Sharrows at 5'

[Patricia Kovacs]

Dear Bicycle Drivers,

I am not a member of the Columbus bicycle advisory committee anymore, but I wanted to share something and ask what you think about it. There is a road that the city wants to add sharrows to. It's about 40' wide, with parking permitted on both sides. The thing is, there are seldom any parked cars. So, the city proposed two alternatives, put the sharrows at 5' or 11'. They were concerned that putting the sharrows at 11', which is recommended in the MUTCD, would encourage motorists to pass cyclists on the right, since there are seldom any parked cars. So the committee voted (5-0) to put the sharrows at 5'. Should I write to the city and tell them that when I was on the committee, the director of mobility options told us they were not lawfully allowed to deviate from the MUTCD? Or should I wait til they put the sharrows in and then write a service request to take them out? Then, in this case, if someone hits the rear of a parked car (3% of car/bike crashes in Columbus) or swerves in front of a car (3% of car/bike crashes in Columbus) on this street, the cyclist can sue the city cause it was a reported problem.

Now, I use this road a lot cause it's really nice for cycling. I usually ride about 3' from the curb/gutter seam and move to the center of the left lane when there are parked cars. I really don't want the city to use sharrows on the road. I wonder why there weren't three options (5', 11' or no sharrows)? Well, it wouldn't have mattered cause the committee members probably would have voted the same way.

Tricia

[John Forester]

Naah! Just leave them alone. The probabilities of either type of car-bike collision that you present are quite low, and the probability that the cyclist could be successful in a suit against the city is just about nil.

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[Wayne Pein]

Tricia,

Since they are not on the ground yet, they are not a done deal. The 5'
placement is not MUTCD compliant given the lane is 20' wide and there
aren't specifications for that use. They are attempting to use it like a
fake bike lane, and motorists can park in the "bike lane." You could
press them to explain what problem(s) the SLMs are supposed to address,
and show with a drawing how incompetent it would make them look to have
a car parked with a SLM pointed at its bumper. If they do go on the
ground a 5', park a car in front of one, get a picture, and send it to
the newspaper and around the internet.

Wayne

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[Kat Iverson]

Tricia,

You could take a picture, now. Park a car, and draw a chalk SLM at 5
feet. In fact, draw the other one, too. Find the widest car you can,
park it the maximum allowed distance from the curb (probably 12" or
18"--check Ohio statutes), draw the 11-foot SLM, open the car door, and
take a picture.

Kat Iverson

[Michael Graff]

11 feet from the curb is still in the door zone.  Sharrows should be centered in the "effective" lane outside the parking zone, the same place where everything else ("stop ahead", "ped xing", etc.) is centered.  Typically, that's about 6 feet from the centerline (assuming a 12 foot effective lane).

In this case, it's about 20-6=14 feet from the curb, but Sharrows should always be relative to the left lane line, not the curb or edge.  Luckily, the MUTCD 11 foot number is only a minimum, so being more than 11 feet from the curb is allowed.

Or if parking is that infrequent, just ban parking and leave a 20 foot lane that's easily shared with no markings.

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[Serge Issakov]

The City of Encinitas has placed them correctly.  They look to be about 5 feet from the left edge of the lane.  See attached photos below.

Also, the sharrows are meant to be guidance for especially when parked cars are present.  When there are no parked cars, cyclists are apt to ride in the parking lane despite the sharrows.

Serge

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[Bob Shanteau]

On 3/7/2013 10:31 AM, Patricia Kovacs wrote:

Dear Bicycle Drivers,

I am not a member of the Columbus bicycle advisory committee anymore, but I wanted to share something and ask what you think about it. There is a road that the city wants to add sharrows to. It's about 40' wide, with parking permitted on both sides. The thing is, there are seldom any parked cars. So, the city proposed two alternatives, put the sharrows at 5' or 11'. They were concerned that putting the sharrows at 11', which is recommended in the MUTCD, would encourage motorists to pass cyclists on the right, since there are seldom any parked cars. So the committee voted (5-0) to put the sharrows at 5'. Should I write to the city and tell them that when I was on the committee, the director of mobility options told us they were not lawfully allowed to deviate from the MUTCD? Or should I wait til they put the sharrows in and then write a service request to take them out? Then, in this case, if someone hits the rear of a parked car (3% of car/bike crashes in Columbus) or swerves in front of a car (3% of car/bike crashes in Columbus) on this street, the cyclist can sue the city cause it was a reported problem.

To prevent passing on the right, the city should also paint a 4" wide edge line 8' from the curb. An edge line delineates which part of the pavement is the roadway (between edge lines) and which part is for parking (between the edge line and the curb). The sharrows would then be placed in the middle of the lane, between the tire tracks. That is likely 14' from the curb.

Bob Shanteau

[John S. Allen]

You might check with John Ciccarelli (johnc at bicyclesolutions.com)
about how the issue of a part-time parking ban was addressed on the
Embarcadero in San Francisco.

John S. Allen
7 University Park
Waltham, MA 02453-1523 USA
781 891-9307
jsa...@bikexprt.com
http://bikexprt.com