The City of Decatur is painting sharrows (a word created from "shared lanes" and "arrows" on a number of Decatur streets. Most Atlanta and Georgia motorists are not familiar with this concept, which is relatively new in this state.
Several Decatur Heights neighbors have expressed confusion over the new sharrows painted on Sycamore Drive. They are concerned motorists will not know how to react to a biker riding along the arrows.
Bike Emory has developed this excellent poster which sums it up simply:
Source: http://bike.emory.edu/wp-content/uploads/images/sharrow-instructions.png
One minor but important distinction: Bikers should ride through the point on the chevrons in the sharrow. In Decatur (and most places) this is about 3-4 ft outside the parked cars, to avoid the "door zone" where drivers exiting parked cars can cause a bike to swerve into traffic.
I'd suggest the city have signs made showing only the graphic and post them just below the "Share the Road" signs every block or two on roads/streets marked with sharrows.
I've read of experts saying misused sharrows may be more dangerous than none at all.
It will be TRAGIC if the City gets busy on informing bikers and motorists (many of whom are not from Decatur and don't read the Decatur Minute much less this blog) AFTER a tragic car/bike accident. [I cringe at even typing this, and I certainly don't want to have to link back to this post and say "I told you so" after a tragedy.
Decatur City Commissioner Fred Boykin represents the Decatur Heights Neighborhood and owns Bike South. He's read a link to a similar post at DecaturHeights.com. We're counting on him to make sure all that is feasible is done. He's a big bike advocate, so we're confident he'll push what needs to be done.
