
The powers that be have been installing these safety posts dividing the bike lane from the rest of traffic on Market Street. The latest ones (pictured above) can now be found on the stretch between Gough and Van Ness.
I like the spirit of this idea, since it creates a visual safety barrier and clearly denotes to vehicles that it is unnacceptable to use the bike lane to pass other slower vehicles on the right. Ultimately, this will foster an overall sense of cycling security and will probably encourage the more cautious riders to start commuting to work every day. Furthermore, this will definitely prevent delivery trucks from parking in the bike lane.
However, there is another side of me (the one that doesn’t think twice before splitting Muni buses with an inch of clearance on each side) that so far has only experienced these things getting in the way. Sometimes it is necessary to exit the bike lane and veer into the traffic lanes, such as when passing slower riders who are travelling side by side or when a car inches out of a driveway a litte too far without looking and you need to make instant evasive maneuvers.

like this jerkface
Was it really so bad before? I don’t recall ever feeling unsafe on this stretch of Market Street while riding in the bike lane. On the other hand, the ubiquitous placement of these posts would probably have come in handy when fellow blogger Adrienne Johnson of Change Your Life, Ride A Bike was antagonized and almost purposefully knocked off her bike by a douchebag cop in an undercover vehicle.
What do you guys think? At least they’re fun for slalom practice; that is, until THIS GUY shows up:
