At last - a Bike Lane for the Proudly Timid...

If you're interested in ways to make bike commuting a more viable option, check out the video above. It is a pretty simple, cost effective design that would make the most hazardous part of bike commuting - crossing lanes of traffic - a whole lot easier. As a person who loves to cycle, but doesn't have the nerves of steel (or sense of entitlement - take your pick) that allows some people to do things like cross three lanes of traffic to make a left hand turn, navigating across major roads can be a real hang-up. And since I consider my self to be not very far off the median as far potential biking hang-ups go, I think solving this particular problem would go a long way to eliminating the mental barriers of much of the public.

This solution is such an elegant one, it amazes me I haven't seen it before. Of course, it will impede traffic, so no one should expect city planning departments to fall all over themselves to be first to make this happen. But since it's becoming increasingly clear that roads will be used to capacity no matter how wide we make them, there's a good argument for fighting through that sentiment. The video is a bit on the long side, but it's a fascinating 5 minutes.

SOURCE: Liz Stinson, Wired, http://www.wired.com/2014/06/a-new-bike-lane-design-that-could-make-biking-more-popular-and-save-lives/