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1. Jeannie
   Member Profile

   Other than providing work for the Metro Paint Company guys, can someone please explain to me the purpose of the sharrows on California Ave? They don't indicate a bike lane. Are they supposed to remind us to watch out for bicylists? If so, does that really work and truly make the road safer for bicyclists? And are we such a nanny state that we need them?
   Found these comments when I googled "sharrow." I agree:
   "these just started popping up all over seattle. what a joke! wait… bikes could use that space before, right? is anything different now that there is a ‘sharrow’ painted on the road? are bikes suddenly safer because there is a little more jack*ss distraction painted on the road? these are the most useless, half-hearted, ridiculous things i’ve ever seen. i can already hear the various politicians in seattle bragging about our increased miles of “bike lanes.”

   Posted 2 years ago #         

2. JimmyG
   Member Profile

   

   It's what happens when the bully bicycle lobby pushes a Bicycle Master Plan through the City Council.

   Posted 2 years ago #         

3. JayDee
   Member Profile

   JimmyG: I differ. The Mayor wants to proclaim the City as a "Bike Friendly City" when neither the topography, drivers, or city streets are. If bicyclists had their way, there would be curb-separated bike lanes. Nickels doesn't like that because it costs money (condemnation, and construction)and political will (just like with anything involving dogs, you'll p.o. someone.)

   As a cyclist who rides trails to stay away from unthinking, blind, and cell-talking drivers, the sharrows are a "feel-good" solution--make the cyclists believe they are being catered to, w/o actually incurring the costs (actual and political) to make real bike lanes. The bicyclists pay the price since the car always wins. When I see people struggling up Admiral, in traffic, I always cringe even as I pass in my car. Sharrows (say it in a high falsetto) are a feel-good paint job from the Mayor, and not a concession to the "bully bicycle lobby." They are a political expediency.

   Posted 2 years ago #         

4. WSB
   Member Profile

   

   Whatever they are, as we have reported here repeatedly, they are planned for many streets around West Seattle and the rest of the city, including the stretch of California through Gatewood where (as we previewed last week) they have now been painted. Also looks like some lane realignment was done, which I'm going to ask SDOT about.

   In our preview from last week
   http://westseattleblog.com/blog/?p=18567
   you'll find links to a sharrow explanation as well as the city's Bike Master Plan and what's coming to your neighborhood.

   If you have qualms about it ... there were tons of public hearings ... but it's never too late to send a note to your councilmember, or mayor if you prefer. Jan Drago heads Transportation and she's running for mayor.

   http://seattle.gov/council for contact info.

   Posted 2 years ago #         

5. Julie
   Member Profile

   

   I, too, have been skeptical about the value of the sharrows, so I went looking for data. There isn't a lot, but I did find a study conducted in San Francisco in 2003. I'll only post a summary, but you can read the report:

   http://www.sfmta.com/cms/uploadedfiles/dpt/bike/Bike_Plan/Shared%20Lane%20Marking%20Full%20Report-052404.pdf

   One interesting thing was the goals of the project:

   Goal 1: Improve the position of both motorists and bicyclists on roadways without bicycle lanes

   Measure of Effectiveness:
   • Distance of bicyclist from adjacent parked cars.
   • Distance of motorist when passing a bicyclist.

   Goal 2: Reduce aggressive motorist behavior

   Measure of Effectiveness:
   • Observable hostile behaviors such as honking, gestures or other behaviors when passing or
   waiting to pass a bicyclist.

   Goal 3: Encourage correct bicyclist riding behavior

   Measure of Effectiveness:
   • Number of bicyclists riding on the sidewalk.
   • Number of bicyclists riding wrong-way on the street.

   Additional Objectives
   Shared-lane markings may also have the following effects:
   • Inform motorists to expect bicyclists on the roadway.
   • Inform motorists that bicyclists may indeed legally ride further to the left in the travel lane, even if that means blocking the lane at times.
   • Inform bicyclists how to position themselves in the lane with respect to the curb or parked
   cars to avoid hazards.
   • Increase the number of cyclists as people may feel more comfortable riding on streets with
   markings.

   What interests me is that the goals are not explicitly to reduce the number of cyclist injuries and deaths--probably because of the limited scope of the study.

   The study was conducted by videotaping before and after installation of pavement markings (not quite like our sharrows, but similar) on 6 streets. They taped more than 1000 cyclists and vehicles both before and after.

   The results appear to support the goals:

   Goal 1: Position of bicyclists and
   motorists

   • Finding 1: Overall, the presence of a marking increased the distance of cyclists to parked cars by 8 inches.

   • Finding 2: When passing vehicles were present, the markings caused an increase of 3 to 4 inches in the distance between cyclists and parked cars. In addition, the markings caused an increase of over 2 feet in the distance between cyclists and
   passing vehicles.

   • Finding 3: When no cyclists were present, both of the markings had a significant positive effect
   of about one foot on the distance between passing vehicles and parked cars.

   Goal 2: Reduction in aggressive motorist behavior
   • The markings neither significantly reduced nor increased the number of observable hostile behaviors between bicyclists and motorists. This was primarily due to the low number of aggressive behaviors recorded in the "before" videotapes.

   Goal 3: Reduction in improper bicycle behavior
   • Both the markings significantly reduced the number of sidewalk riders: the bike-and chevron
   by 35% and the bike-in house by 25%.
   • The bike-and-chevron marking significantly reduced the number of wrong-way riders by
   80%. The bike-in-house marking did not have any significant impact on the percentage of
   wrong-way riders.

   (The study was also comparing styles of markings.)

   I don't know if Seattle is studying the effectiveness of the sharrows here. I hope they are at least compiling data on incidents.

   It seems to me, after reading the SF study, that, while the sharrows are not going to make me feel safe enough to ride on the streets, they might improve conditions enough to justify the expense. But I'd rather spend the money on separating bikes entirely from motor vehicles; I just don't believe enough people support that to make it happen.

   Posted 2 years ago #         

6. Jeannie
   Member Profile

   Thanks for the excellent and thorough feedback. Hmmm, since I walk a lot and I hear about crazy drivers who jump the curbs, I'd like to propose walking "sharrows" on every sidewalk in Seattle. It could be a cool picture of a big pair of shoes to warn motorists. ; )

   Posted 2 years ago #         

7. JayDee
   Member Profile

   Julie:

   Thanks for the thoughtful reply. Perhaps they are worth their paint if it avoids one accident. My main concern is that as a half-measure they will forestall any other measures to increase bicyclist safety. But I am glad to see that at least SF tried to prove that something like a Sharrow had an effect instead of assuming they must do good.

   Posted 2 years ago #         

8. flowerpetal
   Member Profile

   

   Thanks Julie. The achievement of Goal 1 alone is good enough reason for me. One of the reasons I like these forums is because there are talented people who know how to dig through the internet and have the time to do so and then share!

   Posted 2 years ago #         

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