Despite what some cyclists have observed, an initial study by the District Department of Transportation shows that illegal U-Turns are “way down” on a block of Pennsylvania Avenue NW where safety bumps called “zebras” have been installed.

Jim Sebastian, DDOT’s bicycle program coordinator, explained that the zebras were spaced “based on the existing pavement markings, i.e. centered between the stripes in the buffer zone. This was mainly for aesthetic reasons. Aesthetics have been an important part of the Pennsylvania Avenue bike lanes since the beginning.”