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11-19-10, 02:43 PM
The Anchorage Assembly has been re-hashing Title 9 of the municipal code, which deals with vehicles and traffic, since summer before last. Most of the re-write will only affect cars, but the bicycle section is getting a touch-up as well. And one of the proposed changes, dealing with right of way at driveways and intersections, has had cyclists up in arms.
The Anchorage Police Department had submitted a change that would have shifted the right of way, on the sidewalk/crosswalk wherever it crossed a driveway/roadway, from bikes to cars (peds would retain the right of way). The relevant ordinance would read (changed text bolded):
9.38.020 Applicability of traffic laws to riders.
C. A person operating a vehicle by human power upon and along a sidewalk, trail or pathway, except when crossing a roadway or street intersecting a sidewalk, trail or pathway, shall have all the rights and duties applicable to a pedestrian under the same circumstances.
Their reasoning, which I agree with, was that they needed some way to enforce safer sidewalk cycling, but their execution would've put cyclists at fault every time an incident occurred at a driveway or crosswalk. For example, a right turning motorist could strike a child riding legally across a marked crosswalk, and the child would be at fault.
So BCA, the local advocacy group (http://bicycleanchorage.org/wordpress), worked to get cyclists to call and email their representative Assembly members, and to get cyclists to show up at Assembly meetings during the public hearing period of the re-write. And then, through what I can only imagine to be an incredibly tedious campaign of networking with The Bureaucracy (the Lady G'Cakes works for the gov't, so I've heard horror stories) they got the re-write to read this instead (changed text bolded):
9.38.020 Applicability of traffic laws to riders.
C. A person operating a vehicle by human power upon and along a sidewalk, trail or pathway shall have all the rights and duties applicable to a pedestrian under the same circumstances.
1. A person operating a vehicle by human power upon and along a sidewalk, trail or pathway shall not operate the vehicle at a speed greater than 10 miles per hour when approaching or entering an uncontrolled crosswalk, approaching or crossing a driveway, or crossing a curb cut or pedestrian ramp and a motor vehicle is approaching the uncontrolled crosswalk, driveway, curb cut or pedestrian ramp.
2. A person operating a vehicle by human power upon and along a sidewalk, trail or pathway, when entering a controlled intersection, must obey the traffic control device and enter the intersection at a reasonable and prudent speed.
3. A person operating a vehicle by human power upon and along a sidewalk, trail or pathway shall operate the vehicle at a reasonable and prudent speed when in the presence of pedestrians on the same sidewalk, trail or pathway, consistent with 9.38.070.
And cars are still required to come to a complete stop before crossing a sidewalk, trail, or pathway (and some of them actually do!), so basically it boils down to the APD having the ability to ticket whomever was acting the most recklessly. Plus, we get a 3 foot passing distance law, and some of the ambiguity has been removed from the ordinance stating when I can take the lane ("road too narrow" has been replaced with "when the travel lane is too narrow to provide for the cyclist and an overtaking motor vehicle to travel side by side with a safe distance of at least three feet between the two").
Go BCA, and go bicycle advocacy!
The Anchorage Police Department had submitted a change that would have shifted the right of way, on the sidewalk/crosswalk wherever it crossed a driveway/roadway, from bikes to cars (peds would retain the right of way). The relevant ordinance would read (changed text bolded):
9.38.020 Applicability of traffic laws to riders.
C. A person operating a vehicle by human power upon and along a sidewalk, trail or pathway, except when crossing a roadway or street intersecting a sidewalk, trail or pathway, shall have all the rights and duties applicable to a pedestrian under the same circumstances.
Their reasoning, which I agree with, was that they needed some way to enforce safer sidewalk cycling, but their execution would've put cyclists at fault every time an incident occurred at a driveway or crosswalk. For example, a right turning motorist could strike a child riding legally across a marked crosswalk, and the child would be at fault.
So BCA, the local advocacy group (http://bicycleanchorage.org/wordpress), worked to get cyclists to call and email their representative Assembly members, and to get cyclists to show up at Assembly meetings during the public hearing period of the re-write. And then, through what I can only imagine to be an incredibly tedious campaign of networking with The Bureaucracy (the Lady G'Cakes works for the gov't, so I've heard horror stories) they got the re-write to read this instead (changed text bolded):
9.38.020 Applicability of traffic laws to riders.
C. A person operating a vehicle by human power upon and along a sidewalk, trail or pathway shall have all the rights and duties applicable to a pedestrian under the same circumstances.
1. A person operating a vehicle by human power upon and along a sidewalk, trail or pathway shall not operate the vehicle at a speed greater than 10 miles per hour when approaching or entering an uncontrolled crosswalk, approaching or crossing a driveway, or crossing a curb cut or pedestrian ramp and a motor vehicle is approaching the uncontrolled crosswalk, driveway, curb cut or pedestrian ramp.
2. A person operating a vehicle by human power upon and along a sidewalk, trail or pathway, when entering a controlled intersection, must obey the traffic control device and enter the intersection at a reasonable and prudent speed.
3. A person operating a vehicle by human power upon and along a sidewalk, trail or pathway shall operate the vehicle at a reasonable and prudent speed when in the presence of pedestrians on the same sidewalk, trail or pathway, consistent with 9.38.070.
And cars are still required to come to a complete stop before crossing a sidewalk, trail, or pathway (and some of them actually do!), so basically it boils down to the APD having the ability to ticket whomever was acting the most recklessly. Plus, we get a 3 foot passing distance law, and some of the ambiguity has been removed from the ordinance stating when I can take the lane ("road too narrow" has been replaced with "when the travel lane is too narrow to provide for the cyclist and an overtaking motor vehicle to travel side by side with a safe distance of at least three feet between the two").
Go BCA, and go bicycle advocacy!