Bikes vs Cars

[dosry5]

http://www.kcci.com/news/drivers-passing-bikes-could-face-new-rules-under-bill/38039750

Man I hope this dies a quick death.....




"A new bill making its way through the Iowa Senate would require drivers to pass bicycles in an adjacent travel lane. The bill already passed the Senate Transportation Committee on Tuesday and is now eligible for debate in the full Senate.Drivers would be required to wait behind bicycles to pass until they could move into the other lane or opposite side of the road.

 

[Hoiball92]

Or bikers can just ride on the sidewalk

 

[dosry5]

Or bikers can just ride on the sidewalk

Or on all those taxpayer funded bike trails....

 

[CyCrazy]

Dorsy hates bikes, got it.

 

[IcSyU]

Or bikers can just ride on the sidewalk

I could be wrong but I believe this is illegal in many places.

 

[BigBake]

Oh cripes, another car driver whining about bikes on the road.

 

[dmclone]

Oh cripes, another biker whining about cars on the road.

 

[Hoiball92]

I could be wrong but I believe this is illegal in many places.

Link?

 

[BigBake]

Reminder: your driver's license is a privilege not a right.

 

[ianoconnor]

Or bikers can just ride on the sidewalk

 

[BigBake]

Oh cripes, another biker whining about cars on the road.

Nope, I don't ride on the road. I'm scared enough of idiot drivers even while driving my V8 full size SUV. A bike does very little to pi55 me off on the road. The jack hold texting on his phone while driving 5 under in the left lane, now that's a different story.

 

[klamath632]

Or bikers can just become 16 years old and drive like everybody else

FIFY

 

[madguy30]

I could be wrong but I believe this is illegal in many places.

Usually city-oriented.

Generally less safe for all involved. A bike is less visible for driveways, harder for them to see cars coming out of driveways/blind intersections, and makes space an issue vs. pedestrians. Also the sidewalk can be hard on tires if it's old and segmented.

Auto-drivers are generally less aware of how unsafe they are and think slowing down a bit to give space makes a big difference in how fast they get somewhere. Bicyclists are also very unaware of how unsafe they are when running red lights, not riding in the correct/direction lane, etc.

 

[roundball]

Bikes on sidewalks is a bad idea in the same way that bikes on an interstate is a bad idea...taking a vehicle (bikes) and allowing them to operate on a path where others are traveling relatively slowly, without lanes/signals/etc., and without any kind of collision protection (pedestrians) is a recipe for disaster. Just as it would be disastrous to allow bikes to ride on an interstate where semis are traveling at 75+ mph. This is why mixed-use trails have separate lanes for bikes and foot traffic. Not to mention that sidewalks are often dangerous for bikes themselves due to uneven pavement, trees, etc.

 

[Freebird]

Share the road. It's that simple. Don't be an ******* on a bike. Don't be an ******* in a car. We can do this without more laws.

 

[BikeSkiClone]

Is this implying they must pass completely in the adjacent lane? If so, that's ridiculous. 3' is generally fine.

I try to ride on roads that have good, safe shoulders (and stick to the right side of the line on of those that do), but sometimes shoulders have so much **** in them or are non-existent, so I ride left of the white line on those. It's not hard to give 3' of space to a cyclist. It's not going to kill you to wait an extra few seconds for a couple vehicles to pass in the opposite direction so you can just barely cross the center line to pass me on my bike (really, there's no need to go completely in the other lane). It could kill me on my bike if you don't give space and/or otherwise pass dangerously.

 

[roundball]

Share the road. It's that simple. Don't be an ******* on a bike. Don't be an ******* in a car. We can do this without more laws.

Yeah, that'd be great, just like it'd be great if people wouldn't litter or cheat on their taxes or burglarize homes, but unfortunately people aren't angels and sometimes it takes the law to keep them from being ********.

 

[Gunnerclone]

Or on all those taxpayer funded bike trails....

Multi-use trails. The Clive Greenbelt is more of a slow groups of joggers in expensive gear trail.

 

[Chitowncy]

Well, the devil is in the details so I'd like to see how the bill is written before commenting. As an occasional bike commuter (in the street) and driver, it sounds like a reasonable bill. Hope it's not overreach or reactionary after that terrible tragedy involving the aforementioned Jenks child.

 

[DJSteve]

I think anyone who has ever ridden a bike at more than 10mph for any significant mileage will agree that riding on the road is far safer than sidewalks. Every driveway is a new opportunity to get run over. Drivers aren't looking for something traveling 10-15-20mph+ down the sidewalk, nor are they prepared to accurately anticipate your speed and deal with crossing paths in a safe manner *if* they do see you. Riding a bike through a crosswalk is also legally ambiguous, and in my experience a huge risk of getting run over by cars turning right on red.

I think the issue with regards to this legislation is that current laws aren't particularly clear with regard to passing bicycles. Some states have a minimum breadth a passing vehicle is required to allow a bicycle, but I don't think there's really any guidelines in Iowa. I haven't read the bill, but tthink this legislation is a good idea. My take as both a driver and a cyclist is that if a car can't yield the whole lane while passing it's probably not safe to pass at all.

I agree some cyclists don't help the cause... but try not to take it out on those of us who do follow the rules and kill someone.