I was delighted to hear they put those lane markings on Thunderbird 2jp's. The misinformation regarding these lanes is almost to much to take.
Hate to drag this out but the origins of this fight go back a couple of years. Originally only 103rd was marked and as we pushed Maricopa County to add more of these white lines, we had to work through several discussions and some interpretations that are just plain wrong.
When Boswell Ave was being striped, we met with Nicholas Swartz from Maricopa County. He made it clear there are no Federal or State statutes regarding "golf car" lanes." There are bike lanes but they have to be designated as such and there are none that i know of in Sun City. However he was emphatic that from a safety standpoint it was far better if golf cars stayed inside the white lines and cars stayed between the white lines.
Part of the problem is Del Webb intentionally made main arteries wide enough to handle golf cars and motor vehicles. The effect has been the streets like Boswell became four lane roads and we repeatedly saw cars passing on the inside and d**n near driving up on the sidewalks.
The county has been good about trying to contain the craziness by painting the white lines and keeping drivers within them. It slows traffic down and should be safer for both cars and golf cars.
At one point a year ago a Maricopa County Sheriff was stopping drivers and telling them to stay outside the white lines. It took a couple of months but we got that kind of stupidy cleared up. Imagine if every golf car was out in the flow of traffic and a good share of them traveling at 15 miles per hour. It would be an ungodly nigthmare.
There are a couple of points that should be made: Other than that section on 103rd between Boswell and Thunderbird cars can park inside the white lines. People driving golf cars and bikes should be careful when pulling out into the flow of traffic as they go around parked cars. The other obvious area has to be around intersections where the white lines either shrink down and traffic merges or cars often turn. Drivers of either persuasion need recognize the potential problem and be wary of what the other guy is doing.
All i can say is hooray for the white lines and hats off to the Maricopa County Dept of Transportation for putting them in and trying to slow down the idiots speeding through Sun City like it is a freeway.
Wow! We now have new lane markings on Thunderbird west of Del Webb. The solid white line is supposed to show it is a parking lane to the right but many people will think it is for bicycles or those driving golf cars. At a SC Posse meeting it was explained that if an accident occurs in that parking lane, the moving vehicle is at fault.
It is also good that we now have a left turn only lane at the 4-way stop at 111th.
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