November 13, 2014
by Bikeyface
Sharing
Sometimes when I see “Share the Road” on signs I think there needs to be a silly cartoon character to go with the message:
Don’t get me wrong, in a world without cycle tracks sharing the road is obviously a necessary thing. But on a sign it’s a little simplistic. It isn’t actually clear what type of sharing is supposed to happen- that’s left open to interpretation.
Perhaps there could be more “Bicyclists May Use Full Lane” signs. We can leave messages about sharing (and squeaky cartoon characters) to the kids.
Have you seen this? She was arrested for using a full lane: Woman charged again after she rides her bicycle on busy U.S. 27 http://www.kentucky.com/2014/09/17/3433672/woman-charged-again-after-she.html
I so love this one!
Bikeyface nails the “share the road” problem with these two cartoon frames. It very strongly resonated after my commute this morning, where on a moderate usage road three drivers in a row refused to grant me the lane so that I could make a left turn, despite a very vivid hand signal indicating my intent. Drivers: What part of “Bikes May Use Full Lane” do you have trouble comprehending?
Heading to CX practice the other morning on 4 lane street in Brookline that has no shoulder, trucking along owning the right lane, watching cars behind in my mirror, suddenly a Mercedes dives to my left and squeaks between me and the car on left, near sideswipe, then p/u gets on my tail and lays on the horn, guy yells out window “get off the road”, then swerves to my right and swings around. Seething, pulling my middle finger back out of the air I ride on and dream of a special place in hell for stupid drivers…
exactly!
My biggest worry with signs like these is that they may give the impression that “share the road” or “bikes may use full lane” only apply where the signs are present, when in fact it applies anywhere that bikes are permitted.
The town of Lexington just repainted Bedford St (Route 4/225) with a bike lane about a week ago. (It is plenty wide enough for it, but previously there was no designated bike lane — cyclists just rode to the right as a matter of course.) Of course, the bike lane is already full of gravel and dirt and other debris. 🙁 And it runs straight into a right-turn-only lane, presenting a right-hook risk. It remains to be seen how everyone responds to cyclists attempting to ride outside of the bike lane when necessary. Sigh…
Yes, a “Bicyclist use full lane” sign would be preferred. But in deference to Adam, it should have a subtext: “Bicyclists always can use the full lane, this is just a reminder.”
I wrote a piece on this issue – “Share The Road… STINKS…”
http://www.ohiobikelawyer.com/uncategorized/2010/09/share-the-road-stinks/
Beautiful. 🙂
(of course now the Road Safety Chipmunk will be haunting my nightmares for months, but that’s a small price to pay)
It’s interesting, but a review of the Final Rule that stuck the “Share The Road” plaque in the Federal Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) seems to indicate that it was proposed and supported by farm equipment interests, not bicyclists.
And signs that show a bicyclist (especially in the end-view “pogo stick” configuration) to the side of another vehicle are interpreted as saying that “bikes must always stay off to the side” – I even had a police officer stop me and tell me so, regardless of the actual law. There have been some improvements in signing for 3-foot passing laws, with Florida, Utah, and California developing progressively-improved signs without unintended messages, but it’s still not clear whether road users really fully understand those signs (even the “improved” ones).
FYI: to see what’s going on with the committee that advises the Feds on the MUTCD, take a look at http://www.ncutcdbtc.org
The problem is that many states use “share the road” plaque where they should be posting “may use full lane” sign. Note terminology. Former is designated as plaque. Latter is sign.
Looking at http://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/htm/2009/part9/part9b.htm, “share the road” plauque is only intended to supplement bicycle warning sign:
9B.19: 02 In situations where there is a need to warn motorists to watch for bicyclists traveling along the highway, the SHARE THE ROAD (W16-1P) plaque (see Figure 9B-3) may be used in conjunction with the W11-1 sign.
May use full lane is the sign to use on substandard width streets and roads:
9B.06: 01 The Bicycles May Use Full Lane (R4-11) sign (see Figure 9B-2) may be used on roadways where no bicycle lanes or adjacent shoulders usable by bicyclists are present and where travel lanes are too narrow for bicyclists and motor vehicles to operate side by side.
I.e. “share the road” is meaningless “expect to see cyclists on this road” notification.
In California where I live, “share the road” plaques are common on substandard width streets/road and posted as stand-alone signs (instead of being plaque supplementing other signs). I.e. exactly those roads where CVC explicitly states that cyclists should use full lane. Why is it so, and why “may use full lane” sign isn’t used instead, I don’t know.
So. The good news is, at least in California you don’t need special sign posted to use full lane. The bad news is, where there are signs, municipalities opt to post completely wrong one (and it’s not even a real sign, it’s a plaque).
I agree that there needs to be PSA with cartoon mascots reminding the kiddos (and their parental units) that roads are made to be shared, and I will post some scripts to my blog this Sunday. I nominate the name Sammy the Sharing Squirrel for the mascot, but the outfit (helmet and hi-viz vest) are already perfect.
I’ve often felt that “Bicyclists may use full lane” signs should really say “Bicyclists MUST use full lane” to, you know, reflect the reality that I don’t have a choice.
Actually, the initial draft of the R4-11 sign said “(bicycle symbol) USE FULL LANE”, but the Regulatory and Warning Sign Committee noted that this was telling the bicyclist they gotta use all of the dang lane, even if they weren’t entirely comfortable doing so – hence the change to the only-slightly-longer MAY USE FULL LANE.
And sharrows!! Otherwise people driving don’t get it when cyclists NEED to use the full road when necessary for their safety.
Where I live in Logan Utah we have a few “sharrows” along heavily used streets. I like them. Drivers seem to notice them better than signs off the shoulder. Although many are improperly located within the lane, they do seem to help.
True… this is everyday on Beacon St in Somerville
So, they actually do this in school zones in Belgium. They are demarcated by a few things, including a cartoonish purple octopus: http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4036/4578526478_26864cd32b_m.jpg
I’ve heard at least one person say she understood that the signs were to remind cyclists to share the road with cars. I wonder how many drivers share her interpretation. Scary.