Stupid, but for different reasons

Everybody has been talking about this video from Slate about the “stupidest bike lane in America.”

Andy Bowers thinks his one block long bike lane makes it “the stupidest bike lane in America.” In many areas, local governments have committed themselves to striping every wide street in their jurisdiction, so these short bike lanes abound these days. Andy’s short lane isn’t particularly stupid in comparison.

Andy says of his bike lane that, “a nice painted bike lane like this makes [bicycling] … safer and more fun.” He says this with a complete lack of irony as he rides smack in the middle of the door zone, which is not a safe way to ride. Still, door zone bike lanes aren’t exactly uncommon in their stupidity.

Somebody on a local mailing list commented that anybody who fails to mark the end of a lane should lose his job as a traffic engineer. Still, this failure to properly mark the end of the bike lane isn’t exactly uncommon. As far as “bike lane stupidity” goes, this bike lane seems about par for the course.

I’m sure readers of CommuteByBike have seen worse. What are your nominees for Stupidest Bike Lane in [Your Country]?

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