n.
A traffic light intersection feature that creates a designated area for bicycles to stop in front of cars when the light is red.
Example Citations:
Located at the entrance of the intersection, a bike box is a demarcated area that straddles the bike lane plus one or two vehicle lanes, and is basically designed to give cyclists a head start when the light turns green. Well-used in Europe, bike boxes can't work without right-on-red restrictions. (For a schematic, see: http://bikingtoronto.com/2010-toronto-cycling-map-adds-bike-boxes/: http://bikingtoronto.com/2010-toronto-cycling-map-adds-bike-boxes/.)
—John Lorinc, " Toronto's worst intersection?: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/toronto/torontos-worst-intersection/article1602876/?cmpid=tgc," The Globe and Mail, June 13, 2010
A few days earlier, the Republican state representative from Whitewater had threatened legislation to ban the European-style, made-with-tape pavement markers the city has installed at the intersection where John Nolen Drive meets Williamson, Wilson and Blair streets. Nass denounced the "bike boxes" — intended to minimize conflict between drivers and bicyclists — as the product of Madison's anti-car culture.
—Paul Fanlund, " Firing back at Madison's critics a capital idea: http://host.madison.com/ct/news/local/madison_360/article_20f2ce1e-73ce-11df-8ff5-001cc4c03286.html," The Capital Times, June 9, 2010
Earliest Citation:
Recently a car (not a taxi) drove the entire length of the bus/bike lane on Cheltenham Road, then stopped in the bike box by the traffic lights.
—Susan Snowdon, "Stop moaning at Bristol's cyclists!," Bristol Evening Post, December 2, 1999
Notes:
In bureaucratese, a bike box is also known as an advanced stop line.
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New words. 2013.