appreciative of the infrastructure Eugene provides to its bicyclists; it has had a significant positive impact on my quality of life during the decade that I’ve lived here.
It’s clear to me now that I ha never really understood how to properly use that bike box on 7th and High. After seeing that diagram, I am convinced that I will never use it in the intended manner.
The best street infrastructure is always the kind that facilitates a mutual understanding between pedestrians, cyclists and drivers. That kind of understanding can most easily be fostered when all three parties have a clear expectations of each other.
The bike box is a unique phenomena. (How many other bike boxes are there in Lane County? In Oregon?) Because they don’t tend to encounter bike boxes, drivers and cyclists do not often know what to expect of each other when they arrive at one, which degrades the two parties’ ability to cooperate with one another, putting both groups in greater danger.
I admit that don’t now how to make it safe for cyclists to get across that intersection without significantly impeding traffic on 7th and High. Until cyclists and drivers are both able to intuitively grasp how to use a bike box without having first attended a public education event I do not believe that it is an effective solution.