And I am confounded by why this continues to be so difficult for some drivers to figure out. Correct procedure seems fairly obvious to discern from the street striping, so is this a question of manual dexterity then? The above situation is definitely unsafe to transverse for a cyclist, with constant 40 mph traffic in the passing lane and an unpredictable line of cheap-fuel seeking cars walling off the other side.
I’d just as soon pass this off as typical oblivious automotive behavior were it not for the fact that it’s been happening for 6 months!
Will a solid green stripe along Fell solve this? More than likely. That one on Market Street, while imperfect, seems to take care care of most of the vehicular riff-raff.
And for any dufus who snickers that this isn’t in the Mission, please keep in mind this intersection’s vital importance for anyone who might want to take a delightful bike ride to the beach or for spicy Asian soup in the Sunset.
Sometimes even Mission-dwellers need some spicy soup from the Sunset.
As for why this section of Fell is still so difficult for drivers? I’d say people, at least quite a few of them, are oblivious to anything outside of their automobile’s frame.
A green stripe, and I bet some of those white flexible cone thingies (think “obvious physical barriers”) would probably help do the trick.
The City even tried to make the intersection at Fell and Masonic flow more smoothly, to make it safer for bicyclists and reduce congestion from the left turn onto Masonic, but that was a waste. There’s an actual lane for a left turn, yet I consistently see people either not in it at all making lefts, or having a wheel or two in the left lane.
Yeah…. I’m all for getting rid of vehicular riff-raff, but sadly, I don’t think there will ever be “common sense” component to the DMV test.
i ride that bike lane everyday on my way work. got hit by someone exiting the arco about 6 months ago. people always straddling the bike lane/turn lane…then not paying attention after their thirst for fuel has been quenched.
I blame the bicyclists … they don’t wear helmets, run lights, don’t ever have brakes and think they’re better than drivers, or something. Just getting that into the thread because it’s required.
That spot is so bad and has been for years. I think the city needs to aggressively enforce penalties for straddling the bike lane. Of course it looks like it’s only a $100.00 ticket.
Not an easy fix at that intersection. Always ride offensively in SF.
I’m pretty sure the broken up bits of the bike lane mean that it’s legally ok for a car to drive in it if the car is making a turn or there are no cyclists present.
“Correct procedure” at any intersection in the city is something that a much greater percentage of bicyclists rather than cars seem to have trouble grasping. If I were still a bicyclist I would avoid Fell and Divisadero like the plague, striping or no striping. Just because the law says you can do something, the laws of physics are really the only ones that matter. Stop bitching and take Page or Hayes.
welcome to San Francisco, once you hang out for a while you’ll notice the obvious reason that it doesn’t make much sense for a cyclist to take Page or Hayes Westbound and why the wiggle exists. the statistical analysis you pulled out of your bum is impressive though.
There is a reason for the dashed lines, it is so that cars can pull to the left hand lane and make a left turn. To be honest, as a cyclist who has ridden this route daily from 1998, I’ve never been hit, nor found it a particularly challenging/scary stretch of road, just get in your lane and ride fully aware of your surroundings, which is the way I ride everywhere.