dynaryder

New ?sharrows on steroids? debut on Allston?s Brighton Avenue - Metro - The Boston Globe



Not sure if I prefer these to bike lanes,but I def prefer them to the sharrows we have here in DC. Around here,they tend to paint them off to the side,which I believe makes drivers think we need to be gutter bunnies:

FBinNY 

I think sharrows should be at least 8 feet wide (or full lane) and placed centered in the lane. The message is this is a shared lane, not a shared part of a lane.

genec

Tend to agree... but then it would be nice if sharrows were not needed at all...

FBinNY 

I agree, and am concerned that there may be a mixed message implying that bicycles shouldn't be expected on roads without sharrows.

So they have to be used in combination with some education, and reserved for the most congested roads with a history of lane sharing issues.

JoeyBike

I love sharows. They are cheap and easily applied. My city has put down hundreds if not thousands of them. It's now hard to find a major cycling road without sharrows. Some are properly placed, some off to the side where car tires will wear then down quickly. At any rate, if someone yells "get on the sidewalk" I can point at a sharrow within 10 seconds.

I realize sharrows are stating the "obvious" but motorists are ignorant of bike laws for the most part. And I do not believe that effects streets without sharrows. The more bicycle images a motorist sees in a given day, the more cyclists should be on their minds. I find that sharrows are quickly changing the culture of car vs bike in New Orleans.

Many of our streets are too narrow to add bike lanes without removing auto lanes. This has been done in a couple of instances but by far sharrows are the simplest and fastest way to bring cyclists to the awareness of motorists here.

jade408

we have a "super sharrow:"

Bicyclists Get a Sharrow on Oakland?s 40th Street | East Bay Express

It still sucks to bike on that street, but I guess the cars are more attentive.

daihard 

I agree that education is very important. We have a 4-lane, one-way street in downtown where sharrows are painted only on the rightmost and leftmost lanes. A co-worker asked me how I change lanes from the leftmost to the rightmost (or vise versa) since "bicycles aren't allowed in the middle 2 lanes."

hurricane harry

agree

Looigi

+1. There's a big problem with what they can imply to motorists. I'd rather see billboards, PSAs on radio and TV and other education and awareness programs.

B. Carfree

I'd rather see annual knowledge tests for motorists with substantial questions, unlike the current versions that they take once, and a real standard for passing, like 90%. Let's force our motorists to learn the law for a change. There's more to driving than just (mostly) keeping the rubber side down, though you wouldn't know it to observe or talk to any motorist.

enigmaT120

And driver's simulations, to test the students' ability to not run over objects on the road in front of them?

B. Carfree

Sadly, those would be worth a go too. I just finished a conversation with a fellow gardener at my local community garden in which he complained that even though he wasn't speeding, he had just totalled his car by running into a stationary horse. He could not grasp the notion of the basic speed law that mandates one not drive too fast for conditions. In fact, he had never heard of the basic speed law.

I can't imagine what could be more obvious than the notion that a motorist who hits a stationary object is either blind, distracted, incompetent or is driving too fast for conditions. (In his case, it was night time and he was overdriving his headlights.)

Astrozombie

Hate it all, just put up more of those yellow "*Bicycle picture* May use full lane" signs everywhere!

Nunymare

Those are similar to ones I have where I live. No dotted lines on either side though, just the sharrow