Lesson:Protected Intersections for Bicyclists

Conversation

Answer the following questions. You might be asked to write them down or answer them out-loud.

1. Is the city where you live very busy on the streets? Why?
2. If so, does it have any plan or organization in order to improve its problems?
3. Do you like to ride bikes? How often do you ride bikes?
4. Do you use bicycles as a mean of transportation? When?
5. What facility must have so we can use more bicycles to move from one place to another?
6. Do you think drivers don't respect bikes in traffic? Why?
7. Are you afraid of riding bikes on the streets? Why?
8. How far is your house from work/daily activities? How do you go to these places?
9. Are bikes, skates, roller blades one of the traffic solution for the future? Why?
10. Do you think there are still cities with no traffic problem? If you know, name one.

Vocabulary

Look at the vocabulary below. Take time to explore the links for their definitions in English and their translations to Portuguese. When you are done, make a sentence with each word. Ask your teacher if you should write them down or say them out loud.

DT   

DT   handle

DT   commitment

DT   actually

DT   psyche

DT   stuff

DT   bright

DT   buzz

DT   capture

DT   critical

DT   meaningful

DT   otherwise

DT   outcome

DT   park

DT   review

DT   appropriately

DT   engage

DT   jabbering

Video

Watch the following video but DON'T read the transcript yet.

After watching the video do this listening exercise.

Reading practice

Read the following transcript then do the associated reading comprehension exercise.

Transcript:

Urban planners and designers have finally figured it out if yur city is designed so you can bike instead of drive. It will be a happier healthier place to live. We know that potected bike lanes are the key to getting the average person to consider traveling by bike. Sharing busy traffic lanes with cars is absolutely unacceptable and separation by a line of paint is often not enough. Protected bikes lanes called cycle tracks use curbs, planters or parking to buffer bicyclists from moving cars. But there's still a problem. The protected bike lanes lose their benefits when they reach intersections. The buffer falls away and your face with an ambiguous collection of green paint, dashed lines and bicycle markings.
One popular configuration is called the mixing zone. Where cars and bikes you're the lame. It doesn't matter how safe and protected your bike lane is, if intersections are risky stressful experiences. We need to make intersections just as safe and secure as the lane to lead into them. With the protected bike lane needs, is the protected intersection. Model after Dutch intersection design, the Protected Intersection brings the physical protection along with you as you ride through the crossing. A collection design elements makes left turn simple and secure. Right turns protected and fast and provide straight through movement that minimize or eliminate conflicts from turning cars.
With this design, riders will never feel stranded, exposed or unsure where to go and how to get there. There are four main elements Protected Intersection designs. A corner refuge island, a forward stop bar for bicyclists,a setback bike and pedestrian crossing and bicycle-friendly signal facing. The corner refuge island is the key element that makes these intersections function. This island brings the protective barrier from the bike lane far into the intersection. Think a bit like a curb extension for bicyclists. The island physically separates bicyclists as they make right turns and provides a secure refuge for those waiting at a red signal protected from moving cars. Paired with the corner refuge island is a forward stop bar for bicyclists. well, people driving must stop back behind the crosswalk. People on bikes may yield to pedestrians and stop at a waiting area farther ahead in the intersection. Bicyclist turning left, also use the space to wait when making a left turn. The advantage of this design is threefold: the forward stop location makes bicyclist incredibly visible to drivers waiting at a red light; the physical distance ahead of cars gives bicyclists an effective head start when the light turns green and the distance to the road the bicycles need to cross is greatly reduced. In Protected Intersections the bike lanes bends away from the intersection creating a setback bicycle and pedestrian crossing. In contrast to conventional bicycle crossings run next to the moving cars, the setback crossings provide the space and time for everyone to react to potential conflicts. The critical dimensions is one car link the space between the traffic lane and the bicycle crossing around six meters this space is often already present in the parking and buffer space at the protected bike lane. With this design, drivers turn 90 degrees to face the bike lane before they even cross it, making people on bikes highly-visible an out of the drivers blind spot. To allow

Writing practice

Write a couple of paragraphs talking about which solution(s) could be done to improve the traffic in your city. Make sure to use words you learned from the text and try to make it as long as you can.

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