Fountain Ave. Sharrows-Not Ready for Primetime?

Last week the twittering cyclists of LA were excited to hear that the LADOT was installing Sharrows on Fountain Ave. My twitter feed was updating constantly with new twitpics of the markings. The Sharrows are installed on the section of Fountain that I use for my commute home, and I’m not so sure that they are ready for everyone.

I consider myself an assertive cyclist, taking the lane when I need to, but I’m also aware that there are some streets that you cannot win on. For me, Fountain is one of them. When I ride Fountain, I stay out of the door zone as much as I can, but rarely will I take the entire lane. I’ve had more incidents on this short section of road than on my entire 12 mile commute to and from work. It’s just not worth it. In fact, I’ve changed my commute route in the morning to avoid Fountain altogether.

As I was riding Fountain with the new Sharrows last night I was thinking to myself, “Do I feel safer now?”. The answer, sadly, is no. At first I couldn’t figure it out, but Stephen Box nailed it today. It’s the lack of signage. There is nothing alerting drivers that anything has changed. Am I to assume that drivers read cycling blogs and are as excited about the Sharrows as cyclists are? I don’t think so. If the Sharrows intended users are the more timid cyclists, would they be willing to ride in front of the speeding cars on Fountain?

I tried to put my self in my wife’s shoes. (She wears flats, so it’s not that weird) If she were riding alone on Fountain, would she feel safe using the Sharrows as they are today. I’d guess not. As it is, they only cover a very short section of Fountain. Should drivers just be courteous for that section?

The Sharrows are definitely a step in the right direction, but more needs to be done for them to be effective. I think signage would go a long way, as would the fabled green stripe of Long Beach, just don’t ride it in the rain.