Sharrow

If you are referring to the http://www.humantransport.org/bicycledriving/index.html website, I don't believe we have a picture of what has been called the "Sharrow," the Shared-Use Arrow. ... Some of us on another list are in discussion about the Sharrow. Our conclusion seems to be that it is preferable to bike lanes, but should be laterally located in the center of the lane so as to NOT mis-communicate to either party expected bicyclist lateral location.

As to the SHARROW Study (E1) Mr. Gajda reminded the BAC that colors have to be approved along with everything else and without CTCDC approval the City would be legally exposed. The BAC has the opportunity to advise the Board of Supervisors of our preferences and the Board can then inform the DPT. After being asked of how SHARROW placement decisions are made Mr. Gajda responded that the first work is done on bike routes that do not have a bike lane. Class three roadways. Volumes, speeds, width, collisions, especially dooring. Mr. Gajda warned that the date is based on citations in collision data base which leaves out all unreported accidents. After being asked about what items in the report DPT recommends action by the BAC Mr. Gajda responded that BAC take action on Policy, Grants, and Funding Legislation. Jerry Ervin (District 8) requested a specific list of where the BAC could expect requests for action from DPT. Mr. Gajda responded: SHARROW, Howard Street, Folsom Street, Octavia, Street Surface Conditions, Bicycle Parking, Baby Bullets, BART Bike Station, Funding.

The principal American road-sharing treatment is sharrows ("shared lane arrows"), a bicycle silhouette topped by a double chevron, usually marked every 200 feet (65 m) in the middle or right third of a travel lane in order to encourage cyclists to ride at a safe distance from parked cars. Sharrows are used on both two-lane and multilane roads. [...] Although some cyclists feel that sharrows given them legitimacy when controlling the lane, there is a danger that sharrows will become a cop-out, a way for the city to claim that it's created bike routes without really doing anything to improve bicycling conditions.

If there is not enough room to stripe separate bicycle lanes, perhaps motor-vehicle speeds could be reduced through traffic calming, with sharrows installed in the middle of the traffic lanes. This is not a perfect solution for bicyclists, but perhaps it will meet the minimum service threshold.

As of this writing, the city has 78 miles of bike lanes, 47 miles of bike trails, and 92 miles of sharrows (streets marked to remind motorists that bicycles have a right to the road).

(quoting Nicholas Ferenchak and Wesley Marshall) It is time that sharrows are exposed for what they really are, a cheap alternative that not only fails to solve a pressing safety issue, but actually makes the issue worse through a sense of false security.