NRA aims to improve safety for cyclists
(CNS): The National Roads Authority has begun rolling out new symbols on some of the roads on Grand Cayman to indicate where the road is shared between bicyclists and motor vehicles in an effort to improve awareness and safety. The shared lane markings, or sharrows, are either white or green symbols with two chevrons and a bike. The first ones are being laid on South Church Street by Paradise Restaurant and North Church Street by Delworth’s Esso, with more to come.
Joey Hew, the minister responsible for roads, said it is important the community works together to ensure that everyone stays safe on the roads.
“For motorists, sharing the road begins with the understanding that cyclists and motorcyclists have the same rights as you,” Hew said. “They face unique safety challenges, such as being smaller and less visible. We all have a duty as motorists, pedestrians and cyclists to look out for each other to prevent road offences and injuries.”
Transportation Planner at the NRA, Marion Pandohie, said studies had found that shared lane markings provide a significant benefit to cyclists by encouraging them to move out of danger. “They also reinforce the legitimacy of bicycle traffic on the street, recommend proper bicyclist positioning, and may be configured to offer directional and wayfinding guidance,” she added
Category: Local News
I just drove over one of these “sharrows” and for the life of me I cannot see the point of them, unless they are to remind cyclists which side of the road to cycle on. Another waste of taxpayer’s money. If we are serious about bike safety we need dedicated cycle lanes although even if they are protected by light poles our clueless drivers will still invade them.
Sharrow stencils work in urban environments as gentle reminders to motorists to be on the look out for, and share the road with cyclists. Most cyclists already know they are riding bikes….but maybe not everyone in Dog City. The $30 of painted stencils over 4 miles is probably the best dollar-for-dollar bike-friendly initiative to be executed by any CIG regime in decades.
6.45pm You are a bit over the top.If our drivers have been driving through traffic lights on red for decades, they are hardly likely to be be reminded by these “stencils”, to be aware of cyclists.
Shared Lane Markings have been put in use in most urban areas all over the world because they provide clarity on traffic flow and demystify road position expectations for those that might not have a driver’s license.
Shared Lane Marking Benefits:
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* Encourages bicyclists to position themselves safely in lanes too narrow for a motor vehicle and a bicycle to comfortably travel side by side within the same traffic lane.
* Alerts motor vehicle drivers to the potential presence of bicyclists.
* Alerts road users of the lateral position bicyclists are expected to occupy within the travel lane.
* Indicates a proper path for bicyclists through difficult or potentially hazardous areas.
* Advertises the presence of bikeway routes to all users.
* Provides a wayfinding element along bike routes.
* Demonstrated to increase the distance between bicyclists and parked cars, keeping bicyclists out of the “door zone.”
* Encourages safe passing by motorists.
* Requires no additional street space.
* Reduces the incidence of sidewalk riding.
* Reduces the incidence of wrong-way bicycling.
I drove that way this morning. Didn’t even notice them. Was browsing the web at the time though to be fair.
Seems Joey found some extra paint in an NRA shed somewhere.
From a cyclist commuter:
The Hotel Tourism Zone should become a local traffic/taxi only zone, deleting the center lane, and having 1.5m/5ft wide brightly-painted and stenciled bike lanes running both north and south with low-maintenance hard “Bouganvillea” Cayman-style planters (prison wood shop), zebra humps, or bollards, physically separating vehicle traffic from the cyclist refuge areas. Fixed Omnibus load/unload areas. We can’t dumb it down enough.
Restaurants should want to have nice patio areas that abut the road, drawing-in customers, pedestrian, and cyclist traffic, instead of repelling them with fast and furious drive by racers and soot-spewing buses. “Look Right” warning markings can also be tastefully stenciled in the lane – in logical places – as reminders for future visiting pedestrians.
2. Along the ETH, the wide shoulders and “still theoretical” bike lanes, inexplicably dissolve to nothing with hard curbing at each roundabout with expressway speeds. This alters the path of any cyclist, dramatically increasing physical exposure into the left lane of traffic as everyone arrives at the junction at a variety of closure/impact speeds. Additionally, at every sweeper, bend, and corner, along the way, the painted delineation lines seem not to matter, with regular vehicle intrusions into the cycling area as motorists cut-the-corner or text another message. Cyclists should not have to deal with this kind of reckless endangerment. Hire a traffic engineer consultant for an hour and deploy their recommendations on the arterial roads.
Fix these things please, while we have the downtime to get it right. We don’t need any expensive new approaches. Have a look at what other urban commuter cities and tourism centers have done. The NRA and Joey Hew are 5 years (and several deaths) behind on their promises to make our roads safer for cyclists. Even the easy stuff is undone.
Sharrows are welcome on the narrowest road sections, but NRA still needs to deliver the sensible bike lanes that were promised, budgeted, and paid for.
Ha ha, put up a few signs. Works great for littering.
Another Jokey Hew failure.
I still have not heard a good answer to the question “why do people always denigrate Joey Hew?” He’s smart; has a good vocabulary; speaks well; from a good family; in good physical shape; has a lovely wife; has successful businesses; does his work as minister diligently and produces better results than most of his colleagues; and does this all without any obvious ego getting in the way. Where oh where do so many of you people get the idea that he needs to be mocked every time he is mentioned?
Roundabouts are suicide missions for cyclists. The NRA states cyclists should stay in the outer lane no matter what exit, but that is very dangerous because I do think car drivers are aware of this.
Does the cyclist use correct hand signals as they move around the roundabout? I have cycled around them using hand signals without any close calls. If fact the drivers seemed to be watching me closely. It is the same with other drivers – no signals lead to accidents.
Most drivers do not know how to use the roundabout, much less their turn signals. But the RCIPS would rather catch you speeding 3mph over the limit than to encourage sensible road etiquette.
Cops can’t police the traffic still so this is another futile attempt to look like cig care.
If they are starting in S Church St they need to fix the road adjacent to the new condo complex next to Keisha. Construction started almost 2 years ago and is still nowhere near completion, and for all this time they have utilised S Church St as part of their construction site much to the annoyance of road users.They finally installed a minimal sidewalk a couple of weeks ago, but the adjoining road surface has been destroyed and has been like this for months. The NRA needs to repair it asap and bill the construction company.
As a cyclist, it’s unclear if the NRA employs a professional road engineer, or owns an operational street cleaner. The Road code is missing published standards for all kinds of things…speed bumps, curbing, cyclist lanes, manhole cover depths. The shoulder is filled with months of discarded debris…sand, palm fronds, coconuts, gravel and aggregate, and my personal favorite: hundreds of beer bottles discarded from motorists who were actually drinking the beers while they were driving around our streets. Lots of low fruit – all that’s missing is baseline competence to know it’s hanging there.
All the planning is off. Bit and bobs of different countries mashed together. Idiotic planting on central reservations that need high maintenance frequency.
I have often thought about how many days one lane has been closed due to the central reservation needing maintenance of this Idiotic planting
So true, I bike almost every day, the broken glass and small metal filings on the road side have me replacing inner tubes regularly. The rough aged condition of The Seven Mile stretch of West Bay Rd is a veritable obstacle course in pavement. We need several street cleaners maintaining a regular schedule to maintain zones on island and a way for the public to make our road authority aware of both roads needed to be leaned and roads needing to be repaired. A phone App that allows text and photo feedback to the roads authority and which allows the RA to show the reporter what their response was /will be would be brilliant.
email photos to nra@nra.ky
The Cayman Islands have many narrow roads as it is. There are virtually no sidewalks along south sound. The idea that vehicles have to share the road with cyclists is not a good one except where there are bike lanes. Even then, the cyclists like to ride in the vehicle lane and not stay in their lane and can also be seen riding side by side.
If a cyclist has the same rights as a driver on the road, they have the same responsibilities as a car.
Cyclists must be ticketed for impeding the flow of traffic, riding without lights at night and improper or lack of hand signaling.
Some might consider it selfish of cyclists to expect 99% of the people to suffer so they can enjoy their bicycles.
There is no if. Cyclist do have the same rights as other road users and similarly they do have the same or at least very similar responsibilities.
If “Cyclist do have the same rights as other road users” then they should pay the same fees that other road users do!!!
I agree that cyclists should follow the law. However, lots of drivers cut into the cycle lane that already exists and nothing is done about that. Remember the one idiot promoter that passed a cyclist and then decided to pull off the road, onto the cycle lane, causing the cyclist to fatally crash into the rear end of the car, and then proceeded to post it on social media with a caption ridiculing the cyclist? you may have as much brain cells as he does.
You need to respect the 99.5% of the road users that use a vehicle and not inconvenience all of us.
You sound like a very entitled fellow that wants to impose your will on society while deluding yourself that you are morally superior and Caymanians are idiots.
Sharrows are just stenciled reminders that motorists are sharing the road with cyclists, and have to provide space and yield as necessary – same as always! If you’re among those not doing that right now, then you are the reason why Captain Obvious Sharrow stencils are sadly necessary.
Can you even hear yourself? All you have to do as a motorist is be situationally aware that there are cyclists sharing the roads, and give space if and when you might encounter one. Yield 3 ft/1m to the water balloon, ie. at least as much as you’d yield to the guy wrapped in the steel cage…or forfeit your license and walk. Not that hard or too much an imposition. People have died.
It’s was just a matter of time before this farcical subject came up. Several persons of power, including the Premier are avid cyclists. Actually Mr. Dart is also a cyclist. If nothing truly useful has been done to date, nothing will be done. It’s like to port. It’s like he dump. It’s like education. Talk, talk, talk.
Exactly. No need to say anything else.
Bike safety is not farcical. Much needed. It was promised and paid for years ago. Many lives lost needlessly to idiots in cars since. This is a Joey Hew pre-election competence-patch-job.
Damn that cyclist.
If I find him, I will run him down!
Just kidding. Surely you mean cyclists as in plural?
CNS: Yes!
It’d be great if the added cycle lane separators.
Exactly! so that motorists may not cut into the lane! Couldn’t the NRA think of that?
How will this work when most cyclists in Cayman cycle on the wrong side of the road… every day I see a cyclist coming towards me on my lane. A cyclist should be going the same way as the cars. Basic Highway Code but not surprising in cayman to see such idiots.
How will it work?… When the RCIPS enforces the law.
And half of the RCIPS force comes from a country that disregards simple traffic laws and common sense.
its safer to cycle against the oncoming traffic so you can dodge the idiot car drivers rather than cycle with the traffic and not know when some idiotic car driver will hit you from behind
And when I’m cycling on the correct side and have to swerve out into the traffic to avoid you?
Cycle on the correct side!
No it is not right to ride on the wrong side, but consider the space required to pass is the same whatever the direction. The main problem in Cayman is that drivers do not respect cyclists as road users and pass dangerously close and often at speed. I am talking from experience having been knocked off three times (and yes I do ride on the left and have lights and mirrors).
You know, some might ask why you’re still riding a bike if you got knocked off three times already. I’m sorry that’s happened as I’m sure you had injuries and were in shock. However, the fact is cycling is an indulgent, slow, selfish way to get around. ‘Cyclist’ is not a protected identity. We are talking transport methods. Our roads were built for cars. Cyclists, in point of fact, ride bicycles at their own risk (just as drivers do driving their cars). They deliberately travel in a slow, low-tech way that makes them hard to see, exposed and vulnerable, moving at different speeds to the rest of the traffic, and using too much of their attention and body on the act of moving the bicycle to maintain situational awareness themselves. They just expect to be able to put headphones in and ride ride ride, and DEMAND that you see them and give their tiny contraptions wide berths while you’re trying not to stray into the other lane with your 2 ton killing machine. And for every cyclist who is properly equipped and riding on the edge of the road at a consistent, decent speed, there is another ‘cyclist’ that is riding some rusted child’s bike slowly to no particular destination, with no hands, veering all over the lane. So it is a case of avoiding each and every individual cyclist as their actions are unpredictable. Bottom line, if you insist on getting around that way, and something happens to you, you chose not to have the protection of a car, and do something different instead. That’s on you unless the driver has actually done something wrong. If the driver is not at fault, then you just have to live with your choice to let them be behind 2 tons of metal, and your choice not to be.
8:13 What about the idiot adults who ride kids’ bikes against the traffic flow, at night with no lights? I don’t even want to think how many near misses (hits?) I’ve had with them on West Bay Road.
Poor you in the steel cage with the headlights. Give me a friggin’ break.
Sure, basic maybe to qualified licensed drivers. Basic to those that understand signage and/or driving on the left. But, nobody needs a driver’s license to ride a bike. It is accessible and available transport for nearly anyone. That puts the burden on the licensed motorists to be worthy of their driving privileges, ie. not be drinking a beer in their pickup, putting their phone down, and paying attention. Always leave ample space, signal your intentions early/often, scan for roadside hazards, and be prepared to stop if necessary. If everyone could do that, no more cyclists would need to die to prove how bad our driving is.
A very very small minority of cyclists might occasionally ride on the wrong side of the road, or even on the sidewalk, because there is no coherent cycling plan. Maybe they don’t have a driver’s license? Maybe they don’t have a light, or it got stolen? Maybe they feel it’s safer amongst the field of idiot motorists trespassing into their lane (far more numerous than cyclists on the wrong side), and the statistical backdrop of numerous needless cyclist deaths? Let’s stop with the discrimination please and give all roads users space.
Boy with all these accidents on the road, only the brave would attempt to cycle in Cayman.
About time, with e-bikes becoming cheaper and widely available the population should be encouraged to be more environmentally friendly. Subject to no collisions I can be at my office faster than in a car and I do not break a sweat.
Love my ebike. Just need a proper bike shop now.
So Joey thinks a few flimsy signs are going to protect cyclists. Better invest in some WWII tank traps, when cars regularly mow down walls and fences, what else would ultimately protect cyclists from Annihilation?
What’s the point, nobody will pay attention to them. Average one crash per week on Marina Drive, Prospect Drive and Bamboo Street recently had speed bumps installed on them and Marina Drive forgotten about again why?
We need these everywhere yesterday!
NO! we need proper cycle lanes with protective barriers
Both. Some roads are just too narrow for hindsight cycle paths. It would help if the NRA would listen for an hour to a qualified urban traffic engineer, and/or one of North America or Europe’s Cycling Embassies. This ain’t rocket surgery.
Shared lane markings should not be considered a substitute for bike lanes, or other separation treatments where these types of facilities are otherwise warranted or space permits. Shared lane markings can be used as a standard element in the development of bicycle boulevards to identify streets as bikeways and to provide wayfinding along the route. Following that logic, sharrows on North Church Street will be of little use outside of the immediately adjacent residential areas, unless it is part of a wider coherent safety plan that connects commuters all the way from populated home neighbourhoods to their work places. A bit like installing a short hand rail halfway down a long staircase. The bike lanes along West Bay Road will need to be wide enough for cyclists to safely overtake slower moving cylists.