Respect the Rail: KC Streetcar & Bicycle Safety Video - Cyclist beware of new streetcar tracks in KC & STL | @KCStreetcar

Headlines are quick hits from media outlets from Missouri and around the world. Follow the headline link for the full story. The source of this headline says:

Short public service video about KC Streetcar safety and riding your bicycle around streetcar tracks in downtown Kansas City, Always look and listen before crossing the road, cross the tracks at a 90 degree angle and, whenever possible, use alternate bike-friendly routes.

Link: 

Respect the Rail: KC Streetcar & Bicycle Safety Video - Cyclist beware of new streetcar tracks in KC & STL | @KCStreetcar

MoBikeFed comment: The Kansas City Streetcar has been working with BikeWalkKC to educate cyclists about the danger of streetcar tracks to cyclists.

Kudos to both organizations for tackling this issue and educating cyclists. To most cyclists, this is an unexpected issue. We deal with railroad tracks all the time, and they are not very dangerous when handled correctly.

However, most railroad tracks that cyclists deal with are short segments that cross the street at a 90 degree angle or very near to it.

The streetcar tracks are a different kind of problem entirely: There are *miles* of track, it parallels the direction of travel, and it is positioned *right in the middle* of the lane that the cyclist wants to use.

Both Kansas City and St. Louis are currently in the process of installing this type of streetcar tracks--tracks that are *far* more dangerous to bicyclists than they need to be.

They are more dangerous to cyclists than they need to be partly because of federal regulations around the purchase of streetcar rails and partly because both KC and STL streetcar designers chose to ignore the safety needs of cyclists while designing miles of streetcar track on some of the most often-used streets for bicycling in their respective cities.

This situation needs to change, and future streetcar tracks and lines need to be designed better and use better and safer track.

In the meanwhile, we can only warn Missouri bicyclists to stay well away from the new streetcar tracks in St. Louis and Kansas City.

- Choose other routes if you can.

- Always cross the tracks at a 90 degree angle; never less than a 75-80 degree angle; never cross tracks that are running parallel to your direction of travel.

- If you don't have room to turn to get the proper angle to cross the tracks, you will have to stop and lift your bicycle over the tracks. Yes, the tracks are that dangerous.

- And yes, the streets and tracks are designed in such a way that cyclists *will* be trapped in narrow areas with no possibility to develop a 90 turn needed to safely cross the tracks. In this situation, STOP and lift your bicycle across the tracks. Do not attempt to cross the tracks at a shallow angle.

- The slots in these tracks are deep enough to grab either your front OR your rear wheel and cause you to have a serious fall.

- If your bicycle has fat tires, like a mountain bike, the grooves may be only moderately dangerous for you. If your bicycle tires are narrow, like a road bike, the grooves in the track are EXTREMELY dangerous for you. Use extreme caution.