Cyclists, drivers split hairs over split lanes

By Ann Hui –

The ongoing struggle for space between drivers and cyclists is revving up in the southeast Downtown, leaving some cyclists concerned for their safety.

In November, council decided to install bike lanes on Annette Rd. in the west end, due in part to the fact that they felt that the alternative, “sharrows,” are unsafe. Now, users of a sharrow on Dundas E. between River and Broadview are wondering why their safety continues to be put at risk.

Sharrows are bike symbols painted on pavement that isn’t wide enough to support official bike lanes. They remind drivers to share the lane with cyclists and show cyclists where to position themselves in the lane. Sharrow lanes are about half a metre wider than regular car lanes and are intended to help motorists and cyclists share roads.

Paul Young, an avid cyclist and health promoter at the South Riverdale Community Health Centre, is concerned about the Dundas St. sharrow. He says that motorists often ignore the sharrows—either because they’re not paying attention, or because they don’t know what the lane markings mean.

“Cyclists can’t ride where they’re supposed to ride if there’s a car sitting on top of it,” Young says. “It’s not creating a safe condition for cycling,” he adds. Young says he’s heard of at least one cyclist who’s been hit so far while riding in the sharrow.

Young, who has a master’s degree in urban planning, is part of a group called the South East Toronto Bicycle User Group (SET BUG), which has been working with councillors and staff to evaluate the safety of the sharrow.

Young would like to see what he calls a “sub-standard bike lane” put in, which would be narrower than  but function much in the same way as a separate bike lane.

A TTC streetcar driver who regularly operates on the Dundas St. route also thinks the sharrow is dangerous. “Right now, they’re just a symbol,” he says of the sharrow. When an automobile has definite lane markers, he says, “motorists will actually behave in their proper lane.”

Bill Shepherd, a cyclist who’s just moved to the east end and is trying out the sharrow for the first time, is also unenthused. “Not good enough,” is his verdict. He says that the sharrows are “better than nothing, but you’ve still got people who don’t pay attention to the markings.”

The Dundas St. sharrow was installed last year on the bridge between Broadview and River as an attempt to link the bike lanes on Dundas east of Broadview with the rest of Downtown. At the time, the bridge was deemed too narrow for the installation of proper bike lanes. The Transportation Association of Canada normally requires bike lanes to be at least 1.25 metres in width.

Paula Fletcher admits this use of a sharrow in her ward is not ideal. “It’s definitely not as safe as a bike lane,” she says.

She asserts that sharrows should only be used in “extreme circumstances.” In this case, she explains, the complication is not just that the bridge is too narrow, but also the fact that streetcars need extra width in order to turn at the corner of Dundas and Broadview. “The community is evaluating it, SET BUG has evaluated it, and we’ll have to see,” Fletcher finishes, adding that city regulations for bike-lane width are the reason for the hold up.

In the meantime, SET BUG is recommending that the city decrease the space between bike symbols, that speed limits in the area be lowered and that signs be put up so that motorists understand what the sharrows are.