Protected lanes beat painted ones after 3 months of commuting

I rode the painted bike lane on 9th Street in Austin for 6 months and got buzzed by trucks almost weekly, then they added the concrete barriers and a separate turn lane. Since November I've had zero close calls and drivers actually stop for me at the merge point. Has anyone else noticed the difference feels bigger than the city's own traffic stats suggest?

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1 Comment

baker.simon1d ago

Skip the stats, I see it with my own eyes every day. Painted lines just tell cars where you might be, barriers tell them you're actually there. That merge point is where everything changed for me too, drivers used to treat it like a suggestion and now they have no choice but to yield. The city numbers probably undercount near misses anyway, most folks don't report the close calls that don't end in a crash. I'd take one concrete bollard over a mile of fresh paint any day.