Along with the very commonly occurring narrow normal beams, wide beams also occur in some situations in different kinds of structures. The shear strength of normal beams, with well distributed shear reinforcement can be safely predicted by the Indian code IS: 456 (2000) [1], like other national codes across the globe. But in wide beams, stirrup shear carrying capacity decreases significantly as the stirrup leg spacing across the width increases. Limited test data available to date, variously state the stirrup leg spacing limits, in member width, for realising the needed shear strength, implying the need for additional studies; no guidance is available to date, in any code on this aspect. This study investigates the behaviour of and evaluates the benefit accruing to, shear critical RC wide beams, subjected to high and low shear stresses provided with multiple vertical stirrup legs, across the width.