Bike lanes, sharrows, signs, bike boxes all work

According to a study in Austin

A study released Tuesday night to the City of Austin’s Urban Transportation Commission suggests that experimental traffic devices installed on a few Austin streets last year appear to be keeping cyclists safer. 

The Center for Transportation Research at the University of Texas worked with city employees in Austin’s Transportation Department to study and collect video data at a number of intersections where a variation of four experimental traffic devices were installed.

 

The devices were sharrows, or shared lanes between bicycles and cars, signs which say “Bicycles May Use The Full Intersection," colored bicycle lanes and bicycle boxes.

 

Data collected shows that the sharrows created a five-and-a-half foot cushion between cyclists and parked cars. Research shows it was one foot before the sharrows were installed.

 

The “Bicycles May Use The Full Lane” signs tested at two locations proved that space between cars and bicycles expanded from two feet to five feet.

 

Colored bicycle lanes prompted 74-percent of drivers to yield to bicycles. Thirty-eight percent yielded before the lanes were installed.

 

While bicycle boxes showed positive changes, research also showed that only one out of five cyclists figured out how to use them correctly.

Comments

[Grendel]

"While bicycle boxes showed positive changes, research also showed that only one out of five cyclists figured out how to use them correctly."

I can see that. The use of them is not intuitive.

Sharrows have like issues. The last two bicycling advocacy meetings I was in where the term was brought up generated the question "What's a sharrow?". At least their proper use is more intuitive.

[Geof Gee]

What timing!

Have you read the actual paper? A quick google search did not reveal a source.

[washcycle]

I haven't. If someone finds it let me know.

[J]

The problem with bike boxes is as follows:

Bike boxes were made popular (or perhaps invented?) in oregon.

Oregon is the only state that requires cars to cut across the bike lane instead of merging into it.

The bike box was used to make a very dangerous situation unique to Oregon safer. Instead of, you know, changing the damn law to be like the rest of the country.

Thus, the bike box is fairly useless in most of the country.

The ONLY places where bike boxes are useful outside of Oregon are:

1) To assist in making popular left turns (for right side bike lanes) and vice versa for left side bike lanes.

2)Unique intersections like the contraflow lanes in DS

Everywhere else, they're pointless, because cars are supposed to use the bike lane to make their right turns.