A Sharrow - Shared Lane Arrow or Shared Lane Marking

The Federal Highway Administration has released the 2009 edition of the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD), the national standard for traffic signs and road markings.

Cyclists can rejoice at the inclusion of sharrows, or shared lane markings, along with “bikes may use full lane” signs. Now that they’re in the manual, local engineers can feel comfortable using them.

Cyclelicious has a great write-up, with pictures.

Establishing national standards is a slow process (nearly 10 years to get sharrows included). Many thanks to Richard Moeur for sticking with it, and advocating for cyclists in committee.

Update: more from BikePortland, with info and pictures about the new bike route signs. Also from Bike Pittsburgh, and BikingBis.

By Bruce Drees, Advocacy Chair of the Tidewater Bicycling Association.

To the astonishment of many, a recent fatal accident involving a skilled cyclist legally using a public roadway did not result in any charges against the driver who hit him. According to the Commonwealth’s Attorney for Virginia Beach there are no laws protecting bicyclists, pedestrians or other non-motorized users of a public road from being struck by a vehicle whose driver plainly “didn’t see” the victim. Unless there is proof of gross negligence or circumstances such as alcohol, drugs, speed or an illegal maneuver on the part of the driver there are simply no provisions in state law to support bringing charges.

For the drivers that are cited, often times it is a mail in fine. It seems that killing a cyclist or runner doesn’t even merit a court appearance. Society is in effect saying to the driver “it’s ok that you killed someone, we understand.”

Whether the accident occurred through inattentiveness or incompetency, the driver doesn’t even merit a look by officials to see if they should continue to have a license. They are free to go back out and kill or injure someone else. In practice, Virginia law places seemingly little burden on drivers to be alert for and safely maneuver around other roadway users. The balance certainly seems tilted in the drivers favor.

This needs to be changed. Non-motorists using a road or street have every right to expect that drivers will be alert and avoid them. For those drivers who aren’t willing or are unable to comply, there needs to be a provision in state law where their driving skills are called into question and penalties applied.

One way this could be accomplished is by introducing what is termed a “vulnerable roadway user” into Virginia law. This defines a class of roadway users who are vulnerable to being killed or seriously injured by a car or truck. The definition can include pedestrians, runners, bicyclists, equestrians, highway workers, and even motorcycles and farm equipment.

In July 2007 Oregon enacted such a law (HB3314; ORS 801.608, ORS 811.135); there is also a similar bill working its way through the Texas legislature (SB488/HB827).  (VBF note — the Texas law was passed by the legislature with a healthy margin, but vetoed by the governor.) Oregon’s provisions include a mandatory court appearance, a one year suspension of driving privileges, and a $12,500 fine. It falls short of what many would like to see, but is a start.

Adoption of similar measures by Virginia would provide law enforcement with a useful tool for charging drivers who cause serious injury or death to other users of the public way. “I didn’t see him or her” will no longer be automatically excusable.

An internet search on this topic turns up plenty of background material, some of which I’ve repeated above (Ray Thomas; http://www.stc-law.com/vulnerable.html ). Do the reading, and if you agree and want to help change Virginia, please contact your state and local elected officials to seek their support.

There’s a lot of talk about sharrows lately — shared lane arrows — which are properly used instead of bike lanes to keep bicyclists out of the “door zone,” and motorists aware of a bicyclist’s place on the road.

Information on the web about sharrows has been sparse. But this video from the San Luis Obispo County Bike Coalition does a great job showing what a sharrow is, where it goes, and what it does.

We love sharrows, but we especially love good communication efforts like this!

Blacksburg has a sharrow project in the works — stay tuned.

The Virginia Bicycling Federation (VBF) announces the creation of a bicycling education fund in remembrance of Daniel Wayne Hersh, an avid Virginia Beach cyclist who was killed by an overtaking motorist while bicycling locally on April 19.

We are deeply moved that Gregory and Stephen Hersh, the sons of the late Dan Hersh, have designated the Virginia Bicycling Federation as the recipient of memorial donations honoring their late father. VBF will dedicate these funds for bicycling education initiatives within Virginia–targeting motorists, law enforcement personnel, and/or bicyclists–with the goal of decreasing the incidence of future bicycling tragedies within our state.

Contributions to the Hersh Memorial Fund can be mailed to the Virginia Bicycling Federation at P.O. Box 5621, Arlington VA 22205-5621. To properly direct their contribution, donors need only include a simple note on their check stating “Hersh Memorial”. The Virginia Bicycling Federation is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, and all contributions to the Hersh Memorial Fund are tax deductible to the full extent of the law.

Every bicycling fatality is a tragedy, but nearly all bicycling crashes are preventable when motorists and bicyclists share our roadways lawfully, carefully, and courteously. The Virginia Bicycling Federation will proudly honor Dan Hersh’s memory by using this new fund to advance bicycling education and traffic justice and to otherwise enhance the rights and safety of bicyclists on Virginia’s roadways.

A memorial ride will be held Sunday, April 26, 8am, at Conte’s Bicycles in Virginia Beach.

I’ve just updated our blogroll with all that I could think of offhand. A lot of bike clubs and maybe a few advocacy organizations are missing. If you think you should be listed, send your info to webmaster@vabike.org.

This is not intended as a comprehensive directory. Rather, it’s to help you find to the main groups and resources in your area — bike clubs, advocacy groups, etc. Co-op information is always welcome. I hope to hear from student and campus groups too. Bike shops and other businesses can get listed by becoming members.

Please consider putting us in your blogroll, and supporting bike advocacy in Virginia by becoming a VBF member.

At VBF’s Fall Retreat, Jeff Peel from the League of American Bicyclists talked at length about the new Bicycle Friendly States program, the scoring system, and why Virginia ranked 23rd in 2008. Here’s where Virginia lost points:

• No 3′ passing law
• No cell phone restrictions for drivers (full credit for total ban, partial credit for hands-free requirement)
• No bike parking requirement for state-owned facilities
• No mountain biking plan
• No CO2 reduction plan that includes biking as a means to reduce CO2 emissions
• No rumble strip policy that includes 4′ clearance for bicycles
• No system to tally percentage of highways with paved shoulders
• State bike routes lack signage
• State bike map does not include suitability ratings
• No bicycle-related questions on state drivers test
• No reporting of bicycle usage in outdoor recreation
• No performance measures in state bike master plan

Your comments are encouraged!

After many years where it was common knowledge through the halls of the State Legislature that “any bill restricting dogs that comes down here will soon be dead on arrival“, the highly publicized tragic death of the Fredericksburg woman and her pet dog after being mauled by a neighbor’s pit bull a couple of years ago has changed all that.That incident, more than anything, led to the passage of the bill, effective on July 1, 2006 which established a “Dangerous Dog Registry” and actually went quite a bit further. Rather than publish the bill in its entirety here, I urge all of you to go to the www.vdacs.virginia.gov website and print a copy of the three page bill for yourself, while I will briefly summarize it and give a few suggestions here.

Note the definitions, wherein a “Dangerous” dog is one who “has bitten, attacked, or inflicted injury on a person“; while a ”Vicious“ dog is one who ”has killed a person, inflicted serious injury, or continued to exhibit behavior that resulted in a previous finding that it is a dangerous dog“.

Since this law is relatively new, police, animal control officers, and judges have not yet had much experience with it, so it will be helpful if you are familiar with it, so you can coach them along. Note that in Section B, only a “law-enforcement or animal control officer ……. shall apply to a magistrate of the jurisdiction for the issuance of a summons requiring the owner ….. to appear before court, etc.“ Since I have found it very difficult to contact the animal control officers in some jurisdictions, I would suggest anyone trying to do so should call 911 and report an “attack” to the law enforcement dept. and let them get the animal control officer involved, which they seem to be quickly able to do. I would assume from reading the act that any rider who has been bitten certainly can make a case for a dog to be declared “dangerous”. I would also assume that a rider who’s bike has been run into, or under, by a dog, and caused to fall, could make a good case that they have been “attacked”. If, however, the dog has run at your bike, but not bitten or caused you to fall, I would think it would be very difficult to take that to a point where the dog would be adjudged “Dangerous”. I’ll be interested in hearing from any of our attorneys in the club, as to how they view this legislation.

Print the act and read it closely, so that anyone who is bitten or knocked over by a dog from now on will know the serious consequences, including registration with a $50 fee; maintaining $100,000 in liability insurance coverage; confinement, leashing and muzzling requirements; and fines for failure to do so, that will burden the owner of that dog if it is found to be “dangerous” (and possible euthanization, if the dangerous dog repeats its behavior and is found to be “vicious”).

Please contact me if you are involved in any such incidents, so we can see if we can establish a few precedents using this law. As with all such situations, there is some effort and inconvenience involved in waiting for police and animal control to arrive at the scene, and appearing in court later. However, if we can get a dog or two in our area adjudged to be “Dangerous”, and publicize it, the word might get around to the dog owners in the rural areas, resulting in fewer dogs running loose, and chasing cyclists.

Update: we have a new page on this subject, covering what cyclists should do after a dog incident.