{"id":212890537,"date":"2011-10-01T00:15:37","date_gmt":"2011-10-01T00:15:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/?p=212890537"},"modified":"2011-10-01T00:15:37","modified_gmt":"2011-10-01T00:15:37","slug":"bicycles-may-use-full-lane-its-the-message-that-matters-not-the-color","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/?p=212890537","title":{"rendered":"Bicycles May Use Full Lane: It\u2019s the message that matters (not the color)"},"content":{"rendered":"

As Maryland’s new Drivers
\nManual<\/em><\/a> points out, “often the safest place for a cyclist to ride is in the center of the
\nlane<\/a>.” Unfortunately most drivers do not understand this,
\nand they assume that a cyclist in the lane is being selfish (or
\nworse). Since 2009, the federal Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices
\nhas had a sign that would go a long way toward educating drivers. The
\nsign says “Bicycles May Use Full Lane.” (R4-11) But two years later,
\nMaryland still has not approved the use of that sign.<\/p>\n

In fact, the State Highway
\nAdministration (SHA) initially decided that these signs would never
\nbe posted on Maryland Roads. Fortunately for us, SHA
\nemployees were very open about their thinking, and sent the Glenn Dale
\nCitizens Association (Prince Georges County) a letter saying that they had
\ndecided to not use the sign. In late June, one of the members of that
\nassociation (Jim Titus) also on the board
\nof the Washington
\nArea Bicyclists Association<\/a>
\n, drafted an alert asking WABA members to write the Governor and
\nthe Secretary of Transportation to reverse that decision; 700 people wrote letters; and MDOT reversed the decision as
\nthe letter writers had suggested. About
\na week later, an activist with Potomac Pedalers suggested to SHA’s Bob Herstein that the
\nwords “Bicycles May Use Full Lane” should be placed on the typical big yellow
\ndiamond warning sign<\/a>; so
\nSHA created such a sign, and emailed
\nit to Jim Titus, who sent it around to all the activists who were
\nclosely following the issue. We all told Jim that the sign would be
\nfine. (For the complete details of this saga see some of the
\narticles by Jim
\nTitus<\/a> on the Washcycle blog.)<\/p>\n

For some background: White rectangular signs are “regulatory signs” which means that they
\ncan change the rules of the road, while yellow signs are
\njust giving you advice or a warning.
\nWe were not especially concerned about whether the
\nsign is a white rectangle or a yellow diamond, because it does not matter
\nin Maryland, you already have the right to use the full
\nlane if the lane is too narrow to share side-by-side with a motor vehicle.
\nIn some states the color of R4-11 could make a difference (to change the legal requirement on where to ride) but not in Maryland:
\nWe need a sign that clarifies to drivers where we are legally allowed to ride… and that’s all and we would like this in as many places as possible.<\/p>\n

A few weeks later, we heard that SHA might actually approve both signs. MDOT’s Michael
\nJackson, a longtime proponent of the R4-11 sign, rejected
\nSHA’s proposal to approve the yellow sign instead of the official
\nR4-11 regulatory sign. But the staff of SHA’s Office of
\nTraffic and Safety had become quite enthusiastic about the yellow
\nsign. So SHA staff collectively decided that the best thing to do
\nwould be to compromise with Mr. Jackson, and approve both his preferred
\nwhite sign and their preferred yellow sign.<\/p>\n

This struck me as the best possible outcome. Up to
\nthat point, I had always assumed that the white R4-11 sign should be placed on
\nmajor urban bike routes, while “Share the Road” signs would still be useful on
\nrural roads and some highways with few cyclists. But the ambiguity of
\n“Share the Road” is very problematic, since many drivers think that it means
\nthat bicycles are supposed to ride the edge, and get out of the way of the
\ncars (See
\nNHTSA says “Share The Road Sign” sends mixed messages<\/a>.)
\nA traffic control sign that means the opposite of what many people
\nthink can be worse than no sign at all. So it would be far better to
\ngradually replace “Share the Road” signs with the yellow diamond “Bicycles May
\nUse Full Lane” signs, while using the official R4-11 sign along major bike
\nroutes (which will some times also need sharrows).<\/p>\n

The
\nhead of the Montgomery
\nCounty Bicycle Advocates<\/a> and the City
\nEngineer of Laurel<\/a> have provided additional
\nreasons for why approving both signs would be better than just one of the
\nsigns. The most important point they make, is that some localities will not
\nuse the white regulatory sign on some roads but they would use the yellow
\nsign. They have alot of different reasons but the bottom line is that alot
\nof roads that need the message “Bicycles May Use Full Lane” are only going to have that message if SHA approves the yellow sign.
\nThe City of Baltimore has already been using the white R4-11 sign,
\nand my hunch is that they will keep using that sign. But the counties
\nhave alot of roads with only an occasional cyclist. I would not be surprised to
\nsee them resist the R4-11 sign on most of their roads. The yellow sign would
\ngive them another option.<\/p>\n

So we have that rare case where
\nbureaucratic competition is giving us a better product. Mr. Jackson
\nand SHA staff each would have liked to give us just one sign but the other would not agree to it.
\nSo the only way forward is approve both
\nsigns and that is better than what either of them wanted.<\/p>\n

So what’s the holdup? People who attended the last meeting of
\nMaryland’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee say that Michael Jackson is now
\ntrying to block the compromise. SHA’s Herstein came to the meeting ready to show
\nthe MBPAC members both signs, but Mr. Jackson prevented Mr. Herstein from
\ntalking about the yellow sign. I have to admit, that does sound like the
\nMichael Jackson I know. He is dedicated, sincere, and persistent. In
\nthis case, his persistence brought SHA to the point where it is willing to
\napprove the official R4-11 sign, which is a good thing. But once he makes up his mind, he
\nsometimes refuses to listen and gets too involved in fighting for the details, irregardless if they are a benefit for cyclists or a hindrance… it’s like “it’s the principle of the thing that maters.” even though the premise of that principle is questionable.<\/p>\n

At this point, I think that advocates need to ask
\nMichael Jackson to stand down. He won.
\nIt’s time to stop arguing with SHA, and instead get them to start
\nposting these signs before they change their mind!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As Maryland’s new Drivers Manual points out, “often the safest place for a cyclist to ride is in the center of the lane.” Unfortunately most drivers do not understand this, and they assume that a cyclist in the lane is being selfish (or worse). Since 2009, the federal Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices has … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Bicycles May Use Full Lane: It\u2019s the message that matters (not the color)”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"1","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-212890537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biking-in-maryland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212890537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=212890537"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212890537\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=212890537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=212890537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=212890537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}