Status: Open
Listing: Public
Created on June 11, 2009 by mcphate
Ends June 11, 2010
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"As often happens with open ended polls, an innocent seeming question is actually framing the argument. According to a recent AAA report the DC area has both the worst drivers in the United States and some of the worst traffic.
The cycling minority is a common scapegoat for the poor frustrated drivers. It is very common to hear drivers complain of cyclists rolling through stop signs, not wearing a helmet or riding on the sidewalk. At the same time, It is common to see drivers rolling through stops signs, driving while texting, or speeding at twice the posted speed limits along residential streets. All three of these activities are illegal for drivers.
Whereas, cyclists are allowed to ride on the sidewalk outside of the Central Business District, they are not required to wear a helmet past the age of 16 and yes, they should be stopping.
If drivers took the train, bus, biked or walked on trips less than two miles there would be far less traffic in the DC area. One less car also means one less car in traffic, thus keeping roads convenient and pleasant for the thousands of drivers that are unable to use our great transportation systems.
The real villain in this is education. Most drivers get just enough training to pass the drivers test and are sent on their way with no follow up. Most cyclists combine the ability to stay upright on two wheels with this shaky understanding of traffic law and end up just as bad.
In the end the issue is that it is easy to create and sustain prejudice against a minority. The "Myth of the Scofflaw Cyclist" is a common one, but under the law all operators are equal in their rights and responsibilities. It is up to all citizens of the road to learn the laws that govern us and use that understanding to create a free and harmonious community".
I've been cycling in Washington DC since 1965. Absolutely cyclists should obey the traffic code as it applies to them. Equal rights to share the road. Equal responsibility to obey the law. Period. It has nothing whatsoever to do with how irresponsible other road users are. Or environmental issues or traffic ones. It's THE LAW. Obey it.
Nor is there any "myth" about cyclists habitually ignoring the traffic code. Just stand at any downtown street corner for 20 mins. and watch. 95% of cyclists do not think the law applies to them.
But it's rich to show DC bike police in this article! They are among the worst offenders of traffic laws by cyclists in the area. I've never seen one stop at a stop light or sign, signal a stop, they ride against the traffic, on sidewalks where prohibited.
Cycling is a perfect, even noble form of transport and recreation. It deserves better than many who practice it around here.
There certainly is too much tension between motorists and cyclists. Feeding this problem is a misapprehension that cyclists do not belong on the road at all, which is very unfortunate, coupled with road conditions and laws that make getting along difficult.
Cyclists should have lanes so that they don't impede traffic. Cyclists also should not have to obey every traffic law as if a 2,000 lb car, because a bike is not a 2,000 car. Some states and communities don't require cyclists to stop at every light, because (a) the bike may never trip the signal, and (b) sometimes it's safer for the cyclist to roll through an intersection with no one around than to wait for traffic to build up around them. A little more common sense all around; a little less dogma.
Most cyclists are drivers, too. We understand more than motorists think we do.
Any poll which gives a highly emotional majority group the ability to anonymously and unaccountably vent their frustrations toward a minority is of little value in examining the merits of an issue. If this poll asked whether the predominant problem on the roadways is drivers moving too slowly or whether increased penalties were favored for slow drivers, the result would very likely be a majority of support. This is all pure emotion with no connection to reality.
In this particular case, there's no significant danger coming from non-motorized travelers. The absence of traffic laws and traffic control devices in non-motorized areas reflects this fact. The problem on the roads is the utter monopolization in all aspects by drivers who have concocted the notion that they are entitled to their motor vehicle use. This has led to blatant, vicious, and incorrigible disregard for basic principles of deference to others and due care, that gave people the privilege to bring a heavy and powerful vehicle into public space in the first place.
It's the height of absurdity for anyone to complain that a person traveling under his or her own effort, having to navigate not just the dangerous drivers but all the obstacles erected on the roadway to temper that danger, is anywhere near the safety threshold that motor vehicles operate near and largely beyond. If the safety standard is to be tightened such that bicyclists become become at risk of exceeding it, then there's no remote way a motor vehicle could ever be permitted to operate any where near the public space again. What's needed is the proper education and testing of prospective drivers so they fully understand the contingent and provisional nature of their drivers license, along with a better process of revoking the license of people who don't show the due care and deference to others that is required.
To heck with the silly poll. As a cycling merit badge coordinator for a local Boy Scout troop, I teach safety and cycling law across Virginia, the District and Maryland. For the most part, cycling law requires cyclists to behave as motorists and obey the same traffic laws as do most drivers. But incomplete laws for cyclists and inconsistent allowances, such as Arlington County allowing bikes to be ridden on sidewalks, voids the legitimacy of ticketing cyclists. Moreover, bikes are ridden daily in large numbers by young children all over our region, and all over the US. How would the police legitimately ticket a 10 year old lacking photo I.D. or proof of bicycle ownership, as is necessary to legitimately ticket a motorist?
In order to place cyclists into the same citationable class as motorists, each state would require a rider license (contingent upon passing a written and riding test) and a bicycle license and registration, presumably furnished at the time of purchase and renewed annually. Otherwise, there's no means of enforcement. For the times I've been accosted and harrassed by police without breaking the law, I politely give my name as Fabersham Farkwatt, my SSN as 012-345-6789, and my address as 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, NW Washington, DC. No legitimacy without equal status, sensible laws and the ability to enforce. What's a cop gonna do, call your mom?
As a rider at the charity ride where this took place were missing the points.
1) This was a Charity Ride
2) There was a "Square" of 4 stops signs 50 feet away from each other.
3) A Sherif sat there watching HUNDREDS OF riders glide through his square, going 50 feet, making another left, goign 50 feet, making another left, then going 50 feet and making a right out of the square. Watching if you didn't stop satisfactiarly enough you were ticketed, didn't have your drivers license, you were ticketed for that too, but that if this was a circle there wouldn't have been an issue!
4) Instead of the sherif coming out into the square to "PROTECT AND SERVE" those on bikes for a Charity event, he chose to take advantage of this "OPPORTUNITY" to make his quota. Then when we inquired, all we got was you don't follow the law, we'll take away you're permits to have the ride here in the future.
5) This was the only place in the ride we had any issues, in 150 miles... this was it! It was only because of the "Square" and an opportunistic sherif taking advantage of the situation.
Yes there are riders who are "nubs" and zoom past you when you're stopped at the "STOP BY LAW" on the WO&D trail, but there are more who do stop!
Yes there are a LOT more vehicles thorughout the 150 miles who either went around a single file line of bikes, but on a Blind Hill or curve! almost killing all of us! Then there are the ones who like to BEEP right as they pass you to make you crash from being started so.
But who wins if you have a head on collision between a Car and a Bike? and what could it hurt when you ahve 1,000 riders come through a stop "SQUARe" to ensure their safety by being out there to help, then maybe those riders who BLOW PAST YOU, then YES, ticket them!
But be out there protecting us for the ones crossing the yellow lines on blind turns, riding so close to our bike with no one other the other side of the dotted line, JUST BECAUSE, or those who scare riders!
Shees
I beleive that there is another way to phrase the answer to this the question.
Would you support a crackdown on rule-breaking cyclists in the D.C. area?
My answer is yes, but with the following qualifications. Cyclists should obey the traffic rules, and they should be initially warned before they should be ticketed, unless their violation is severe.
Traditionally few police officers have ticketed cyclists for running red lights or stop signs. If they plan to seriously enforce this, they should start by letting cyclists know that they will be ticketed for this offense, and start with written warnings. If the same cyclists are still not following the law, they should be ticketed and fined for their second or third offense.
