What are Sharrows?

Update March 2, 2010 here: sharrows are coming to the City of LA in mid-June, although it seems unlikely Encino will be one of the initial locations. The closest under consideration is Reseda from Vanowen to Nordhoff.
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Do you know it’s perfectly legal to ride on the sidewalk? It may not be the safest place, of course, and it is an infraction to do so in a “willful or wanton disregard for the safety of persons or property” (56.15.1 LAMC), but it is legal. That is why you see bike cops frequently riding on the sidewalk.

There is a sense that change is in the air for bicyclists. Not nearly fast enough for activists who have been painting in their own “sharrows.” A sharrow is a road marking indicating a lane is shared by bikes and other vehicles and they now appear all over the world (Wikipedia page here). The good news is that recently they have popped up officially in Long Beach, Glendale and Hermosa Beach (the photo above). The LA City Council is now considering a sharrows pilot program too - at a rather leisurely pace, unfortunately.

Can we get some in Encino? Perhaps on the bike-friendly Encino streets listed in this report (here)? There is already a debate raging about the newly striped bike lanes on Reseda Blvd; a far-reaching ordinance may help protect them from being gobbled up again by LADOT (here). Activists have their own suggestion for roads being made bike-friendly: here.

The second sign of change is that there was wide community rage about the doctor who attacked cyclists on Mandeville Canyon Road with his car, which may lead to an ordinance prohibiting the harassment of bicyclists. The third sign is the possibility that the City Council may require many more bicycle parking spaces at new developments. You may have seen some by the Orange Line stations.

Ordinances can take time but change is definitely coming.