April 2, 2003

Bicycle and automobile safety habits

I have to agree with Thomas H. Harlow that the actions he observed by the bicyclist were dangerous and made the road less safe for all users, automobile drivers, bicyclists, pedestrians and any other user. When any user breaks the law or does not observe any traffic conventions it makes it that much harder for all of us to share the road.

That said, I have seen many more times where it was the automobile driver that endangered others than when a bicyclist endangered others. I drive, walk and bicycle as major means of transportation, so I see it from all viewpoints. I spend a lot of time with other bicyclists and observe how they ride, so I see many more bikers on the road than do the majority of automobile drivers.

As an automobile driver, I have seen many more cars run red lights than bikes. I have seen many more cars tailgating, speeding, weaving in and out of traffic, passing on the right, passing in no passing zones, taking to the shoulder or median to go around traffic and many other dangerous stunts. Most bicyclists that ride on the road are very safety conscious; their life depends on it. In fact, my theory is that the bad bicyclists get weeded out pretty quickly, either by a close call or by other more permanent means.

In addition, I have noticed that many automobile drivers do not understand the "rules of the road" as they apply either to themselves or to bicyclists and pedestrians. I have had people yell and scream at me for riding in the lane of traffic, as I am required to do by law. I have had cars pass me using the right turn lane at intersections. I have had cars, trucks and even motorcycles brush by me in violation of the five foot rule (on both the left and, more dangerously, on the right), I've even had cars and trucks run me off the road (where if I did not leave the roadway, I would have been killed). I have even seen professional drivers do these dangerous things.

All of this said, there is still the problem of the bicyclists that also do not know the laws that apply to them. Too many bicyclists think that they must ride on the shoulder (wrong); that it is ok to pass an automobile on the right at a light (wrong and very dangerous); and some even think it is safer to ride facing traffic. Worse yet are those riders that believe they are above the laws. We have all seen them because they are very visible, but they are not as numerous as their visibility makes them seem.

To wrap this all up, it is not one side or the other that is at fault. Both bicyclists and drivers need to use the road safely within the agreed upon rules and customs. There are many good sources of information on this, the best one being the rules of the road as published in the Los Alamos County code (summary of the bike related codes for the county is at http://www.labikes.org/LACCODE.html online).

--Bart J. Vanden Plas