Advocacy & Safety - Driver Blindness and "Share the road" signs

Hi everyone,

So, I just recently started riding again, and have been commuting in via bicycle. Anyway, I've lived in this town since before I could legally drive, and it's only now that I've even noticed the plethora of share the road signs, bike lanes, etc. Now, I'll own up to my own blindness, but the thing is, I used to pride myself on being conscientious and aware. It really freaked me out to realize I was missing 3 foot wide bright yellow signs for years, and I'm not sure what this says about that as a means of really making any impact.

Is this common, or am I just a MUCH worse driver than the status quo?

-- James

I don't know what kind of driver you are, but maybe it's better if they look for the bikes rather than look for the signs.

I always thought the signs were a good idea, but if cagers don't even see them, what's the point?

For what it's worth, I never noticed them until I started cycling, either.

I think that if a driver is inclined to not share the road, the signs aren't going to change his/her mind anyway.

This is the problem with putting up signs for every little thing... none of them gets noticed anymore.

Az

The signs are up for too much "interpretation": A JAM who thinks that a cyclist is taking too much of the road believes that the cyclist isn't "sharing" the road. My "interpretation" (as a cyclist): stupid cager doesn't want to share the road with anybody...

The signs are up for too much "interpretation": A JAM who thinks that a cyclist is taking too much of the road believes that the cyclist isn't "sharing" the road. My "interpretation" (as a cyclist): stupid cager doesn't want to share the road with anybody...

Doesn't sharing infer 50/50? :D

Driver blindness is one of my greatest safety concerns on the road -- several studies have indicated that people tend to ignore vertical objects, such as signposts, pedestrians, and bicyclists.

Driver blindness is one of my greatest safety concerns on the road -- several studies have indicated that people tend to ignore vertical objects, such as signposts, pedestrians, and bicyclists.
I don't know about humans, but animals have been shown to be literally blind to certain objects. Many animals can't detect stationary objects very well--so they move their heads when looking at one. I believe cats don't see vertcal stripes, but they can detect horizontal ones.

(It's been years since I studied perception, so I'm probably off on some details.)

This is the problem with putting up signs for every little thing... none of them gets noticed anymore.

Az
You're so right. One thing I like about riding or walking is that you take the world in at a slower rate but more deeply.

This is the problem with putting up signs for every little thing... none of them gets noticed anymore.

Az

So what are some of the less important signs that the highway dept. should take down because drivers don't have the skill or desire to read them?

So what are some of the less important signs that the highway dept. should take down because drivers don't have the skill or desire to read them?

Oh, Speed limit signs. No one follows them, they're all over, and simply replacing them with officer discretion tickets for reckless. Now, if only I trusted peace officers enough to really believe that was a good idea :(

-- James

Oh, Speed limit signs. No one follows them, they're all over, and simply replacing them with officer discretion tickets for reckless. Now, if only I trusted peace officers enough to really believe that was a good idea :(

-- James

There was a time in Montana when there wasn't a speed limit. The law said you had to drive in a careful and prudent manner. That was prior to the nationally mandated 55 mph law. When the 55 law was repealed (when was that anyway?), Montana for a brief time went back to the previous law.

BTW, law officers were the first to want a set speed limit.

Personally I hate the whole 'share the road' thing, I feel like they should say something more along the lines of 'pass only when safe'. There's a lot of drivers (and cyclists for that matter) that don't seem to understand that it's dangerous to be sharing a lane (going at similar speeds).