Originally Posted by
keithm0
Yes, I was riding in a crosswalk, on a designated bicycle route where the Sammamish River Trail joins the Highway 520 Trail. I'm not aware of any laws in Washington state that forbid riding across crosswalks, but if you can cite a reference to the contrary, please do.
Should it not bother me when a car pulls into and blocks a crosswalk after I'm already in it? I didn't yell at the driver, or make any obscene gestures. I simply rode around him.
Okay, I get it now. I thought maybe you had been riding along the road and moved into the crosswalk to cross the road, which would be less safe than just continuing in a straight line. Having a bicycle trail cross a road with a crosswalk is sort of a mixed message from the planners about the place of bikes to the road, but as a user of that trail, what can you do? So I can understand being bothered in that case. But it happens. Maybe the driver could not see well enough from behind the crosswalk.
I don't think it's common for states to have statutes forbidding crosswalk riding; I think they generally leave that up to the municipalities. Of course if the area where you were riding did have one at whatever level, that trail would then be directing cyclists to break the law!
