[NFBWATLK] bike lanes are causing pedestrian problems here; we need your help

[Mary ellen]

The Canadian Federation of the Blind has filed a complaint concerning the
way bike lanes have been designed and built in Victoria.  We are afraid that
the design here may become the de facto standard in North America.  If so,
pedestrian safety will be compromised.

 

In order to board a bus, passengers must cross a bike lane, often in the
middle of a block.  Since bicycles are practically silent, blind passengers
risk being run down by cyclists who fail to stop.  It's a problem similar to
the quiet car problem, except that bikes are smaller.  They can still do
damage, however.

 

We've established a Go Fund Me campaign to help pay our costs for defending
this issue.  If you're able, we'd appreciate your financial support.  Any
donation, no matter how small, will help.

 

Here's the link:

https://www.gofundme.com/cfb-bike-lanes 

 

We would also like to know if you are aware of any well designed bike lanes
that protect cyclists without endangering pedestrians.  If you know of a
good design, that will help us demonstrate to the city planners that the
praiseworthy objective of encouraging cyclists can be accomplished without
setting the safety concerns of pedestrians aside.  It's not really our job
to tell the city how to do this right, but having ideas we can suggest they
research will be very useful.

 

If you have information that you believe we can use, please write me at
president at cfb.ca.

 

Thanks for all you do that encourages us to move forward.

 

Mary Ellen