Comment by jwagenet

I don’t know Seattle so I’d be curious to know if the proximity and accident hotspots are also high traffic zones in general, whether they have a bike like (and how it’s placed), and if the routes are even bike routes or just routes that riders comfortable jostling in traffic like me took. Comfortable riders may also skew the data by being willing to “lane split” at red lights to pass stopped cars rather than waiting at the back in lane.

Having biked a lot in SF, my impression is the best protected bike lanes are on wide roads like Folsom/Howard, Fell/Oak, etc. where proximity isn’t generally an issue, but I’d expect intersections to be riskier due to higher car speeds. While cars passing on isn’t an issue on the Wiggle with a critical mass of riders, on neighborhood streets where sharing the road is obligated the drivers can be scariest, especially in the Sunset. In NYC, an abundance of one lane, one way streets make controlling an entire street easier.

The reality of city design at the moment is almost any bike route will require the sharing the road with cars at some point, usually at the start and end of a ride, because bike lane and “bike route” coverage is often poor in residential areas and business districts.