The uselessness of sharrows

@lordofthemark 180626 wrote:

Okay, so I don’t think they are always useless, they can be better than nothing and in some instances better than a doorzone bike lane (especially in places of high parking turnover), but let me present the following bit of anecdata.

This AM I was riding down the King Street bike lanes to Old Town. There was another rider in the lanes also going southbound, something I was glad to see, as will surprise no one. He and I were keeping a similar pace, though I gathered he was a newb or occasional rider, by his lack of a helmet.

When we got to the part between the buffered bike and the green painted lane, where there is a block that has only a sharrows, I took the center of the lane, where the sharrows is. My fellow rider rode the gutter. When we got to the end of the green painted bike lane, I again took the center of the lane, where the sharrows is. My fellow rider bailed to the sidewalk. (to note, he DID take the lane on Dangerfield, where I guess the lower traffic volume made him more confident)

IIUC one of the main benefits of sharrows over bike lanes is encouraging newbies in the habit of riding in the center of the general travel lane, instead of staying to the right. At least in this one case it failed – the rider would have been positioned better had there been a conventional painted bike lane.

Note, of course I am still glad we have sharrows at these locations, as opposed to having nothing at all.

Perhaps if he sees your modeled behavior, he will learn.

Every time I leave my building I ride three blocks on a 4-lane road with sharrows in the right lane. One must take the center of the lane to avoid being buzzed. I would do this regardless of the presence of sharrows, but I like that they are there.
I have been honked at occasionally, right about where the sharrows start and shortly before I turn right onto a side street. The sharrows continue for a couple more blocks after I turn.
My hope is that the honkers will see the sharrows, note that I was essentially riding right on top of them when they honked at me, and feel some small contrition.

#hahahahahaha #iliveinafantasyworld

I’ve always viewed sharrows as helping increase awareness for cycling presence, not as an indicator of where to ride. I believe in VA the law is to ride as far to the right as reasonable/safe regardless of sharrows, right?

I will take the lane if that feels safest, certainly. But with driver rage and passing in lane of oncoming traffic that doesn’t always feel safest. (I’ve been witness and indirect, if faultless, cause of two car-on-car accidents from aggressive and unsafe passing.)

My favorite is:
A sign with an image of a bike means drivers should look for bikes on the road
A sign with an image of a bike with “share the road” printed underneath means GET THE F OUT OF THE ROAD, BIKES! YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO “SHARE”

@hozn 180635 wrote:

I’ve always viewed sharrows as helping increase awareness for cycling presence, not as an indicator of where to ride. I believe in VA the law is to ride as far to the right as reasonable/safe regardless of sharrows, right?

The language is “safely practicable”. I would expect that riding where an arrow pointing on the street tells you to ride is a fairly strong defense that’s the safely practicable place, no? The MUTCD says the purpose of sharrows is to:

Assist bicyclists with lateral positioning in a shared lane with on-street parallel parking in order to reduce the chance of a bicyclist’s impacting the open door of a parked vehicle,
Assist bicyclists with lateral positioning in lanes that are too narrow for a motor vehicle and a bicycle to travel side by side within the same traffic lane,
Alert road users of the lateral location bicyclists are likely to occupy within the traveled way,
Encourage safe passing of bicyclists by motorists, and
Reduce the incidence of wrong-way bicycling.

(from https://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/htm/2009r1r2/part9/part9c.htm)

“…The results should be confirmed in other cities for good measure, but they certainly seem to suggest that sharrows are poor substitutes for bike lanes at best and “more dangerous than doing nothing” at worst, write Ferenchak and Marshall.”

From:
https://www.citylab.com/solutions/2016/02/sharrow-safety-bike-infrastructure-lane-chicago/460095/

Sent from my moto x4 using Tapatalk

Need is the mother of invention, and the neediest group to get from point A to point B are commuters. So, we can divide cyclists into two groups:

1 – Commuters, and competitive cyclists(but these can pick and choose safer roads and trials, since they are not commuting to work).
2 – Recreational, fitness, touring, etc.

So commuters look for ways to increase their confidence more than other types of cyclists, such as taking classes, or going in a group ride. Other types may not have the same motivation. I personally use some roads, especially if there are bike lanes or sharrows. Even if there are no markings, like very light residential streets. However, even after 5 years of cycling I bail to the sidewalk or use alternative routes sometimes since I don’t commute to work. I have not taken classes or joined group rides yet.