Sharrows too far to the right?

[lordofthemark]

So yesterday I was heading home from a short recreational ride, was headed up Walter Reed on the MUT from the W&OD to King Street. There was another cyclist riding at about the same speed as I was in the right general travel lane. She was following the sharrows very rigidly – the sharrows is painted on the right, adjacent to the curb, and that is where she rode (till the steep part of the hill, where she ditched the lane and came over to the sidewalk. )

I noted that several vehicles passed her in lane – too closely, or so it appeared from where I was.

I am still trying to learn, and am slowly getting comfortable with being more “vehicular” but it seems to me that it would be safer in that instance to fully take the lane by riding in the center of the lane – Walter Reed is two lanes in each direction so cars can pass in the left hand lane. If you are not going to take the full lane, it seems like the MUT is better than riding on the far right (not too many peds and the interersections are very tame) I appreciate that ArlCo and Alexandria are both aggressive about painting sharrows, but I wonder if they are painting them in the right part of the road, and I wonder if a “Bike may take full lane” sign wouldn’t be better – the benefit of a sharrows over that is that it tells you where to ride (and tells drivers where to expect you) but I am not sure that is really the right place to ride.

Am I misunderstanding something?

Topic

[Anonymous]

@Brendan von Buckingham 94555 wrote:

We get drunk at Christmas, have knife fights,

Oh. Now I understand “The Christmas and Knife Store” encountered some years back in the Pensacola area while on vacation. It was stocked with what one might expect from a shop named “The Christmas and Knife Store”– a rather wide variety of knives and Christmas decorations. It seemed a bit incongruous to me at the time. Now it makes sense. 😎

[baiskeli]

@dkel 94563 wrote:

Your family may not try to stab you…but they want to, trust me.

It doesn’t work. I once stabbed Dismal several times in the neck and chest with a broken beer bottle. He just laughed and tensed up until the bleeding stopped and got on his bike and rode 40 mph uphill.

[mstone]

@JimF22003 94570 wrote:

Just because I see sharrows I don’t take it as a sign that I need to ride right over them. They put the sharrows on Oak St. heading to Gallows right in the middle of the road, but I see no reason to ride anywhere other than where I would normally ride. I’ve always taken them as more of an indication/warning to cars than as guidance for cyclists (although I’m sure they’re both.)

You should certainly ride where you feel safe. But in general, it’s good to encourage cyclists to not ride up against the edge because doing so invites motorists to pass too closely. Even among cyclists who have been riding for a while, it can feel weird to be out in the lane, so anything that the infrastructure can do to normalize that safer positioning is a good thing.

[Raymo853]

@mstone 94530 wrote:

you’re supposed to ride over the shoulder,

The shoulder of the roadway or the shoulder of the sharrow person icon? I was under the impression with sharrows, you are supposed to ride down the center of the chevrons.

[mstone]

@Raymo853 94599 wrote:

The shoulder of the roadway or the shoulder of the sharrow person icon? I was under the impression with sharrows, you are supposed to ride down the center of the chevrons.

that should have been “sharrow”.

[bobco85]

@baiskeli 94588 wrote:

It doesn’t work. I once stabbed Dismal several times in the neck and chest with a broken beer bottle. He just laughed and tensed up until the bleeding stopped and got on his bike and rode 40 mph uphill.

New rule: baiskeli is only allowed to have plastic cups at Happy Hour.

[chris_s]

NACTO goes even farther.

[dkel]

@baiskeli 94588 wrote:

It doesn’t work. I once stabbed Dismal several times in the neck and chest with a broken beer bottle. He just laughed and tensed up until the bleeding stopped and got on his bike and rode 40 mph uphill.

I’m currently trying not to laugh so loudly as to disturb my coworkers at the other end of the hall. I’m not sure I will succeed.

[Author]

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