Sep 11 '08 - 1043 W - Vote Good + 3 :: Bad - 9 Bike etiquette 101
Published September 11, 2008 by Lake Oswego Review
By Steve Law
It’s time for riders and drivers alike to move in right direction
I scratch my head every time I hear right-wing radio commentators demonize bicyclists.
Is their venom directed at the neighbor kids pedaling down my street? My daughter when she rides to middle school? Or are they talking about me?
I’m known around the Portland Tribune as the guy who often bikes to work in the rain, parading through the newsroom in my spandex shorts and bright-yellow rain gear on the way to the shower.
Unable to afford a car while growing up in L.A., I biked to school and everywhere else when I couldn’t finagle a ride.
During an internship at the Senate Press Gallery, mine was the lone bike parked outside the U.S. Capitol. I biked to work in the Silicon Valley before it got its name. I pedaled through the slums of East London on a Schwinn Sting-Ray, and through horizontal rain in Kodiak, Alaska. I’ve biked to jobs in downtown Portland, North Portland, inner Southeast Portland and now the Clackamas area.
Could someone please explain to me why bicyclists are such a target for partisan sniping? Biking keeps my body fit, erases my sour moods and boosts my productivity.
Yes, I know some of us bicyclists can be annoying to drivers. But aren’t other motorists as well? And motorcyclists? And skateboarders? And pedestrians?
You know the silliest thing about this trumped-up war between bicyclists and motorists? Most of us are really hybrids, like my bicycle.
Some days I pedal on my Bridgestone bike; others days I drive my Honda Civic. I give money to the Bicycle Transportation Alliance and the American Automobile Association.
Working at the state Capitol in my last job, I logged more than 200,000 miles in my Honda. During those twice-daily sojourns on Interstate 5, I was a motorist.
The night after the 9/11 attacks, a drunken bicyclist busted through a red light onto a bustling Salem arterial, without helmet or lights. I braked but couldn’t avoid smashing into him. As he was loaded into the ambulance, I prayed I hadn’t killed him.
That night I definitely was a motorist. (Luckily, he was OK.)
It’s not just bicyclists who are vilified. I wonder about the fuss over skateboarders, as if they were bomb-toting anarchists. I skateboarded to work in high school on days when I carpooled to school and didn’t have my bike.
Can skateboarders do questionable things, like peeling down Mount Tabor without a helmet? Yes.
Do I fret about motorcyclists weaving in and out of freeway traffic in the stripe between lanes, risking their lives and mine? Certainly.
Do I get annoyed when sassy teenagers strut in front of my approaching car on downtown intersections while I have a green light, never looking at oncoming traffic and almost daring me to hit them? Yeah.
And do I curse other motorists who tailgate? All the time.
Bicyclists can be jerks just like everybody else. I vowed to never participate on another Seattle-to-Portland bike ride when, for the fifth or sixth time, a pace line of speedy road-bikers emerged from behind and barked at me to clear out of their path, just as I was passing a slower cyclist up ahead.
On a recent drive into downtown from the Hawthorne Bridge, a swarm of bicyclists pedaled on the left side of the street, ignoring my turn signal and making it nigh-impossible to safely turn left. On a June visit to Manhattan this summer, three mad-dog bicyclists cut me off while I was walking, missing me by inches.
Yes, some bicyclists think they have a God-given right to blow red lights and do other dumb things. But I predict this can be largely remedied by peer pressure, educational campaigns and a few $200 tickets.
We are in a transitional period on Portland streets, where the increased density of bicyclists is causing more conflict with motorists. Both sides need to learn more courtesy, and recognize that times have changed – whether you like it or not.
Partisan commentators should rethink their complaints about highway funds being pillaged for bicycle projects. Modest sums spent on striping bike paths and creating bicycle routes through quiet neighborhoods benefit us all – and keep us pesky bicyclists out of motorists’ way. Fiscal conservatives should admit that bicycles are the cheapest mode of transportation aside from walking.
Critics also should rethink their arguments about motorists paying for the roads through “their” gas taxes. I pay those gas taxes, too. And if they want motorists to shoulder the full costs of auto travel, let’s bill them for the wars we fight and foreign governments we topple to assure our oil imports.
We have to share the Earth. Why can’t we share the roads?
10 simple rules for being a considerate bicyclist
1. Don’t whine about motorists who think they own the road and then act like you do.
2. Don’t dart in and out of lanes on your bike like those motorcyclists you complain about.
3. Try hand signals. Motorists appreciate it.
4. Don’t zip through red lights in traffic if you expect motorists to obey the signals.
5. Wear a helmet and make your kids wear helmets. Imagine if you were driving and smashed into a helmetless bicyclist and had to live with the lifelong pain of causing their death or brain damage.
6. Avoid riding on the left side of the street, where motorists don’t expect you.
7. Be predictable. Try to ride in a straight line.
8. If you’re passing a pedestrian or fellow bicyclist, try a simple “Passing on the left” to alert them you’re coming.
9. Avoid biking in the center of a traffic lane unless you need it to ride safely, or you’re traveling close to the speed of car traffic.
10. If you’re biking home late after downing a couple beers, stay out of traffic or just walk your bike.
stevelaw@portlandtribune.com
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Howdy—
That’s a good theme, espeically with more newbies taking to the streets. However, there is one point in the “ten simple rules” which I hope doesn’t become social convention-
I’ve found that the warning simply doesn’t work for a large portion of the population, who have to think for a few seconds to decide betweeen left and right. Some will actually move left when they hear the word.
Putting the onus on the overtaking rider to make arrangements to pass allows many users on bike paths to feel perfectly justified in taking up the entire path, with the expectation that a faster user will alert them. That can make negotiating a crowded path frustrating, especially given the slow responses of many users.
Bells are no better. Riding along dinging on a bell to alert the world of your presence is akin to driving along in your car tooting your horn each time you pass another vehicle. Pedestrians and cyclists should recognize, just as cyclists do in traffic, that there will be faster users, and all users should allow space for that.
Personally, when I’m walking along our local parkway, I find it annoying when someone comes up behind me barking instructions or ringing a bell. I don’t want to have to devote my attention to being passed, to wonder what the rider wants from me. Just get by me, without hitting me, and everyone will be happy. There’s no need to make so much noise about it.
Happy Trails,
Ron Georg
Moab, UT
Ron Georg - September 15 '08 - 14:19
Howdy—Some text was crossed off my last post when I tried to use double-hyphens as dashes. It’s not intended to be deleted, and it is still legible. Sorry about the inconvenience. That will teach me to preview.
Ron
Ron Georg - September 15 '08 - 14:23