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Accidents Wane with Bike Lanes

Bicycle accidents dropped by more than half in the year since Corvallis installed 13 miles of on-street cycling lanes, according to city engineers. Complaints about the system are also down, traffic engineer Brian Fodness said today.

"Every once in a while we hear some rumbling," Fodness said, "but many more comments are of a positive than negative nature. I think the community has adjusted."

Fifteen more miles of bike lanes are on the drawing board and will be installed when money is available, he said.

When the first lane-striping program started in mid-1981, the City Council asked for a one-year progress report. This report was to go to the council today. It shows:

• Sixteen bicycle accidents were reported between October 1981 and September, 1982, down from 10 the year before.

• Of those 16 accidents, only five occurred on streets with bike lanes and those all involved bikes being ridden after dark without lights.

• Bicyclists are for the most part using the lanes, except when the lanes are blocked by fallen leaves, debris or illegally parked cars.

• Ghosts of old pavement markings still show through in some places, but addition of extra reflection markings has helped solve the problem.

• As their budget allows, police are ticketing cyclists who break traffic laws, such as requirements to ride on the right and stay off downtown sidewalks.

• Where the new lanes took parking spaces, most motorists have found other places to park.

Only five houses were left without any parking, on or off the street, and city engineers have helped owners solve that problem, Fodness said.

"What we've tried to do is identify ways owners could make improvements to their own property," Fodness said. "Most of them were easy to satisfy, a couple were a little bit more difficult."

It took a while, Fodness said, but both cyclists and motorists seem to be getting used to the lanes. Education programs sponsored by the city, schools and local cycling groups have helped, he said, and those programs will continue.