By John Pacenti
The Manalapan Town Commission pushed back on a proposal by the Florida Department of Transportation to place markings on State Road A1A to indicate motorists must share the lanes with bicyclists.
Nadir Rodrigues, an FDOT traffic services engineer, said at the Nov. 22 commission meeting that the agency is proposing safety measures in the wake of the Jan. 4 accident when a 77-year-old driving a subcompact SUV struck a group of bicyclists on A1A in Gulf Stream, injuring six of them.
FDOT says it will look to resurface A1A in Manalapan so it can stencil what are called sharrow markings on the road, stencils of bicycles with two chevrons that indicate that bicyclists and motorists are to share the lanes. There is no room for separate bike lanes in Manalapan on A1A, Rodrigues said. The idea fizzled with commissioners and Police Chief Carmen Mattox.
“You put those down in the middle of the road like that, they’re going to think the whole road is theirs. It’s going to be backing up traffic, it’s going to make it more complex, and it’s going to be very difficult to enforce,” Mattox said.
He said he dedicates an officer on Saturday and Sunday mornings just to bicycle enforcement.
Commissioner Cindy McMackin said pelotons of up to 50 cyclists already block A1A. “They don’t care about the rules,” she said.
Town Manager Eric Marmer suggested FDOT educate the bicyclists by putting up signs instructing them to ride single file. “The drivers are very courteous in my experience here. It’s more so the bicyclists who are not following the rules of the road,” he said.
Rodrigues noted the bicycling community is organized and writes to FDOT frequently and will be protective of its ability to ride on picturesque A1A.
Commissioner Dwight Kulwin is a bicyclist and a trauma surgeon who has witnessed numerous car vs. bike injuries. He won’t ride his bike down A1A anymore, feeling it is not safe.
He doubts sharrow markings will help.
“I’ve never seen any data that shows putting things down like this has any measurable effect on decreasing accidents or really having any positive effect,” he said.
Marmer told Rodrigues the town would get back to the agency; however, the situation may be out of Manalapan’s hands since A1A is a state road. Rodrigues was, more or less, making a courtesy call.
“The signage that is going to go in other municipalities are to share the road,” she said.
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