Yesterday I noticed that 'sharrows' were installed on Beach Drive. For all the reasons that bike lanes are dangerous a) create the expectation that the cyclists are only allowed to ride in a bike lane, b) direct thru cyclists into conflict with right-turning motorists, c) diminish visibility of cyclists as they approach and continue thru intersections, and d) door zone danger, sharrows are not! Sharrows encourage shared use of our roadways and do not prohibit cyclists from practicing the 2 most important principles of vehicular travel and cycling 1) destination lane positioning and 2) speed positioning.

The thing that aggravates me about sharrows is that they are even necessary! We have to place a treatment on our streets to instruct motorists to share the road safely with cyclists?! Anyone who as earned the privilege to operate a motor vehicle should already know how to do this! And these sharrows are being placed on benign streets like Beach Drive (yes I have been intimidated on Beach Dr) and deleted from California Ave. Is it OK to run down or intimidate a cyclist on a road that is not marked with a sharrow?

Sharrows aren't necessary but are nice safety measure, besides not prohibiting destination lane positioning, encouraging bicyclist lane positioning. They are also there to discourage less experienced cyclists not to go the wrong way. They're a reminder to both parties, the bicyclists and the automobile drivers, of what is expected of them.

A friendly shot to the radiator ...

Flyers have been handed out at 9 different block parties in Wallingford and Fremont on either side of Stone Way. Everyone was quite interested and supportive.

The only danger at block parties is that every time I stopped, someone offered me food.

Where's the .pdf for the flyer -- is it that Section6.pdf link? Doesn't seem to load for me.

Are going to update seattlelikesbikes for the 15th or are we saving it for a more bike-focused ride e.g. west seattle?

so...given that the topic title has changed and Henry hasn't had time to send out a mass email, i assume we're not doing the 'lil victory ride tonite, yeh?

i think it's better, anyhow, i have a meeting i didn't know about around 7:30 or 8.
-N*

Speaking of our elected city leaders, I have a dream!

No, not that kind of dream.

As Seattle Likes Bikes' crackpot visionary, my dream is that the mayor and the city council form a 'Ride in the Rain' team for January 2008.

And they win the 'most trips' prize! And Richie Sexson is named MVP! And the Huskies win a national championship in Gymnastics!

Well, scratch that last paragraph.

Anyway, City Council + Mayor: Ride in the Rain '08. If the rest of the SLB crew agrees, I shall outline some steps we can take to make this glorious future come to pass. Or at least, have a good time trying.

See everyone in a few hours.

My visions are things of beauty, Trevor. Yours are just icky.

So what exactly is the route for today's ride? What all does "riding the cooridor [sic] entail"? Are we making U turns and going up and down Stone Way or ???

Ah, ok, thanks.

For the record, I did view a couple of the flyers, but not that one. And that's the only one that has a route map. Wish it wasn't so buried :(

oh look, it's a route map!

http://seattlelikesbikes.org/resources/SLBII-2.pdf

clicky-clicky.

You guys still want me to come with the dv cam yes? Anyone who wants a speaking part start thinking about it now!

I'm not going to be able to ride and record so where will be the best spot for me to hang out and record?

if you could suspend yourself about 12 feet off the ground, mid-street, that should provide the perfect up and down hill visual advantage.

and if that dosent work, im sure RIGHT IN FRONT of the mail place...ya know, the dude that thinks we're all bullies?!?

You guys still want me to come with the dv cam yes? Anyone who wants a speaking part start thinking about it now!

I'm not going to be able to ride and record so where will be the best spot for me to hang out and record?

If you see me doing this then that means I need help defending from an angry locals.

Wow. Regardless of my cycling fanaticism, crossing the lower part of Stoneway on foot is DANGEROUS. The upper part with only two major traffic lanes, marked crosswalks, and fluorescent yellow school crossings signs looks way better.

At the intersection of 38th and stone where I stopped to cross a few times, I was in a near accident almost every time. On the south-east corner I noticed there was an SDOT sign on a phone pole saying it'd be a marked intersection soon.

206-615-1608

That's the number from the sign for more info. It had a little box on it for flyers but it as all out of them.

Some lady called the feet first guy a retard while crossing after almost hitting him. Great.

At the intersection of 38th and stone where I stopped to cross a few times, I was in a near accident almost every time. On the south-east corner I noticed there was an SDOT sign on a phone pole saying it'd be a marked intersection soon.

206-615-1608

That's the number from the sign for more info. It had a little box on it for flyers but it as all out of them.

Well I got a lot of footage of people on bikes.


What kind of feel should I put on this? I'm no super editor by the way, but I'm pretty sure I can pull of something interesting.

There used to be a marked crosswalk there, and they took it out. The sign references 'this marked crosswalk' and was meant to inform people that they would be taking the crosswalk away (which happened when they repaved/restriped the street). There were no flyers because the sign has been there forever.

Anyone who has an opinion about ped safety on Stone Way, write a letter to the mayor and Jan Drago (same letter is probably fine). I will be doing so today, and will post what I wrote here.

FieryIrie mentioned getting yelled at by employees in a King County motor pool vehicle. Please, please, write Ron Sims and tell him what happened. I'm guessing Ron will give a verbal smackdown to County employees road raging in County vehicles (he bikes, if you didn't know).