Bike lanes: Hazards reduce their appeal

There are bike lanes — and then there are bike lanes:

• If you have ridden a bike along the paths in Blaisdell Park, you know what it means to ride at a reasonable speed, with the freedom to ogle the scenery, yet in comparatively great safety.

• If you have driven a car makai on University Avenue under the freeway with a bicycle between you and another car, you know the meaning of trepidation.

We've been hearing for years about plans to extend existing bike lanes and build new ones, and now, according to a report by Advertiser transportation writer Scott Ishikawa, a number of projects totalling tens of millions of dollars are slowly beginning to become reality.

What's vital is that these new lanes and trails be, as much as possible, like the Blaisdell example: well-built, well-maintained surfaces, separated from highway traffic. It's clear that on O'ahu, an island where traffic arteries must funnel through numerous chokepoints, that preference won't be achievable all of the time, but it's an important goal.

As bike lanes proliferate in mixed-use areas, both drivers and riders must adapt willingly and with aloha. We've seen drivers who are a menace to bike riders — and bike riders who ride as if they had a death wish.

The folks whose attitudes must change before this bike path expansion occurs include:

• The riders who insist on invoking their right to pedal in the midst of traffic even when there's a safer bike path available.

• The drivers who a) don't see bike and motorcycle riders at all and b) those who try to cut them off or squeeze them off the road even though they do see them.

• The drivers who park next to a bike lane and open their doors without checking for bikes passing them.

• The bike riders who insist on enjoying the best of both worlds — that is, they invoke their right to the same privileges as car and truck drivers as long as traffic is moving, occupying a full lane of traffic — often not the right lane — even though they can't always hope to approach the speed limit. But when traffic halts for a red light, they become something else — they pass lines of stopped cars by riding between lanes, then cross the intersection by posing as pedestrians.

There are great advantages to enabling a large increase in bicycle use, both for commuting and for pleasure and exercise. They include cleaner air, less crowded highways and better fitness. But if the number of riders mixing with automobile traffic is to increase, riders must learn to use their new lanes properly, and drivers must treat them with greater respect.