CdM Could Get Experimental Bicycle “Sharrows”
Corona del Mar may be the test spot for so-called sharrows — marked lanes for areas where cars and bicycles share the road.
At the second meeting of the Newport Beach Task Force on Cycling Safety, the group discussed dangerous areas, how to develop a good map showing bike routes, funding and ways to make road safer for cyclists. One proposal was to add sharrows, where bike lanes are painted a bright color, or clearly marked with chevrons or other symbols. Bicyclists within the sharrow lanes would be safe from car doors opening, and motorists would have a strong visual reminder of the presence of cyclists.
“I have five places, if I had a magic wand, where I’d do this,” said Frank Peters, a Corona del Mar resident and member of the task force.
At the Tuesday meeting, task force members said that the intersection of East Coast Highway and MacArthur Boulevard should be the priority, as it’s a city-maintained roadway and not under the jurisdiction of Caltrans.
The task force also discussed finding a school, perhaps Harbor View Elementary School, with which they could work to implement a program to create safe school bike routes.
Members also discussed how to work with neighboring cities so future bicycle plans — including signs and vocabulary — are consistent. “It would be very good as we start to develop our plans to bring in others,” said City Councilwoman Nancy Gardner. Gardner asked to create the task force earlier this year following several incidents, including the death of a cyclist on Ridge Park Road.
The task force will meet again at 5 p.m. Dec. 14. The public is welcome to attend and offer suggestions.
Sharrows will not be implemented in the immediate future. Task force members plan to investigate more about how they are working in nearby cities, including Long Beach, and whether the paint and markings are slippery for cyclists.
Any ideas or plans from the task force will be submitted eventually to the City Council for discussion. The council then would ask staff to research whether to implement any or all of the proposals.
Read our earlier stories about the task force here, here and here.
Photo taken from a copy of the report distributed Tuesday.
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At what point will people realize that Southern California has some areas where its just too crowded on the roadways to allow cycling. Guess what maybe we should just make it illegal to pedal your bike through heavy traffic. There are plenty of places to go put on your Lance Armstrong want to be outfit and cycle your little head off. But PCH in CDM on a weekend is not one of them.
We don’t have to share the road with you. We don’t all have to be eco friendly and green and love the planet. I drive a large SUV and if it tangles with a bike guess which one is going to win.
I know Matt, you never got to be on Jerry Springer TV. We’re all sorry about that, but you’ve got to move on with your life. The lanes would be a great improvement for me, that’s for sure! But I hope the lane painter doesn’t go overboard with too many chevrons or bright colors. I know a lot of road bikers like noisy, bright colors, but I’m not one of them. I prefer a simple white stripe, so the lanes look good! Hey, is it still illegal for kids and old people to ride their bikes on Newport Beach sidewalks? Or do they still have to ride in the highway with SUVs like the one Matt drives?
Safe bicycling in Newport Beach has another risk with the additional second Christmas tree lot at the entrance to the multi-use, state-owned Back Bay preserve. Newport Beach residents did lose a previous lot to the relocated St. Marks Church. Newport Beach retains its sales tax and permit revenue, but two Christmas tree lots are competing across the small roadway into a California nature preserve. Cyclists turning left into the Back Bay already face the risk of a signal that only detects if the bicycle is laid across the inductive wires. Previously, the left lane had motion sensors that detected a bicycle upon safely entering the lane and also had sufficient timing on the green arrow and yellow pause. Today, a cyclist relies on a car being in the left lane making the same turn. The risk is not completing the turn before traffic takes off. A right-turning car does not look for a bicycle to be coming from the left. And it is unrealistic to follow Newport Beach’s policy for bicyclists to test-and-dismount at signals or be cited with CVC 21453 moving vehicle citations. Let’s hope the holiday season is not a cyclist colliding with a Christmas tree-laden SUV.
Sharrows reduce the risk of cars cutting off bicyclist to quickly go for an open parking space or take off from a parking space. But sharrows have negligible impact for opening doors on bicyclists. Drivers forget seeing the sharrow while grabbing phones, bags, etc. The sharrow downside is the tendency for both cyclists and drivers to go faster instead of watching for each other. Slower speeds are needed in congested areas with retailing as well as school playground and athletic fields beyond school hours. An example is the Bay Area’s Alameda that has 25 mph throughout the island for a dense mix of commercial and residential traffic. Also, the Corona del Mar East Coast Highway congestion is exacerbated by the NBPD parking trucks that occupy the right lane on summer weekends. The NBPD parking truck has a driver and a passenger to mark the tires and cite cars. Newport Beach can reduce its overhead with eco-friendly mobile carts or even parking-ticket bicyclists to set the example of sharing the road.
Sharrows will not be a long term solution in cycling safety for the summertime traffic on the Coast Hwy to Corona Del Mar beach. The beach has the traffic of a major a state park that spans May through September weekends. For the long term, coastal cyclists need an alternate route such as Bayside Drive. And for overall safety, Newport Beach has to consider other abatement such as time-limited parking in the neighborhoods and closing the parking lot when full from noon to 4:00 pm instead of periodically opening as cars leave. The beach traffic now has morning arrivals along with a second shift of afternoon visitors. Ocean Blvd. has cars cruising with cellphone calling and using GPS to give directions. During this Labor Day weekend, I noticed two incidents of cars circumventing the attendants at the parking lot entrance. And the NBPD lacked understanding. A NBPD SUV was preoccupied with generating citations for cars rolling through the Marguerite and Seaview stop sign. And a NBPD motorcycle officer could not comprehend the situation when an attendant explained how a car rushed the cones and then jumped the curb down below. The officer took notes and did not go down to the lot or post himself at the entrance. Rather than direct the Coast Hwy traffic jams, the NBPD motorcycle covers the 15 mph curve on Bayside Dr. Corona del Mar needs more effective NBPD support and a long term strategy for the state park.
The weekend warrior cyclists are just a nuisance. The sharrow won’t stop them from riding side-by-side in the bike lanes spilling out into the vehicle lane. Many of them don’t care and think its their right to take up the bike lane and #2 car lane.
Coast Cyclist — Bayside Drive came up during the past meeting. There are bike routes, apparently, through Irvine Terrace neighborhood. One cyclist task force member said cyclists will continue to use Bayside Drive, and they must be kept safe. There will be closures along Bayside this winter for sewer work, and there was some discussion about whether this would be a good time to look at changing bike lanes there. But nothing definitive was decided, and that’s why these bits didn’t make the story. Stay tuned!
Irvine Terrace as an alternate access has the same problem as the Bluffs neighborhood extending from Bison across Jamboree. Children are in streets with bicycles, skateboards, etc. Residents have been diligent in putting out cones with children warnings. Also, cyclists going downhill with curves in neighborhoods have to be watchful of cars coming out of or turning into driveways. The Tesoro-Ridge Park accident is an example for the risk of narrow road, downhill, blind curve, no signage, and community gate.
Oh Matt I think you need to get out of your SUV and exercise to see the healthy and happy part of life outdoors. This is possible in cities. But we all have to work together. We are of many people with many interests, and we all know that it is of great priority that exercise is promoted in every way possible. The same goes for being eco friendly. You would not like trash scattered in your SUV or in the space on this planet that you live in, would you? Chill, breathe, and realize that it is less frustrating if you work with people for the better of mankind. Same goes for everyone else. Courtesy and safety on the road works well for all. Courtesy can go a long way. Try it.
[...] 1. The newly formed bicycle safety task force discussed “sharrows” — painted lanes in areas where bikes and motorists share the road — that could be added on a trial basis in Corona del Mar. Read our story here. [...]
Newport Beach could not implement sharrows, even on a test basis, until there is better collaboration and coordination among city traffic engineers, signal vendors, Caltrans and NBPD. Newport Beach first needs to test other alternatives like the NBPD redirecting bicycles in Corona del Mar on summer Sundays. With a total headcount of about 250 uniformed and non-security, the NBPD can allocate a couple uniformed officers accompanied by assisting Park Ranger and Parking Control persons. In the last decade, I have only seen two instances of the NBPD directing traffic. And in those situations during the Boat Parade and July 4th, they were ticketing confused cross walkers and towing cars from poorly-placed signs. The NBPD motto seems to be “Always Be Ticketing” (ABT). The NBPD’s ABT becomes frivolous and a disservice to the residents. This Christmas will be the third anniversary of Newport Beach traffic engineers setting back the left turn signal into the Back Bay when motion sensors were replaced with inductive wires. I had cycled the turn safely with a green arrow on the third weekend of December, only to come back on Christmas weekend and not get the green arrow. And a NBPD motorcycle chased me demanding a car license plate number and concocting a CVC 21453 moving vehicle violation to a bicycle. The lack of collaboration and coordination is further seen with the Orange County Superior Court defying CVC 21200 and CVC 21453 and defining bicycles as vehicles despite California having no such statute. If Newport Beach cannot respectfully manage a traffic signal into the California-funded Back Bay preserve, it seems unlikely that sharrows could be implemented. The sharrows will become a predatious anomaly for the NBPD against bicyclists like the Back Bay traffic signal. The better alternative is to trial directing bicycles and cars with cones at contention points like East Coast Highway. Newport Beach will be a safer cycling city with some practice in directing traffic and sharing roadways.
The Newport Beach Safe Cycling Task Force has the dual challenge of protecting city liability and preventing bicycle accidents. Three easy-to-implement suggestions to control risk and ensure safety are the following: 1) Place signs of Bicycles Must Use Crosswalks at non-detecting traffic signals like the two Back Back entrances; 2) At congested roadways without bike lanes, affix signs of No Bicycles on the road and Walk Bicycles at the sidewalk like the existing signs at the Fernleaf hill in Corona del Mar; 3) Post 15 mph speed limit for bicycles on roads that are narrow and winding down slopes like Ridge Park at Tesoro. Instead of chasing bicycles to contrive CVC 21453 vehicle citations at poorly engineered traffic signals, the NBPD could engage in speed traps for bicycles exceeding the 15 mph speed limit.
[...] DeSousa and board member Pete van Nuys attended the task force meeting and applauded the group’s efforts. But they cautioned the group that current Caltrans standards would require traffic studies before making changes like adding sharrows — painted, marked lanes that indicate that cycles and motorists will be sharing a traffic lane. (Read our story about sharrows here.) [...]
[...] “I feel heartbroken as I read this,” said member Frank Peters, referring to the section on sharrows, or marked lanes where motorists and cyclists must share the roadway. “Why does it not read Corona del Mar?” Peters reminded the group that in the first meeting where the group discussed sharrows, they agreed that Corona del Mar would be a good test location; read our story here.) [...]