Everywhere a Sign

Today on the Streetsblog Network, we ever-so-gingerly broach the issue of etiquette when pedestrians and cyclists share the same space. Mayor Adrian Fenty has proclaimed pedestrian safety as a top priority, and is backing up his words with millions in federal stimulus funds and a pedestrian master plan. Adam Voiland at DC Bicycle Transportation Examiner has also noticed a proliferation of signs instructing cyclists to dismount in pedestrianized areas.

signman.jpgRiding prohibited signs abound in Georgetown.

Do such signs work? Rarely have I actually seen a cyclist
abide by a dismount sign, though that’s not to say they don’t guilt
riders into somewhat safer cycling habits. I certainly feel
compelled to at least slow down when passing such signs. However, there
are also plenty of riders chafing at the new signs.

A colleague of
mine, a competitive mountain rider, shared her exasperation about the
signs after a pedestrian chewed her out for not dismounting — as a sign
instructed — near a bridge on the Mount Vernon bike trail. "The signs
probably caused — or at least exacerbated — the problem," she said.
"We’ve become overly concerned about safety, and we’ve forgotten that
what we really need on the bike paths [is] for people to exercise good
judgment."

Voiland goes on to cite the late Hans Monderman, who believed that traffic signs often do more harm than good. Are common bike-ped spaces appropriate laboratories for further testing this theory?

Also today: Tuscon Bike Lawyer describes how local police add insult, and then some, to cyclist injury; Grist admonishes the media for soft-pedaling on climate change; a guest blogger on the N Judah Chronicles extols the communal virtues of San Francisco’s MUNI; and BLDG Blog argues that transit product placement is a steal.

ALSO ON STREETSBLOG

German Town Chooses Human Interaction Over Traffic Signals

|
Driving (carefully) with Dutch "shared space" guru and traffic engineer Hans Monderman. While battles rage here in New York City over signs and markings and the segregation of the public right-of-way for different types of users, yet another Northern European town is ditching its traffic control devices altogether. Spiegel reports that as of September 12, […]