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hdhcnsnd OP t1_j6l0ao6 wrote

Reply to comment by LowPermission9 in Third Bicyclist Killed in Philadelphia in January 2023 - Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia by hdhcnsnd

The majority of bike lanes here are low quality (non-protected, usually in the door zone, occasionally inches from high speed traffic).

If you look at the 1/22 and 1/27 cyclist murders, both took place along streets with bike lanes. Without further details, I would presume both cyclists were riding in the bike lanes when they were killed.

This is the horrifying part. Our infrastructure is a painted line— maybe it makes you feel safe but there’s nothing stopping a car from crossing it. Bike lanes need to be protected or separated from cars or this will continue to happen.

This is pretty standard practice in NYC/SF/DC/Boston and miles ahead in Europe.

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mortgagepants t1_j6mwa5a wrote

harrisburg made a law that in all of pennsylvania, you can't have parking separating bike lines on any state roads. they have to make the lanes in the door zone. (spring garden, broad, etc.)

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courageous_liquid t1_j6nrnul wrote

Spring garden is going to be parking protected.

It's also not that harrisburg made a law, it's just that the way our streets are codified requires cars to be parked next to the curb. Parking protected bike lanes are "pilots" that PennDOT grants because they realize it would require a pretty heavy political lift from our insane state legislature to change the code.

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mortgagepants t1_j6nsluc wrote

"Parking-separated bike lanes have historically been barred on state-owned roadways because Pennsylvania law requires parked vehicles to be within 12 inches of the curb, or the edge of the pavement." Although this is(was) technically the law for all roads in PA.

https://bicyclecoalition.org/pa-senate-committee-amends-parking-protected-bike-lane-bill-with-anti-municipal-amendment/

not disagreeing with you, just adding some nuance in case anyone else is following along.

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courageous_liquid t1_j6nys6u wrote

Correct, thank you. I figured that bill was going to either get killed or poison pilled but never followed up, appreciate the article.

Pennsyltucky never fails to amaze me with their absolute braindead politics.

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Booplympics t1_j6lh4qr wrote

> If you look at the 1/22 and 1/27 cyclist murders

Murders?

Hmmm downvotes but nobody explaining how it’s murder. Interesting.

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Norman_Door t1_j6lowjn wrote

This tragedy could probably be best classified as a homicide, not a murder.

My guess is that the people downvoting you because they are under the impression that you're trying to imply this is not a "murder" but an "accident."

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Booplympics t1_j6lxix5 wrote

It is not murder. It is an accident. It’s also homicide. But homicide does not equal murder. These are indisputable facts.

Unless, of course, OP has proof that these were premeditated acts. In which case no amount of bike infrastructure would have stopped it and it would be weird to use such an unrelated act to push your agenda.

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Norman_Door t1_j6mq39o wrote

I agree with you on the murder part. It's the wrong word to use. Too often, however, these deaths are referred to as "accidents" by the media, which downplays the culpability of the driver in the cyclist's death.

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