VIDEO - How to Use a Bike Box

VideoThis video from the City of Victoria explains how to use bike boxes associated with the city's new protected cycling lanes from a cyclist's point of view. It is worthwhile viewing for drivers as it shows the movements of the cyclist at the intersection. Some movements by the cyclist may be unexpected in terms of what we are used to prior to the advent of the bike box and they are worthwhile encountering here first to avoid confusion on the road.

Separate cycling facilities will become commonplace in urban areas of B.C. and are considered in the B.C. Community Road Safety Toolkit. It refers to a National Association of City Transportation Officials publication on bike box design. The entire NACTO Urban Bikeway Design Guide may be of interest.

We actually paid someone to dream this up?

In reply to by Hawk (not verified)

Road network planners get paid, but, contrary to Hawk's comment, no-one here was paid to dream up the bike box idea. Bike boxes and similar advanced stop lines are used extensively in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Denmark, and other European countries. In North America there are fewer, because bicycle traffic volumes are lower and there is a lack of knowledge. See Advanced Stop Line for more information

Goofiest thing I ever saw. Call me confused, maybe ...

I'm just not sure why the demonstrator wasn't showing the hand signal for turning right to make a 180 degree turn to head the other way to turn left. It's such a beautiful hand signal, although unfortunately some drivers still confuse it with the shove it up to your elbow sign and get all uppity whenever I display it to them.

From the Ministry of Silly Walks! I fully expect there'll be lots of drivers who, through plain ordinary bloodymindedness will find themselves at odds with traffic officers. Not only that, can we really expect those cyclists who routinely blow through red lights and stop signs to suddenly decide to wait through two traffic controls instead of (apparently) none? Take a guess at the ratio of ticketed bike box driving offenses, versus ticketed bike box cycling offenses. How about ten to none! Go to a dictionalry and look up "boondoggle", and you'll see a picture of a bike box!