Share the Road . . . With Sharrows!

I've been giving some thought to bicycling in urban traffic. I just completed the excellent StreetSmarts Road One course offered by the League of American Bicyclists (LAB), and it gave me a different perspective on the various options being discussed in urban planning and bicycling circles. In addition to expanding the terrific web of recreational trails we have in this area, there is serious discussion about adding bike lanes downtown as well as considering the installation of "Complete Streets" throughout the urban core. It's good that this discussion is finally taking place in earnest, but we need to be careful what we wish for. Bike lanes, for example, if not properly engineered could be more dangerous than not having them at all. Complete Streets can be expensive and may not be appropriate in all circumstances. Another alternative, less costly and more in tune with treating bikers as vehicle drivers and not as pedestrians, is the concept of "sharrows."

Sharrows are a cousin of bike lanes, only they aren't exclusively for bicycles.  They are put down to clearly indicate where bicycles and cars have to share the road.  The concept is simple - in areas where it is impossible to have bike lanes, for whatever reason, sharrows provide a clear bicycle pathway on the road - indicating that the lane is one that bicycles and cars have to share with one another.  (Get it?  "Shared-road arrows," "Share-rows," "Sharrows"...)

In 2004, the City of San Francisco, California began experimenting with the shared lane marking and developed a revised symbol consisting of a bicycle symbol with two sets of chevron markings above the bicycle. Based on the San Francisco experimental data, in August 2004 the California Traffic Control Devices Committee (CTCDC) approved the use of this marking in the State of California. Several cities are now participating in Federally-approved experiments with this marking at this time, including Portland, Oregon, Flagstaff, Arizona, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Louisville, Kentucky.

Of course ideally, bikes and cars should always share the road with one another, follow the same traffic rules, and be respectful of each others' right to be on the road.  Unfortunately, however, this is not always the case.  Both bicyclists and motorists are sometimes guilty of not knowing all of the rules of the road.  Sometimes, this can lead to people acting as if their commute is really a competition, and in the worst of instances, it can lead to unsafe driving and riding practices, unnecessarily aggressive behavior, and even severe injury or death.

  Sharrows have a variety of safety benefits that have been documented in large safety studies.  FIrst, they tend to keep bicyclists from riding too close to parked vehicles--which can sometimes lead do being "doored," an unpleasant experience for both the bicyclist and the person parking their car.  Second, with sharrows on the road, cars tend to give more space to any bicycle that they pass.  Third, they reduce wrong-way riding by bicyclists.  Fourth, they decrease aggressive bicycle-car interactions.  Lastly, they reduce the amount of pedestrian-hazardous sidewalk bicycling. 

In addition to their value on safety grounds, sharrows also have merit in that they would fill in the gaps that exist in the Dayton region's bicycle pathway network.  Thus the trails network which Dayton is becoming known for would become even more comprehensive and more complete.