1.  ROAD NOTES
 
Ed's notes:  In newsletter No. 438 we offered an idea for tweaking the "Share the Road" signs seen along some U.S. highways and byways. Missourian Paul Scianna proposed adding the phrase "It's the Law" to make sure drivers realize that giving cyclists some space is not merely a suggestion.
 
But what if your local roads don't have basic "Share the Road" signs, or there are too few? What can you do about that?
 
Roadie Peter Paul Bud has an answer -- commit your local bike club to buying the signs on the condition that the highway department will put them where they'll do the most good. That is, along favorite cycling roads in the area.
 
The scheme worked great in Canandaigua, New York, where Peter lives. That's in the Finger Lakes region, a popular cycling destination. Canandaigua has 16,000 residents and an active bike club, but it had no "Share the Road" signs.
 
Now it has 23. They're actually double signs, with the silhouette of a bicycle atop a rectangle containing the all-important phrase (photo on the RBR website). Each pair cost the club around $90. They were installed at highway department expense exactly where the club requested.
 
Peter is offering a nicely written recipe for obtaining "Share the Road" signs for your locale, too. It has his instructive "Five Steps to Place Signs in Your Community" and includes a sample letter that you can customize for making the pitch to your local, county and state highway departments.
 
You'll find the link to the free PDF on Peter's website at http://www.gringear.com.
 
This would be an excellent bike club project that benefits all riders in your community. And seeing those signs might make noncyclists more confident about giving road riding a try.
 
Ed Pavelka
Editor, Publisher, Idealist