Drop "Share The Road" Plaque? Yes

Mark Luszcz, Chief Traffic Engineer, DelDOT wrote:

"There have been some discussions about the bike warning sign (W11-1) and supplemental SHARE THE ROAD (STR) plaque (W16-1P). Some have requested that we simply use the bike warning sign and abandon the STR plaque altogether. Some believe the plaque puts more onus on the biker to share the road than the motorist. As far as I know, there is no actual research showing the effectiveness of either the bike warning sign alone or with the STR plaque."

"I would like to get the Delaware biking community’s opinion on the use of the STR plaque."

Greetings, Mark.

We support the obsolescence of the "Share The Road" plaque because:

a) Most travel lanes in Delaware are substandard width (11-12' in most cases) and are impossible to share when factoring the 3' passing law, and

b) misinterpretation, leading to the usual defense of the driver that the W16-1P message is intended solely for bicycles.

We believe we should use W11-1 alone, as much as possible, especially along the more popular roads without shoulders, i.e. Upper Pike Creek Road. We must not forget that usage of this sign has been (to my knowledge) limited to warning drivers that bicyclists may be ahead, i.e. in a trail crossing or other brief road use situation - not actually riding the road as suggested by W16-1P. Therefore, the sooner we get started with this transition, the better.

Thank you so much for this superb effort on bicyclists behalf.

Ride on,
Frank Warnock
Delawarebikes.org

Poster's note: Mark has asked the bicycling community to comment on this issue. In the interest of consolidation, please visit this topic on Bike Delaware's website and comment there. Link HERE.