Reed Bates was recently convicted in a local court in Texas of reckless driving for bicycling in the right lane of a multilane highway. In 1948, a California Appellate court found a bicyclist using the right lane of a multilane highway was not negligent when a motorist rear-ended him.
Bob Shanteau
Bob Shanteau
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-- John Forester, MS, PE Bicycle Transportation Engineer 7585 Church St. Lemon Grove CA 91945-2306 619-644-5481 fore...@johnforester.com www.johnforester.com
On Jun 5, 2011, at 9:24 AM, LCI Beck <yoope...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> The differerence in those two cases, Bob, is that one cyclist was operating in accordance with rules of the road, showing a duty of care and sharing the road by operating as far to the right as practicable within the marked lane, and reed was operating with deliberate disregard for the safety of others by operating down the middle of a the roadway of a divided highway, at dusk, to a level of disregard rising to reckless endangerment.
>
I've heard no claim that Reed was swerving laterally about. Since there has been no claim of that, Reed was not guilty of reckless endangerment. This is even more clear than in Bob's listed case - since in that case there was at least a claim of a swerve.
Your inability to understand that all descriptions of what happened describe a situation where Reed was not guilty of a _safety_ problem, makes you someone who opposes the cause of safe bicyclist access to public roadways. You are just another member of the public who holds a common ignorance about what is and isn't safe in roadway bicycling. Like many/mist people, you do not understands how a good system assigns a sensible set of _safety_ duties and responsibilities to road users.
Ken
Rights do not supercede the omnipresent obligation citizens possess to not infringe on others safety and reasonable expectations along public rights of way.
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Section 42-4-1412 covers bicycle operation. You can find the complete
text at:
http://www.michie.com/colorado/lpext.dll?f=templates&fn=main-h.htm&cp=
Click through to title 42, then click on Regulation of Vehicles and
Traffic (the 4th yellow folder down) Then you can scroll down on the
right side to 42-4-1412,
Paragraph 5 covers position on the road. I pasted the full text of that
paragraph below. The way I read it, cyclists only have to ride in the
right lane, with the usual exceptions for debris, passing, and left
turns. If the right lane is sharably wide, cyclists need ride only far
enough right to safely facilitate sharing. There is no mention of
unsharable width lanes, so, presumably, on such roads, being anywhere in
the right lane is legal. It also doesn't say anything about two or more
lanes in the same direction, so this should apply to any two-lane road,
even the usual, two-way road.
Section 42-4-1412
(5) (a) Any person operating a bicycle or an electrical assisted bicycle
upon a roadway at less than the normal speed of traffic shall ride in
the right-hand lane, subject to the following conditions:
(I) If the right-hand lane then available for traffic is wide enough to
be safely shared with overtaking vehicles, a bicyclist shall ride far
enough to the right as judged safe by the bicyclist to facilitate the
movement of such overtaking vehicles unless other conditions make it
unsafe to do so.
(II) A bicyclist may use a lane other than the right-hand lane when:
(A) Preparing for a left turn at an intersection or into a private
roadway or driveway;
(B) Overtaking a slower vehicle; or
(C) Taking reasonably necessary precautions to avoid hazards or road
conditions.
(III) Upon approaching an intersection where right turns are permitted
and there is a dedicated right-turn lane, a bicyclist may ride on the
left-hand portion of the dedicated right-turn lane even if the bicyclist
does not intend to turn right.
(b) A bicyclist shall not be expected or required to:
(I) Ride over or through hazards at the edge of a roadway, including but
not limited to fixed or moving objects, parked or moving vehicles,
bicycles, pedestrians, animals, surface hazards, or narrow lanes; or
(II) Ride without a reasonable safety margin on the right-hand side of
the roadway.
(c) A person operating a bicycle or an electrical assisted bicycle upon
a one-way roadway with two or more marked traffic lanes may ride as near
to the left-hand curb or edge of such roadway as judged safe by the
bicyclist, subject to the following conditions:
(I) If the left-hand lane then available for traffic is wide enough to
be safely shared with overtaking vehicles, a bicyclist shall ride far
enough to the left as judged safe by the bicyclist to facilitate the
movement of such overtaking vehicles unless other conditions make it
unsafe to do so.
(II) A bicyclist shall not be expected or required to:
(A) Ride over or through hazards at the edge of a roadway, including but
not limited to fixed or moving objects, parked or moving vehicles,
bicycles, pedestrians, animals, surface hazards, or narrow lanes; or
(B) Ride without a reasonable safety margin on the left-hand side of the
roadway.
On 1/19/2012 1:23 PM, Wayne Pein wrote:
> http://www.coloradodot.info/programs/bikeped/share-the-road/share-the-road-videos.html
>
>
Here is the house amendment:
http://www.colorado.gov/cs/Satellite?blobcol=urldata&blobheader=application%2Fpdf&blobkey=id&blobtable=MungoBlobs&blobwhere=1239163160066&ssbinary=true
That is not now in effect because the senate amended it the same year
and completely re-wrote paragraph 5.
Depending on how old the video is, the cop was wrong only in mixing up
practicable with possible. If it is a recent video, then he is out of date.
Kat Iverson
Bob Bayn
Cache Valley, UT but occasionally "vacationing" in Colorado to see grandchildren
________________________________________
From: bicycle...@googlegroups.com [bicycle...@googlegroups.com] on behalf of Kat Iverson [kat_i...@comcast.net]
Sent: Friday, January 20, 2012 10:46 PM
To: bicycle...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [BicycleDriving] Worst videos ever.
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I looked a little farther and found that until 2009 the law required riding a far right as practicable when being passed. It also required riding on the shoulder if there is one...
Depending on how old the video is, the cop was wrong only in mixing up practicable with possible. If it is a recent video, then he is out of date.