Bicycle Safety

Construction will begin this month on physically separated bike lanes and pedestrian safety improvements on three critical blocks of Fell and Oak Streets after the project was approved unanimously yesterday by the SF Municipal Transportation Agency Board of Directors.

The plan for protected bike lanes on Fell and Oak Streets could be completed by the end of this year -- at least partially.

The SF Municipal Transportation Agency added "safe-hit" posts and dashed green pavement treatments to the bike lanes on eastern Cesar Chavez Street this week between Vermont and Pennsylvania streets.

An effort to revamp conditions on Polk Street for walking, socializing, bicycling, and transit is underway by the SF Municipal Transportation Agency, and residents say they're eager to see calmer motor traffic, wider sidewalks, better bike lanes and more public space along the corridor.

SF editor's note: With dooring being the single most common cause of injury by motor vehicle users to people riding bikes in San Francisco, New York City sets a great example for using positive messaging to improve the safety of bicycling in the city. The SF Municipal Transportation Agency has placed stickers inside taxis, but safety and bicycle promotional campaigns in the media are the next step.

Reader Sean Rea witnessed a pretty brazen act of dangerous and petty driving behavior last Thursday on downtown Mission Street: Another hit-and-run on a vulnerable street user. But it wasn't just any ordinary victim this driver knicked and fled from. It was an officer of the SF Police Department:

A plan for sweeping safety improvements on deadly Masonic Avenue was unanimously approved by the SF Municipal Transportation Agency Board of Directors yesterday. It's the final decision needed to move the project forward, though the SFMTA says planners still need to finalize the design and secure funding before it's implemented. The agency doesn't have a timeline for that yet, but construction is likely still a couple years off.

Brent Butler was leading a bicycle rodeo in East Palo Alto for the city’s first Streets Alive event last year when he realized just how many children were there without bikes.

Last December, the SF Municipal Transportation Agency installed a camera to enforce the left turn signal at Fell Street and Masonic Avenue, which prohibits drivers from turning during a bicycle and pedestrian crossing phase. But drivers upset about receiving a ticket and fine of roughly $500 for violating the light have continued to complain that the red left-turn signal isn't visible enough. Whether or not that's the case has been an ongoing debate that has drawn 139 comments on our story over the year.