BarracksSi

That's all well and good, but...

I'm trying to figure out how to register clam (point #5). Dogs and cats need tags, sure, but a clam?



(but seriously, I agree with that list)

CB HI

Some state and local laws consider a cyclist on sidewalks to be a pedestrian. Hawaii does add a couple others laws for pedestrian cyclist, such as yeild to actual pedestrians and a 10 mph speed limit; but the law does not require the pedestrian cyclist or pedestrian to stop before crossing an intersection and there is no prohibition from using the crosswalk.

Blue Order

Yes.

Well, usually the law requires the pedestrian not to enter the roadway if an approaching vehicle is so close as to present an immediate hazard. However, in this particular case, the pedestrian/cyclist had the right to enter, because the car was required to stop at the stop sign.

If riding on the sidewalk is legal, then riding in the crosswalk is also legal, unless the law specifically requires you to dismount before crossing. However, at least one state (Oregon) requires you to enter the crosswalk at a walking speed, and Oregon also creates a hierarchy of users, with pedestrians at the top, followed by cyclists, and at the bottom, drivers. This means that cyclists must yield to pedestrians while on the sidewalk, and drivers must yield to both cyclists and pedestrians.

Finally, in probably every state, if the law allows you to ride while in the crosswalk, you are treated as a pedestrian while in the crosswalk.

aubinmg

I hope you weren't hurt, if this happened at all. You did mention something about a bike safety project.
You were on the sidewalk, on the wrong side of the street. The driver, even if he did do a taxi stop, was watching the left because that's where the traffic is. Cyclist looking for trouble, found some.

gosmsgo

I ride that road everyday and I take the lane.

Its a four lane road and everyone can pass easily if they want. Sometimes I get yelled at but my bike is still in one piece and I've never even been close to being hit.

You try to stay out of the way of cars and you will eventually be hurt.

jfmckenna

Oh yeah you have to seriously watch that one and it's not just right on red it's when drivers are making a right period. And in the OP's case that comes right down to the point. Which way was the driver going? According to the flash video it looks like it was the drivers fault but lets face it, the accident would have never happened if the OP was on the road in the proper lane. IT takes two to tango.

And to all the talk about riding the 'wrong way' on the side walk, bikes travel a lot faster then peds so the reaction time for a driver is hampered by a bike wizzing down the foot path. I understand in this case the OP stopped but I'm just making a point.

noisebeam

Right on green (not red)...
Lately (from bike) I've been observing what happens. Drivers get green at same time walk signal turns white/walk. This week I noticed that in all cases I saw the pedestrian(s) wait for the 2-3 cars making the right turn to turn, then walk only after a gap between cars. The peds (from experience I'd guess) don't even bother taking their right of way.

Al

BarracksSi

In a way, that makes sense.

When I'm walking, I figure that making cars wait for me will take longer than if I waited for a couple/few cars to go ahead before I take a turn.

I sometimes wave turning traffic ahead of me, even if I technically have the right of way, when I see that they would be holding up another half-dozen or more cars behind them by waiting for me.

I'm walking. If I were truly in a hurry, I'd be running instead.

cooker

The only concern with waving people through when you have the right of way, is if a third party might be affected. You're politely saying "after you", but the motorist may assume you mean "all clear". If another pedestrian or a sidewalk cyclist is passing you on your right side at that moment and entering the intersection, they may then have a conflict with the car.

BarracksSi

Ah, that's true. I could clarify that I only wave a car along if I'm the only person crossing the intersection (which isn't unusual, really), but I'm not going to be 100% correct about what's coming up behind me.

Then again, at least if I'm coming from the far side (the right-turning car is oncoming traffic), the driver will see if there's anyone behind me, and would override my wave by waving me across first instead.

I could also blame last night's post on the margaritas..

breadgeek

Reminds me of the time I was driving in my car, and a similar thing happened to me from the other point of view.

I was fully stopped at a stop sign on a narrow side street. Buildings lined the side street all the way to the corners, and that made it hard to see to the right, me on the sidestreet. Now, the primary street I was waiting to cross was a one-way street going from my left to my right, as in no vehicles were expected to come the 'wrong way', from my right.

As I surveyed the traffic, there were no pedestrians on my right, though I could not see at all around the corner to the right, which always makes me wary. I was driving like a granny, as always, so I mean I looked long and hard, both ways, just because I don't want to flatten anyone. One last look to the left, like any good driver knows to do, and then I tap the gas, and there in front of my giant 70's era Pontiac hood was this dude on a bike, he just seemed to materialize out of thin air. I can still see his side profile at that instant now, some 25 years later.

I tipped him over at the barest of speeds, as I had just lightly tapped the gas on the vintage V8, and had moved at most a few feet before seeing him tip over. The rider was unhurt, and I was unnerved that despite my efforts, a confluence of events had transpired. Fortunately, he had been going slow, too.

It turns out that in the short time it takes tok glance left before finally starting to move -- 1/2 second, maybe a full one -- he had emerged on the sidewalk from my right, behind the blind corner.

He was completed blocked by the building that came all the way up to the corner (this was in a SoCal beach community). He did not pause, slow down, or whatever -- he said as much later -- and besides, it was at most 10-12 feet between the actual corner of the building and the centerline of my narrow lane. Neither of us had time to respond, and my having been stopped but looking left allowed for the scene to play out as it had. He saw me, he had said, but he failed to notice that I was doing my last-look-left thing and he simply assumed that I had seen him.

In addition to being on the sidewalk, the rider was steering with one hand, and in the other he had a can of house paint and under that same arm he had (I kid you not) a 6-foot ladder, like one sees in the movies. So I tipped him over with all of that.

My only suggestion is that if one must ride on the sidewalk, go slowly, and please assume that drivers and pedestrians are not accustomed to your being there, so they might not see you even if they try.

As for the paint can and ladder, the guy certainly gets my vote as best runner-up for a Darwin Award.

Keith99

I'm pretty much against riding on the ssidewalk at any pace faster than a brisk walk. 99% of the time I'd side with the 'hang up' group.

Assuming the presentation was accurate this is the 1%.

gosmsgo

There are reasons why statically you are nearly twice as likely to be hit by a car while riding on the sidewalk with traffic and four times more likely riding against traffic.

On a busy street like this one that I ride hundreds per miles a year on I would guess you are far, far, far more likely than that.

The statistics do not say whose fault it is and in the end it really does not matter. These things are also absolutely obvious to those of us who have ridden 10's of thousands of miles in traffic.

bikesafer

[QUOTE=BarracksSi;6546969]Right, a riding cyclist isn't a pedestrian -- but then again, a cyclist riding on the same path as a pedestrian (in your scenario, taking a crosswalk) is NOT behaving as a vehicle would, either. QUOTE]

This is not always the case. In many states, if you are riding a bicycle on a sidwalk when legal, at a pace and in a manner consistent with pedestrian usage you are considered a pedestrian.

BarracksSi

[QUOTE=bikesafer;6583959]That's what I said.