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| What possibly could be unsafe with this "bike-friendly" layout? |
We've said it before, and we'll say it again: Sharrows and lazy municipal governance are cut from the very same bolt of moth-eaten cloth.
"Sharrows are popular because they are politically easy," and so in NA, they'll multiply like rabbits.
In New Albany, Main Street used to be the very best place to ride a bicycle from Uptown to Downtown. Then the street was "improved" through beautification sans sensibility, and now our friend and regular reader MPC provides something that has eluded generations of underachieving city planners and
What he says here is reason enough to purge John Rosebarger, isn't it?
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"Just thought I'd share my biking on main street experience with you. Someone is going to get seriously hurt or worse. I was in the supposedly "shared" lane traveling east around the Culbertson mansion, all while cars were zipping past me trying to squeeze through any place they could, forcing me into the parking lanes. Then I had to reenter traffic when I came upon those extensions that are supposed to slow traffic down. What about this renovation and painted biking signs on the pavement was supposed to make it safe for cyclists? I have no problems riding in traffic and sharing lanes, its motorists with NASCAR mentality and ambiguous "shared" lanes that are scary."
The safest way to now ride Main Street is the middle of the street. Being a sharrow, you are allowed to and I would advise it.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, bicyclists are supposed to ride in the middle of a sharrow lane. Sharrows were invented to reduce the likelihood of bicyclists being "doored" by vehicles parked along streets.
ReplyDeleteMost city streets are not wide enough for a separate bike lane and when riding on these streets, bicyclists often keep to the extreme right side of the road to let motorist pass. If they ride to the right of the travel lane within the parking lane, they are within the "door zone". The Door Zone is the four to five feet zone next to a parking lane where a motor vehicle door swings open.
Dooring crashs occur when a vehicle door is unexpectantly opened in the immediate path of a bicyclist. If able, the bicyclist may be able to avoid the door by swerving in the travel lane but this places them at risk of being hit by oncoming vehicles. If they are not able to avoid the door, they hit it and are thrown by their momentum over or past the door onto the roadway, again at risk to oncoming traffic. Bicycle crashes of this nature are not uncommon and generally result in serious injury, sometime death to the bicyclist.
The sharrows are painted inside of a travel lane, so bicyclists are encouraged to ride in & share the travel lane rather than riding in the door zone of the parked vehicles.
There's not enough space to safely pass a cyclist on Main Street anymore regardless of where in the lane a rider chooses to be but cars are still trying to pass anyway. Per the original author here, cars were forcing him to the right by trying to squeeze through.
ReplyDeleteI suppose he could've tried to hold his position no matter what, bike versus car, but drivers disrespectful and careless enough to try to pass on that stretch pretty obviously can't be trusted. The possibility of being doored, though dangerous, is a safer choice in that circumstance.
As we've discussed, planners had more than enough room on Main to create much safer bicycling conditions but did not. They chose to make it more dangerous for bicycles than it was previously..
My overly long comment meant was meant to show almost no automobile driver in Floyd County knows what a "sharrow" is and how and why they are to be obeyed, both in cars and on bicycles.
ReplyDeleteThe city is painting the markers on streets will-nilly and not trying to educate drivers what they mean - which means sharrows don't help.
If city and county police would write tickets for cars that are ignoring bicycle rights, they might fill the coffers very quickly.
Floyd County fines currently on the books for such actions?
Improper Passing - $129.50
Failure to yield right of way - $129.50
Following too close - $129.50
Imagine - when an automobile driver forces a bicycle to the curb in New Albany, it might actually result in a $ 388.50 ticket!