Interesting Bike Road Use Marking Idea...

I just saw an interesting idea that was new to me. So called "Sharrows" painted on the road to indicate bike use is prevalent in areas where a dedicated bike lane isn't marked. This seems a great idea here in Providence. We have several heavily traveled artery streets indicated as bike routes such as the prime inbound route of Angell Street through the East Side. Perhaps this would be more visible than the pole signs to remind drivers that cyclists are not only present but expected/entitled to be on the road. (Anecdotally, of the 3 shouting matches I've had with drivers in Providence, two occurred on Sundays around lunchtime on South Angell and Angell Streets. The third was on Wickenden at the intersection of Benefit).

See #5 in the TreeHugger post offering a round up of five cycling improvements available to cities to improve their bicycling facilities for a picture and description. I like the bike corrals idea, but I don't think we have enough cyclists going the same places around here to warrant it, except maybe near RISD on South Main.

Then again, we don't have lane markings half the time here in Providence, it is probably too much to hope for paint for something as esoteric as safety...8)