There’s a lot of talk lately about sharrows — shared lane arrows — which are properly used instead of bike lanes to keep cyclists out of the “door zone,” and motorists aware of a cyclist’s proper place on the road.
Information on the web about sharrows has been sparse. But this video from the San Luis Obispo County Bike Coalition does a great job showing what a sharrow is, how it is used, and what it does.
We love sharrows, but we especially love good communication efforts like this!
Blacksburg has a sharrow project in the works — stay tuned.
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I think people are getting way too excited about painted lines and symbols on the road. I also think that in many cases poorly executed (and this happens all the time) paint can decrease cyclist safety, especially for cyclists who feel those markings always show where they should be riding. All the appetite for symbols and special lane markings feel a lot like the promotion of helmet use as a cure-all for bike safety felt 5 years ago. Helmets and well executed paint are fine and helpful, but neither are the magic bullet they are often made out to be.
This is an older video and while I agree that poor placement has to be nipped in the bud for them to promote safe, i.e. vehicular, cycling I do not agree at all that they should be a last resort for where a bike lane can’t fit. Bike lanes just can’t deliver on what they promise: a separated facility for cyclists. There are many problems that bike lanes create that simply don’t exist if you’re controlling the lane on a multi-lane street.
http://columbus-ite.com/2009/12/22/the-laundry-list-for-why-bike-lanes-are-bad/
Sharrows should be used in conjunction with signage advising bikes to use the full lane and for vehicles to pass in the other lane, so like I said these should be on roads with more than one lane in each direction and as for roads with only two-lanes they can work too, but they must be designed for slower traffic so that motorists aren’t trying to unsafely pass, like on a designated residential street or a dense, urban commercial street where cyclists and drivers are going at near similar speeds.