Sharing the Road

The image shows some of Campbelltown SA's better bicycle road infrastructure. From left to right: ~ 2 metres for on street/road parking, 1 metre for bicycle lane, 3 metres for motor vehicle carriage way, about 3 metres of cross hatched space in the middle, then the same lanes on the right hand side. Bicycle lanes are designated by the painted white lines.

It seems to me that a cross hatched area in the middle of the street/road ('stroad') is used to provide three metres of separation between the oncoming lanes of motor vehicle traffic.

The separation between bicycles and overtaking traffic is similarly provided by the 100mm wide painted white line. I expect that this demonstrates errors in the risk analysis calculations for this section of road infrastructure.

If the painted white line was so effective at keeping motor vehicles within the lanes, then the bike lane would be separated from the carriage way by relocating the space used for on street/road parking.

Elsewhere I have seen cross half metre cross hatched strips separating the bicycle lanes from the motor vehicle carriage way. The remaining two metres of cross hatch area in the middle of the road would certainly be sufficient to separate the careful drivers in oncoming lanes.