How to share the road

Repainting the right lane of some roadways to remind drivers that they must share the road with bike riders, and using radar signs to remind cyclists and drivers to slow down are a few of the ideas a new task force on bike safety in Newport Beach is tossing around.

Experimental bike lanes called sharrows that would be painted with bright colors or distinctive arrows could help in some areas of the city, like Corona del Mar, where the roads are too narrow for separate bike lanes, task force members said.

“If there’s no bike lane, the sharrows would help educate and remind people that when they do see a person riding on the road, they understand that this is the bike rider’s right,” said Councilwoman Nancy Gardner, who is the chairwoman of the task force.

The Belmont Shore district of Long Beach painted sharrows on some roadways earlier this year. Only a few cities around the country are using the new bike lane system.

The expanded bike lanes are designed to remind drivers that they must share the road with cyclists in areas where there are no bike lanes.

Adding sharrows to problematic stretches of road in Corona del Mar could reduce the risks of door strikes there, said Cycling Safety Task Force member Frank Peters.

“Corona del Mar would be the ideal place to implement this,” Peters said. “If that’s all we get out of bike safety committee, it will be a lot.”

Where there are no bike lanes in Corona del Mar, many cyclists ride between parked and moving cars, leaving them vulnerable to being hit by a car door swinging open.

Other ideas are is adding more signs to alert motorists to potential traffic hazards, and updating cycling maps of the city, Gardner said.

Gardner suggested forming the task force after a fatal accident involving a cyclist last summer in Newport Coast.

The cyclist died after sustaining massive head trauma and other injuries when a car hit him about 5 p.m. July 23, at Ridge Park Road and Tesoro. A 22-year-old driving a Honda Accord struck Darryl Benefiel as the motorist tried to make a left turn from Ridge Park onto Tesoro. Benefiel’s mother has since filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city, blaming a poorly designed road that lacked proper signage for her son’s death.

In December, a traffic accident claimed the life of another cyclist in Newport Beach.

A Riverside woman who police claim ran down a man in her car near Jamboree and Ford roads is facing felony hit and run charges. Police claim the woman kept driving after hitting the man, dragging his bicycle with her.

The man, Donald Murphy, of Irvine, later died from his injuries.

The task force will present its recommendations to the Newport Beach City Council in the spring. The group’s next meeting is 4:30 p.m. Jan. 11 in Council Chambers at Newport Beach City Hall.