6 Benefits of Bike Lanes
For the urban setting, bike lanes can offer many benefits to the community. More and more cities are seeking ways to cut down on congestion while also improving the environment, and these cities are turning to the bicycle. However, the addition of e-bikes and shared bicycles is creating its own number of problems.
When it comes to city biking, bike riders don’t usually have a designated space, and they often jump from sidewalk to road to maintain their safety. This can be difficult for pedestrians and vehicles to handle because cyclists do not hold to any universal standard, and this can create more dangerous situations that result in injuries and fatalities.
Dedicated bike lanes create a solution that not only offers safety to cyclists, but they also standardize some of the city cyclists’ behaviors. This means that vehicles and pedestrians won’t have to guess how the bikers will navigate the road or sidewalk.
Fewer Injuries
Bike lanes help to keep bikers safer. While some bike lanes are only delineated with a painted line, some areas are including actual barriers between bike lanes, sidewalks, and the road. In a comparison between Europe and North America, cyclists in the USA have a higher risk of injury. Researchers think it may have something to do with bike lanes.
Added Space to Roadway
Bike lanes increase the amount of margin on roadways, which means that commuters have a larger visual space for maintaining safety in turning, avoiding fixed obstacles, and more. This space also means that bus stops have more room for picking up riders. Vehicle drivers will no longer need to move into oncoming traffic to go around bicyclists.
Improved Traffic Flow
The addition of bike lanes helps to improve traffic flow because it gives bikers a place in the roadway. No longer do city bicyclists need to dodge cars or people and vice versa, but they can carry on at a steady speed. This improves traffic flow because everyone knows exactly where they belong.
Safe Sidewalks
Once bicycles have a designated space for commuting through the city, the sidewalk becomes safer for pedestrians and individuals with disabilities. Police can then also require bikers to use bike lanes rather than sidewalks.
Better for the Environment
Every person that feels safe enough to choose biking over driving helps to reduce air pollution and road congestion. Transportation is responsible for more than a quarter of greenhouse gasses. Just choosing to bike for short commutes can help decrease carbon output by 2,000 pounds every year.
Health Benefits
The addition of bike lanes creates a feeling of safety for many people who would bike if they felt that it was a safe option. Not only does biking cut down on fuel use, but it also offers commuters the added benefit of exercise. For example, a two-mile bike ride can burn about 100 calories, and this type of cycling can decrease the chances of diabetes, depression, dementia, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and high blood pressure.
Bike lanes promise a number of benefits to city dwellers and commuters that orient the lanes as something of imperative importance for developing safer roadways and pathways. At StrongGo, we believe in creating a safe and accessible world, and we do that by committing to reliable and durable TekWay detectable warning dome tiles. Speak to an industry expert today by emailing csd@stronggo.com.