If you've been reading this blog for a while, you know that I don't give a blanket endorsement to roadside bicycle lanes. Too many, at least in the US, are poorly-conceived, constructed and maintained. The worst sort of lanes are the ones that serve no pratical purpose-- the ones I call lanes from nowhere to nowhere--because they do nothing to encourage cycling as a practical alternative to driving for commuting, errands and other purpose-driven trips. And the most dangerous ones are the ones that separate motor traffic from cyclists by nothing more than a line on the pavement. As I've said on more than one occasion, "paint is not infrastructure."
Studies have shown that painted cycle lanes do nothing to reduce injuries and "advisory lanes"--one which motorists are allowed to enter--are worse than no lane at all: they increase the odds of injury by 30 percent.
The only news, for me, in those studies is the number: I know, from experience, that a painted is as much a margin of safety for cyclists as a swath of fishnet scotch-taped at the nose bridge offers against COVID-19 or any other contagious virus. And too often, motorists use "advisory" and even painted "bike-only" lanes to pass or double-park; the latter is often done by drivers of delivery trucks.
To be fair, drivers, until recently, have been inculcated with the notion that they are the "kings of the road": that motor vehicles take priority over cyclists and pedestrians. If they haven't cycled during their adult lives, it's hard for them to un-learn such an attitude. Also, some lanes, especially the "advisory" ones, aren't marked in ways that motorists can easily see, especially if they are driving large vehicles.
But some of the worst offenders, in my experience, are police officers in their "cruisers." I can't begin to tell you how many times I've seen them parked in the middle of lanes while munching on donuts and sipping coffee. And I've had a couple of close encounters with constabulary cars that weren't responding to an emergency call. At least, I don't think they were: their lights weren't flashing and their sirens weren't blaring.
Some have debated whether what was captured in that image was indeed a "close call" with a police car. However, Andrew Frogley on the Road.cc blog, who didn't think it was such a "close call," nonetheless agreed that one blogger had a legitimate question: "What's worse? The painted cycle lane or the close pass?"
Geoff Hickman had, I believe, the best answer: "One enables the other."
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