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What is “BikeSafe”?
BikeSafe is a new bicycle safety campaign designed to educate the Thousand Oaks community about good riding and driving practices that help keep everyone safe on the road. The campaign focuses on youth and adult cyclists, with an emphasis on the importance of riding with the traffic not against it.
What is a “sharrow”?
A sharrow is a road lane marking that shows a stencil of a bicycle with two chevron markings above it. The purpose of a sharrow is to remind residents to share the road when driving or riding in Thousand Oaks. It's designed for use in areas too narrow for a separate bike lane. Sharrows are about 3 feet wide and 10 feet long. The California Department of Transportation officially adopted the design in 2005. Thousand Oaks will begin stenciling sharrows in September 2008.
Sharrows have several applications in improving safety for cyclists and motorists:
- Sharrows tend to keep bicyclists from riding too close to parked vehicles,
which puts them at risk for unexpected opening car doors. - With sharrows on the road, motorists tend to give more space to bicyclists
that they pass. - Sharrows help reduce wrong-way riding by bicyclists.
- They help decrease aggressive bicycle-car interactions.
- They can help reduce the level of pedestrian-to-bicycle conflicts on sidewalks.
How can I benefit from this campaign? - Watch for new bike-friendly route maps with great safety tips in English and Spanish.
- Attend a bike safety presentation with your kids.
- Watch for BikeSafe materials and information at community events.
- Add this Web site to your Favorites list and check back for updates!
Thousand Oaks Bicycle Master Plan
The City of Thousand Oaks has a Bicycle Facilities Master Plan that maps out streets, recent improvements, future improvements and bike routes and lanes throughout the city.
>> Learn more California Vehicle Code and Bicycles
>> Learn more Frequently Asked Questions on Cycling Safety
>> Information Forthcoming |
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