I love this town!
 

Yeah, so the Anchorage assembly is about to vote on a rewrite of Title 9, the municipality's rules of the road. This includes rewriting the rules for bicycles. Could be great, but it probably won't.

The APD has already come up with the stellar recommendation that right-of-way at driveways, side streets, and crosswalks be moved from cyclists to motorists. I guess they're also debating a new 20-year bike plan, just in time to anger all of the cagers into frothing their anti-bike sentiment to their representatives right before said rep's vote on the Title 9 rewrite. F'ing awesome. Check out the comments on the latest op-ed: http://www.adn.com/2010/02/21/115023...w-20-year.html

Mind you, the level of commentary on ADN is just barely above youtube's comments. Doesn't make me feel any better about riding in front of these hateful idiots, though.

Written by someone with a Don't Tread on Me avatar:

I have a feeling there's some kind of irony in all of that, though I can't quite pinpoint it

Alaskans don't/can't do irony. Look at Palin.

Wait. Who has the ROW at driveways now?

I like the guy with the "Don't Tread On Me" avatar who writes that he wants to run all the cyclists down. Irony and idiocy all wrapped in one.

Most of the laws in the books in most states have not changed in years... so it is still probably in order; pedestrians, cyclists, motored vehicles. If on the road, cyclists are supposed to have the rights and responsibilities of moving vehicles. If using a side walk and encountering pedestrians, cyclists are required to dismount and walk the bike.

Under current Anchorage law, motorists crossing a sidewalk, crosswalk, or MUP must first make sure that it is clear of peds and cyclists (which they rarely do, but whatevs). The APD wants to change it so that cyclists must stop at every sidewalk, crosswalk, or MUP/road intersection and make sure that cars aren't coming through before proceeding.

I avoid the sidewalks whenever I can, and ride ultra-defensively when I am on them, so it actually won't change how I ride. What it does do is make legal one of the more dangerous and thoughtless behaviors engaged in by the average motorist. The police complained that they had a hard time establishing who was at fault in car/bicycle collisions, so they want to make it very clear that the cyclist is always at fault.

So the ROW will go: ped, car, bike if this is approved. And if it does, I guess I'll just go back to riding in the road 100% of the time.

Not required to dismount up here, just ring your bell and "pass safely." Which I take to mean: slow down.

Mind citing the law that says that. I do not know of a state with such a law. Might be some city ordnance somewhere.