Sounds like someone saying “Sharon” with a speech impediment, but someone recently used the term recently and he had no stammer, stutter or lisp.
Turns out it’s a name for an interesting concept of traffic control where both cars and bicycles are present, according to the S-F Gate website.
It means “shared roadway marking,” using an arrow with the symbol for bicycles together. Arrow… shared… .sharrow. Get it? (Can’t account for the two ‘r’s, however.) Cointed, allegedly, but a San Francisco traffic official, as part of a 2004 report on bicycle safety, to:
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“Improve the position of both motorists and bicyclists on roadways without bicycle lanes
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“Reduce aggressive motorist behavior
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“Encourage correct bicyclist riding behavior”
Sharrow are needed in SLO County, along with painted bike lanes like the one in Cayucos, and bike boxes, like the one on Madonna Rd and S. Higuera. The emphasis in the previous sentence should have been on the use of the word “one.”
