Bike Lanes

Two bicycling upgrades were spotted in the eastern neighborhoods this past week: Preliminary striping for bike lanes on western Cesar Chavez Street and a "green wave" on 11th Street in west SoMa.

The latest proposals for a redesign of Potrero Avenue include no protected bike lanes and only one transit lane, while the removal of any of the street's four lanes devoted primarily to private car traffic remains off the table.

The SFMTA isn't quite ready to declare that it will expedite protected bike lanes on Folsom Street with a pilot project, but planners say they're fleshing out the details of what near-term safety upgrades on the street could look like.

Caltrans has converted two general traffic lanes to bike lanes and a center turn lane on a deadly stretch of San Jose Avenue just south of highway 280, where 69-year-old Hector Arana was killed by a driver while crossing the street in March.

Soon after an SFPD sergeant harassed bicycle advocates at a rally for safer streets at the site where Amelie Le Moullac was killed, SF Bicycle Coalition Program Manager Marc Caswell found what SFPD investigators claimed they couldn't: two surveillance cameras facing the street, one of which had footage showing the truck driver running over Le Moullac in the bike lane at Folsom and Sixth Streets on August 14.

Update: Shahum reported that SFBC staffer Marc Caswell found a surveillance camera at an auto body shop which has footage of Le Moullac's crash, even though SFPD has said no such footage could be found. More on that story later as it develops.

Stanley Roberts asked me to come out yesterday for one of his "People Behaving Badly" segments and help explain how drivers should legally make a right-turn, since CBS 5 didn't get it quite right. Roberts still didn't touch on the point that CBS got wrong -- drivers can't just jump in front of people on bikes because they got to the intersection first -- but it's good to see him devote attention to the issue.

A clear understanding of California's right-of-way laws is crucial if drivers are to avoid colliding with people using San Francisco's bike lanes. As we saw this week, a "right-hook," in which a driver turns right into the path of a bike rider, can be fatal.

The woman killed on her bike by a truck driver at Sixth and Folsom Streets yesterday morning has been identified as 24-year-old Amelie Le Moullac, SF Weekly reported this morning. Le Moullac was run over by a truck driver making a right turn from Folsom on to Sixth at about 7:07 a.m., and although SFPD says it's still investigating the crash, officers have already said they have no plans to submit case to the district attorney to investigate the case for potential charges, according to KTVU.