Photo by afagen

The dedicated bike lanes extending along Pennsylvania Avenue from Third Street to 15th Street are a hit with cyclists, but they’re also the place where many cyclists say they run the risk of getting hit by drivers pulled quick U-turns.

A local cyclist posted a video of such a near-miss today, using a helmet cam to show how he was almost knocked off of his bike as a Mercedes tried to pull a quick turnaround. He explained:

A lady driving a black Mercedes is too busy talking on her cellphone to realize that maybe making an illegal U-turn across the Pennsylvania Avenue bike lane directly into me is a bad idea. But it’s not entirely her fault: She should have been watching where she was going, but the D.C. government has not made it clear that such U-turns are forbidden altogether, and its police often don’t enforce violations (taxi drivers do it constantly).

As the Examiner reported in mid-September, D.C. police have pledged to increase enforcement along Pennsylvania Avenue, where U-turns have always been illegal.

According to the D.C. Department of Transportation, use of the Pennsylvania Avenue by cyclists increased by 200 percent after the bike lanes were installed.