Second, it's funny to me that these stencils are supposed to mean that we can ride in the middle of the road, but on the part of 5th avenue where there IS a designated bike lane, I almost always have to ride in the middle of the road to avoid cop cars and other parked in the bike lane. I often think bike lanes are more dangerous than not having them. They are simply extra parking space for cars.

The stencils make me feel less safe than I felt before. I know they are there for a good reason, but they're not working. I think I'm going to start riding on 6th Avenue where there aren't cars double parked.

But, on further reflection, I think the benefit of having anything in the road that notifies motorists of the rights of cyclists outweighs the potential confusion of where on the road the cyclists can exercise their rights.

Maybe it's settling, but the notion of sharrows, even toward the zone of death (aka the door zone) makes me giddy.

Re: riding in the middle of the road when necessary, I call it riding big. I take for granted that most motorists recognize that hitting me is, at the very least, going to put a crimp in the day. If they can see me, I can take advantage of their intuitive understanding that two objects of mass cannot occupy the same space.

Speaking of the meaning of the sharrows, I have looked in vain on the DOT's website for an explanation of what the sharrows mean and how they are supposed to modify motorist and bicyclist behavior. If someone knows where to find it, please let me know. If I am correct that DOT has no official statement on this, I cannot imagine a more incompetent approach to public administration of a transportation system--introducing a new traffic device (the sharrow) without explaining what effect it is supposed to have. In the meanwhile, I guess the sharrow will mean "all things to all people."

The cumulative impact of all of these lanes and signs and markings is to let people know that government wants more cycling, and that in turn people should be encouraged to ride. This is more important than the impact of the individual lanes, some of which, like the ones on west 91st in Manhattan, are on already bike friendly, traffic calmed streets.

A shared street designation means, at least in theory, that bikes have equal right to the lane, and that cars have to sit behind bikes if there is no way for them to pass.

This is pretty agressive, again in theory, because it takes space from cars and gives it to bikes in an unequivocal fashion.

The reality of course is that car drivers feel entitled to the lane and seldom are willing to wait behind slower motor vehicles, let alone bikes. I believe there are a lot of good reasons for encouraging bike use at the expense of cars, but I guess it depends on your priorities.

If I were in charge, I'd consider removing parking from one side of the street and moving the center-line accordingly. I don't see how you can make that street safe for biking unless you give everybody a little more room.

They didn't put press releases down on Fifth Avenue. They striped bike lanes. That's what we're talking about here.

Well, maybe this is why the writers on this blog keep finding themselves getting snookered by the DOT. Maybe it's time to stop singing about all they are doing every time they issue a press release and wait for them to actually DO.

How did you get a direct link to the DOT biking folks Aaron? Who should we call or write to? We've only been able to get messages to them through elected officials or our Community Assistance Liason.

Are there constructive ways that we can start communicating DOT?

Please write to
Glenn@uppergreenside.org

For those first few years, I started riding a little more militantly than I do now--I would almost always take a full lane, even if there was a (usually meaningless) bike lane.

I had an instinct to literally marginalize myself by riding on the edge, which I'm sure most cyclists have, and which motorists expect. After overcoming that instinct and getting over that fear of asserting my right to space, I felt much safer. I knew I was much more visible. Motorists honked a lot less than I expected. When they did, it didn't hurt as much as when I got doored, which happened in the margin of 6th Ave.

The location of the sharrows currently is where I tend to ride on a road such as that. Whether motorists pass me or not is up to them, unless I feel they are passing too closely, at which point I take the lane.