An incredible statement

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Serge Issakov

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Jan 29, 2010, 1:52:13 PM1/29/10
to sdcbc, Cabo Forum, BicycleDriving
"You may occupy any part of a lane when your safety warrants it. Never compromise your safety for the convenience of a motorist behind you."

Why is that incredible?  That sounds like something one of us "hardcore" bicycle drivers would say, right?  But what makes it incredible is not what it says, but where it's posted....  on a web page of the GOVERNOR of Arizona!


Shall we start a campaign to challenge Governor Schwarzenegger and other governors to top or at least match this?

Speaking of AZ, while bicyclists are still being regularly ticketed for controlling lanes, progress in AZ courts is apparently being made.
The following blog is about two, no three, recent cyclist wins in Arizona:



Serge



--
Bicyclists are drivers!

Wayne Pein

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Jan 29, 2010, 2:27:45 PM1/29/10
to sdcbc, Cabo Forum, BicycleDriving
Perhaps the AZ Gov should be contacted to ask him to clean up AZ
bicycling laws.

Wayne

GeneC

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Jan 29, 2010, 2:27:48 PM1/29/10
to BicycleDriving
I have to agree with you on this... and this is of the sort of "PSA"
that I have long felt needs to be done. Now if only the AZ LEOs were
in touch with their governor... simply incredible.

Serge Issakov

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Jan 29, 2010, 2:40:27 PM1/29/10
to Wayne Pein, sdcbc, Cabo Forum, BicycleDriving
LOL, Wayne.  Did you see the commented I posted at azbikelaw.org, or was this a coincidence?  Here's what I posted:

---------------------------------
---------------------------------


At some point the argument needs to be made that the only purpose these bike-specific laws serve is to allow biased law enforcement officers (and lower court judges) to misinterpret them per their anti-bike bias, and wrongfully charge and fine bicyclists.

Many states do not have bike-specific laws (Pennsylvania and North Carolina are two examples), and there is no chaos or mayhem as a result. The laws that govern the behavior of drivers of slow moving vehicles are appropriate and sufficient for governing the behavior drivers of bicycles when they are moving slower than other traffic.

To eliminate anti-bike bias in law enforcement, how about starting a campaign to abolish traffic laws that restrict the behavior of bicyclists specifically?

And no, we don’t need to have bike-specific law to give us the right to “take the lane” – all drivers, including those operating slow moving vehicles, have the right to control marked lanes – and so would bicyclists if there was no bike-specific law calling for “far right as practicable” (FRAP) behavior in marked lanes.

FRAP should only apply to bicyclists on roads without marked lanes, as it does to all drivers of slow-moving vehicles, which it would if there were no bike-specific restrictive laws.


 
--
Bicyclists are drivers!

Wayne Pein

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Jan 29, 2010, 2:52:10 PM1/29/10
to Serge Issakov, BicycleDriving
Serge Issakov wrote:
>
> On Fri, Jan 29, 2010 at 11:27 AM, Wayne Pein <wp...@nc.rr.com
> <mailto:wp...@nc.rr.com>> wrote:
>
> Serge Issakov wrote:
>
> "You may occupy any part of a lane when your safety warrants it.
> Never compromise your safety for the convenience of a motorist
> behind you."
>
> Why is that incredible? That sounds like something one of us
> "hardcore" bicycle drivers would say, right? But what makes it
> incredible is not what it says, but where it's posted.... on a
> web page of the GOVERNOR of Arizona!
>
> http://www.azgohs.gov/transportation-safety/default.asp?ID=16
>
> Shall we start a campaign to challenge Governor Schwarzenegger
> and other governors to top or at least match this?
>
> Speaking of AZ, while bicyclists are still being regularly
> ticketed for controlling lanes, progress in AZ courts is
> apparently being made.
> The following blog is about two, no three, recent cyclist wins
> in Arizona:
>
> http://azbikelaw.org/blog/take-the-lane/
>
>
>
> Perhaps the AZ Gov should be contacted to ask him to clean up AZ
> bicycling laws.
>
> Wayne
>
>
> LOL, Wayne. Did you see the commented I posted at azbikelaw.org
> <http://azbikelaw.org>, or was this a coincidence? Here's what I posted:
>

Hadn't seen it. Great response.

Wayne

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Donna Lewandowski

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Jan 29, 2010, 3:36:41 PM1/29/10
to Serge Issakov, sdcbc, Cabo Forum, BicycleDriving
Ack!  Please don't contact Gov. Brewer.  That statement on the GOHS site is old, from when the director of the office was quite supportive of bicycling.  Since then, democratic Janet Napolitano (then govorner) has left AZ to be the Secretary of the Dept. of Homeland Security, and was replaced by republican Jan Brewer, who promptly replaced the director of the GOHS with a new guy, who is quite hostile to cycling.  If you mention it, it might get taken down... 
 

Donna Lewandowski, M.S.
Safe Routes to School Coordinator
Pima County Department of Transportation
17 E. Pennington St.
Tucson, AZ 85701
Phone: (520) 243-1977
Fax: (520) 243-1990
Donna.Le...@dot.pima.gov

 

From: bicycle...@googlegroups.com [mailto:bicycle...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Serge Issakov
Sent: Friday, January 29, 2010 11:52 AM
To: sdcbc; Cabo Forum; BicycleDriving
Subject: [BicycleDriving] An incredible statement

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