A new editorial in the Ventura County Star finds a member of an organization called VCCool calling for the construction of segregated bike lanes in roads throughout the area. These are different from bike lanes painted along the side of the road, as the segregated lanes actually offer additional separation between bikes and automobiles. She notes that while segregated bike lanes can reduce injuries by as much as 90%, regular bike lanes may only reduce them by half. Not surprisingly, the University of British Columbia research she references notes that roads without any kind of bicycle protection are the most hazardous. To protect bicyclists, communities throughout California will need to invest heavily in the types of strategies that take into account the rights of cyclists as much as drivers.
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