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<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN class=437435801-07032008>Shared
space is a great idea where traffic speeds are very low and can be kept that
way. I would not want to try this social experiment on Palomar Airport Road or
on the Orange County road in question. The increase in the rate of
rightward drifts coincides with increasing vehicle speeds, increasing driver
isolation in vehicle design, and increasing levels of sleep
deprivation among the general public. </SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=437435801-07032008></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN class=437435801-07032008>John
E.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
<DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Tahoma
size=2>-----Original Message-----<BR><B>From:</B>
sdcbc-bounces@bikesandiego.org [mailto:sdcbc-bounces@bikesandiego.org]<B>On
Behalf Of </B>Serge Issakov<BR><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, March 06, 2008 10:58
AM<BR><B>To:</B> trevorspoke@cox.net<BR><B>Cc:</B>
sdcbc@bikesandiego.org<BR><B>Subject:</B> Re: [SDCBC] Joggers in the Bike Lane
- WTF<BR><BR></FONT></DIV>Good points, Trevor. Also, if either the
jogger or the motorist (or both) was paying less attention to what was on the
other side of the bike lane stripe because they subconsciously assumed that
the stripe would do what it normally does - keep separated lines of traffic
separated - then they would be paying more attention if the bike lane stripe
had not been there, and perhaps yet another bike lane tragedy (which easily
could have involved a cyclist) could have been avoided.<BR><BR>I believe the
concept of <A href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shared_space"
target=_blank>shared space</A> pioneered by Hans Monderman applies
here:<BR><BR>(more below)<BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE class=gmail_quote
style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: rgb(204,204,204) 1px solid">
<P><B>Shared space</B> is a term used to describe an approach to the design,
management and maintenance of <A title="Public space"
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_space" target=_blank>public
spaces</A> which reduces the adverse effects of conventional <A
title="Traffic engineering"
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traffic_engineering"
target=_blank>traffic engineering</A>. The shared space approach is based on
the observation that individuals' <A title="Social behavior"
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_behavior"
target=_blank>behaviour</A> in <A title=Traffic
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traffic" target=_blank>traffic</A> is
more positively affected by the <A title="Built environment"
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Built_environment" target=_blank>built
environment</A> of the public space than it is by conventional <A
title="Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals"
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vienna_Convention_on_Road_Signs_and_Signals"
target=_blank>traffic control devices</A> (signals, signs, road markings,
etc.) and <A title="Rules of the road"
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rules_of_the_road"
target=_blank>regulations</A>.<SUP><A title=""
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shared_space#_note-0"
target=_blank>[1]</A></SUP> This approach is considered to have been
pioneered by <A title="Hans Monderman"
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Monderman" target=_blank>Hans
Monderman</A>.<SUP><A title=""
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shared_space#_note-1"
target=_blank>[2]</A></SUP></P></BLOCKQUOTE>
<DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE class=gmail_quote
style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: rgb(204,204,204) 1px solid">
<H2><SPAN>The philosophy</SPAN></H2>
<P>Safety, congestion, economic vitality and community severance can be
effectively tackled in streets and other public spaces if they are designed
and managed to allow traffic to be fully integrated with other human
activity, not separated from it. A major characteristic of a street designed
to this philosophy is the absence of traditional road markings, signs,
traffic signals and the distinction between "road" and "<A title=Sidewalk
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidewalk" target=_blank>pavement</A>".
User behaviour becomes influenced and controlled by natural human
interactions rather than by artificial regulation.</P></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV>There
is a tradeoff between traffic throughput and the slower speeds/lesser
throughput implied by shared space, so I'm not a proponent of removing all
stripes, signs and pavement (Wade, to answer your question from a few days
ago: I think fog lines and shoulder stripes have their purpose too - but I'm
wary of riding to the right of them just as I'm wary of riding to the right of
a bike lane stripe), but in the case of bike lane stripes I think bicyclists
(and joggers) are much better off if the outside lane is one big
attention-enhancing "shared space" (a.k.a. Wide Outside Lane, or WOL) rather
than the attention-inhibiting "stripe separated space" (a.k.a. bike
lane). The relatively minor reduction in throughput (caused by motorists
perhaps having to slow a bit because they're being more careful due to the
lack of separating stripe) is a valuable tradeoff, for the increased
attention, lower speed differentials and better safety.<BR><BR>These tragedies
are practically unheard of in shared space WOLs, and are all too common in
bike lanes. I believe this is because everyone (motorists, bicyclists,
peds and joggers) pays more attention in shared space WOLs, and less attention
around bike lanes, and every time yet another person dies in a bike lane from
yet another "inadvertent drift" into an <B>unnoticed</B> occupant of the bike
lane, I am only more convinced that bike lanes cause create more harm than
good for cyclists.<BR><BR>Serge<BR><BR></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>