[bfirsh]

I can confirm these are dangerous. There are several of these in Berkeley and I got knocked off my bicycle on one of them for exactly the reason you describe.

I am from the UK and it makes me wonder why road design in the US is so bad. Just one minute of thinking about this as a lay person would reveal the problem with the design.

Is there some structural reason in the US that would cause it? Perhaps some lack of standards or approval process? Perhaps iteration speed is slower so they don’t get better? Some other incentives going on?

[pclmulqdq]

My personal hypothesis on this is that the worst 5% of Americans is likely both dumber and more sociopathic than Europeans, and the behavior of the worst drivers is what creates a lot of traffic and road accidents. If that is the case, you will not have the same kind of design that works in a high-trust, more cohesive society.