Author Archives: jsallen

About jsallen

John S. Allen is the author or co-author of numerous publications about bicycling including Bicycling Street Smarts, which has been adopted as the bicycle driver's manual in several US states. He has been active with the Massachusetts Bicycle Coalition since 1978 and served as a member of the board of Directors of the League of American Bicyclists from 2003 through 2009.

Chicago Bike Lane Guide, a Blast from the Past

The Chicago  Bike Lane Design Guide, published by the Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center of the University of North Carolina in cooperation with the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation and the City of Chicago, is available online on the NACTO site. What … Continue reading

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An undertaking undertaking

I answered this question on the Quora question-answering site. Who is at fault if a driver undertakes you from behind you while you are safely making a left turn on a one-way road? First, let’ define “undertaking”. That doesn’t mean … Continue reading

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Some Dutch roundabouts

(Edited and updated  March 30, 2024) Dutch roundabouts have received a lot of publicity, notably here: https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/tag/roundabout/ Roundabout design in the Netherlands has seen a long process of trial and error. A design used until bicyclists complained strongly enough about … Continue reading

Posted in Bicycle facilities, Bicycling, Roundabouts, shared space, Sidepaths, traffic circles | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Brooklyn Bridge air horn blast

The Brooklyn Bridge, one of the engineering wonders of the world, opened in 1883 and is still in full service. (Highly recommended: David McCullough’s book The Great Bridge…) Traffic on the roadways when the bridge opened consisted of horseback riders, … Continue reading

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Avoiding the left cross

This post isn’t about pointing the finger of blame. If that is to your taste, you would have been able to find endorsement of that position in many comments on the video below when it was originally posted on YouTube. … Continue reading

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Protected?

The cyclist’s comment on this YouTube video: “This is why turn signals are important. Had she used a turn signal, I would have stayed back and let her turn. But because she didn’t use one, I assumed she was going … Continue reading

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PeopleforBikes Interprets Boulder Data

Here’s a quick review of an article by Michael Andersen of the PeopleforBikes Green Lane Project about the City of Boulder, Colorado’s removing what he calls a “protected bike lane”. I prefer to call it at barrier-separated on-street bikeway, avoiding … Continue reading

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Alice Swanson fatality, a right hook

Here is the intersection in Washington, DC, where cyclist Alice Swanson was killed by a right-turning garbage truck. The Street View is from 2009, as close as Google gets to the year of the crash (2008). The big cross street … Continue reading

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Daytime running, nighttime blinding

Here’s a sign I just noticed for the first time, on the Minuteman bikeway, outside Boston. Until LED lights went on steroids, who would have ever thought that this would be a problem? But then, unregulated industry is ever willing … Continue reading

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Everyone thinks of changing the world…

“Everyone thinks of changing the world, nobody thinks of changing himself.” — Leo Tolstoy 3 PM yesterday, I was bicycling on a 2-lane street in Wellesley, Massachusetts when a school bus coming the opposite way stopped a few hundred feet … Continue reading

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