* How I Ride Road/What are the Rules?
There’s probably not a hotter topic for cyclists than the issue of who has what rights and responsibilities on the road.On any given day, a cyclist will be riding along the road and have motorists yelling and honking at them to get off the road… to get on the sidewalk. If we move to the sidewalk, we have pedestrians yelling at us to get on the road. Which is right? Which is the law?
Both.
It depends on what part of what town you are in as to whether or not it is legal to ride on the sidewalk.
I prefer to ride on the road so I can be a little more sure I am seen. If I am on the sidewalk, and I approach a cross road, a car pulling out is going to be looking on the road for traffic, not on the sidewalk. If I ride on the sidewalk, I have to deal with those intersections as well as driveways. Motorists just are not looking for faster moving objects on the sidewalk.. they expect those to be on the street.
At a stop sign or a stop light I will “take the lane”. I will move over so no car can scoot up next to me. A car scooting up next to me so we are sharing that stop will hide me from other cars and possibly clip me as they come into the intersection.
If I approach an intersection and I am blocking the turn for a car behind me, I will scoot up and let the car turn if I feel safe doing so.
The way I have always ridden, and will continue to ride, is as if I am in a car. I will stay on the street and I will obey every signal and law as though I were driving my car. In addition, I will assume no one can see me and I will assume every car is out to get me.
This approach was how I behaved the day of my accident. It didn’t keep the accident from happening, but I have absolutely no regrets about my actions that day. I saw the car, I tapped my brakes so I could slow down and make eye contact with the driver, the car stopped as though I were another car to legally let me continue in my current direction. But then the driver did something crazy. He pushed on the gas. I believe he was cutting the corner to get through the turn before me. I can’t be sure of this. I only know that the officer told me later that the driver said he saw me.
The bottom line is that when an accident happens the cyclist will always lose. There is no way a two ton vehicle is going to come out on bottom in an accident with a 20-40 pound bicycle. Every cyclist has to decide what they are comfortable with and then ride accordingly.
I will always wave a thank you to those who allow me right of way or work to ensure my safety. Those motorists know that the bottom line is that we are all someone’s mom, dad, brother, sister… and that the few seconds it takes to allow a slower vehicle to go by is not worth changing lives.
Every cyclist and driver should brush up on “the rules of the road”. Here is the Kansas Statute: