Car and Driver: Road Signs Are Incredibly Vague, But These Suggestions Should Clear ’Em Right Up

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Did you know that bicycles are treated as vehicles in all 50 states, which means they have the right to occupy a full travel lane? Me neither. That’s why the countryside is plastered in those “SHARE THE ROAD” signs. But it turns out that that particular sign is harder to deconstruct than an airline omelet, and it has the same effectiveness as no sign at all. Bogus, I thought, but it’s verifiably true, as demonstrated by 1824 respondents in a 2015 study of motoring perceptions, conducted by M. Nils Peterson and George Hess. On the scale of humorosity, it’s about as fun to read as student-loan applications. Evidently, though, if the sign makes onlookers think anything at all, this is what gets thought: Motorists believe it urges bicyclists to move the hell over to the right, and bicyclists believe it urges drivers to pass way the hell over in the oncoming lane, and I believe it urges civility, such that I shout at bikers: “Hey, looking good, chief. Did you lose some weight?” READ MORE ››

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