Shared Lane Markings that place cyclists in the door zone.
Shared Lane Marking that place straight-through cyclists inside right-turning motorists.
Shared Lane Markings that position cyclists in the blind-spot of reversing angled-parking motorists.
Shared Lane Markings that reinforce the idea that bicycles do not belong on ANY roadway.
Shared Lane Markings that reinforce the idea that "shared lane" means motor vehicles belong on the road, and bicyclists belong in the gutter.
Shared Lane Markings that make 'bicycle advocates' go, "Squeeeee! We've got PAINT!"
These, like the parking-lane bike lanes in Richardson Texas, are considered fine examples of being 'bike friendly'. Rather like Soweto is 'Black friendly'.
4 comments:
Which of those photos are Richardson? Is there some Texas Transportation Code Section that mandates riding where sharrow points appear, no matter how benighted? What fraction of the general population even understands what a sharrow is? Certainly not the afternoon radio host at 660 AM who recently ridiculed the Dallas sharrows and suggested cyclists are one level beneath squirrels as roadkill.
22These sharrows do not even meet the minimum AASHTO recommendations for placing sharrows on roads without parking.
"On streets with on-street parallel parking, shared-lane markings should be placed at
least 11 ft (3.4 m) from the face of curb, or edge of the traveled way where there is no
curb (see Figure 4-5).
On streets without on-street parallel parking, shared-lane markings should be placed
at least 4 ft (1.2 m) from the face of curb, or edge of the traveled way where there is
no curb (see Figure 4-6).
The shared-lane markings can be placed farther into the lane than the minimum
distance shown above, where appropriate, such as where the lane is too narrow for
side-by-side operation of a bicycle and a motor vehicle. The MUTCD (3) contains
further guidance on shared-lane markings."
Sharrows are best placed in the center of the effective lane.
We have some similarly badly placed sharrows here in Silver Spring. I've complained to the county about them, but I got a reply from the local transportation engineer saying that they met AASHTO standards. When I pointed out that they, in fact, didn't (and I had the AASHTO diagram to prove it), I never got a response.
I used to think sharrows were a good thing. But since even the AASHTO recommendations place sharrows too close to the curb and to parked cars, and since they are rarely placed correctly anyway (I've yet to see one that wasn't placed too close to the curb), I am coming to the conclusion that they are just another hazard for cyclists.
The new sharrows in Dallas are not bad. They are smack-dab in the middle of the lane and avoid parking lanes. However, I don't always agree with their lane choice and I think their is a lot of confusion from drivers.
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