08-27-2017, 07:49 PM
(08-26-2017, 11:37 AM)Pheidippides Wrote: After riding the Caroline MUT corridor between Allen and Erb twice a day for a week pulling a young child in a bike trailer in the rush hours I can easily say that I feel exponentially safer riding in traffic on Caroline; everything is so much more predictable. That's right, riding in bumper to bumper traffic was safer (and felt safer) than riding on the trail. The first few times I actually got off and walked across the road crossings along the MUT as I am legally required to do, but after getting honked at and told I was taking too long I stopped that practice immediately and started to ride across the crossings carefully but had too many close calls and just started riding in traffic on the rode the rest of the week. Damned if you do...
Completely agree with what you're saying, I just got back from a ride with the kids in the cargo bike and almost got right hooked here. We were going about 7 km/h at the time, so it's not like our speed was the major cause. I made eye contact with the driver as he was about to turn - maybe he was expecting me to dismount and cross... I commented to my wife that if we'd been hit, I'd probably be blamed for riding in a crosswalk. Feels like entrapment to me.
I'm quite comfortable riding in traffic any other time, but try to stick to trails with the kids for less stress, slower speeds and my wife's comfort. MUTs without proper priority at intersections are a failure, not to mention this is too busy a pedestrian area for an MUT.