Old 07-24-13, 06:09 PM
  #24  
weshigh
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Originally Posted by paulypro
Alright, respect!! I appreciate that you're conscientious about what you're doing & I understand you know the road well, so I'll take your word for it. I'm sure we all have our own tricky sections of road we know & have our own way of riding them. I totally understand what you're saying about the halfway pass in traffic & how it can create a dangerous situation so I can understand your strategy in that situation. Looking back at the video yes you are going nearly the speed of motor traffic & not really preventing folks from making lights & that sort of stuff. It's unfortunate that the officer didn't notice this & just leave you be.

Still I disagree about the existence of the sharrow itself having much if any weight in a lane takeover scenario. I'd do the same blocking kind of thing (as visibly and predictably as possible) if I felt the road was unsafe for cars to pass whether there was a sharrow or not. I do not, and also do not believe that motorists perceive sharrowed lanes as a 'give-right-of-way' scenario. To me the sharrow is a bit of a joke & I fear that some cyclists may feel empowered with confidence by their presence. I've never seen a public announcement, a flyer or any sort of communication to the common people (as in non-cyclists) about what they are, but we as cyclists have attempted to seek out the purpose & understand what those things are. Since the cyclists I've spoken to seem to have varying interpretations of what sharrows actually mean, what on earth do the motorists think they mean? Can't be good...

The sharrow being there does nothing to change lane position. I road in the same spot before they put the sharrows in and would have the same legal right to do so.
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