"Why is that green thing in the street?" Little Miss Seattlest asked us recently. "It's for bicycles," we replied. But we'd have been mystified (putting green? guerrilla ad?) if we hadn't read Erica C. Barnett's lament about how they weren't working. Today's "Getting There" column in the P-I repeats our daughter's question. "They signal to turning motorists that bicyclists might be in the bike lane," explains Eric Widstrand, Seattle's traffic operations manager. Of course, a signal only works if people actually understand it, and even Widstrand admits people don't know what the mats are for. Next on the city's honey-do list: Install signs to explain. Brilliant! You're driving, you're confused by the weird green thing in the street, you search for a handy explanatory sign, you figure it out, and you rear-end the FedEx truck in front of you because you've been looking everywhere but where you're going for the last 30 seconds. Even if we hadn't just read Traffic, we'd have to question exactly how a sign is going to clarify anything. more ›