Friday, April 9, 2010
Critical Mess in Reston
The Reston Bike Club has been holding Tuesday evening rides in Reston for many years. They are very popular and often attract over 100 cyclists. To avoid having one very large group, cyclists are divided into 5 classes based on average speed, from 1 (22+ mph) to 5 (14-16 mph).I often hear about the rides, mostly from motorists who complain about rider behavior. As you can imagine, the faster cyclists aren't inclined to obey most traffic control devices. There is a pretty firm rule against going straight through a red light, but stop signs are mostly ignored as are red lights when turning right.
I decided to join the "slower" 5s this Tuesday to see for myself. I never did see the 1s once they left the parking lot, but we did see the 4s about halfway through our ride as they turned right at speed through a stop sign. After our group blew through a four-way stop intersection I suggested perhaps we should stop at stop signs. This advice was ignored at first but when I persisted I was told that I must be new, as the group generally didn't stop at stop signs. They didn't run red lights (expect when turning right), but it was unreasonable to stop at every stop sign.
Most motorists do the same thing. The next time you're at an intersection with a stop sign, notice how many motorists come to a complete stop. A while back I recorded a video of motorists rolling through a four-way stop intersection at Church and Center Streets in Vienna (while eating lunch at a good sushi place on the corner). Some motorists do slow down or stop when they absolutely have to when a car is turning in front of them, but most roll through.
The problem is when this happens with pedestrians present. Almost no one stops for right on red or at a stop sign any more. Many crashes with pedestrians, and cyclists, those who are foolhardy enough to ride on the sidewalk against traffic, occur in these situations. The only time I heard a horn honk while filming in Vienna was when a motorist honked at another motorist who had stopped for a pedestrian.
I guess the club cyclists aren't really behaving much differently than motorists. Since most of them drove to the ride, I assume most of them are motorists and when they get in their cars, they act much the same. I just don't think it's right. Motorists and cyclists in places like Europe are much more law abiding, and I suspect have lower crash rates.
The club cyclists in Reston are giving cyclists a bad name, and most don't even think there is a problem. Just because it's inconvenient to slow down for a stop sign or when turning ride on red, and motorists do the same thing, doesn't make it right. We are supposed to have the same rights and responsibilities, and until we act like we deserve these rights, we'll make little progress.
As a side note, it's a bit ironic that last Saturday I had tried to get permission to use this same parking lot for parking lot drills in a Traffic Skills 101 class and was refused.
Labels: idaho stop, reston
(3) comments
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Crashes reduced with Idaho Stop
The WashCycle has a good summary of information on the Idaho Stop law that shows that bicycle injuries declined by 14.5%. The law allows cyclists to roll through a stop sign without coming to a complete, foot-down stop:the year after the Idaho Stop became law, bicycle injuries in the state actually declined by 14.5 percent.
Boise, home to Idaho's biggest bike population, "has actually become safer for bicyclists than other cities which don't have the law," Meggs said.
And despite what you may have thought, the law wasn't promoted by cyclists in Idaho, it was judges.
Carl Bianchi, a retired administrative director of Idaho's state courts who is widely considered the father of the Idaho Stop, said it was traffic judges -- not cyclists -- who pushed for the idea in 1982.
Police were ticketing bike riders for failing to come to a complete, foot-down stop. Judges, however, saw "technical violations" clogging up their courts.
"We recognized that the realities of bicycling were a lot different than driving a car," Bianchi said.
Boise, home to Idaho's biggest bike population, "has actually become safer for bicyclists than other cities which don't have the law," Meggs said.
And despite what you may have thought, the law wasn't promoted by cyclists in Idaho, it was judges.
Carl Bianchi, a retired administrative director of Idaho's state courts who is widely considered the father of the Idaho Stop, said it was traffic judges -- not cyclists -- who pushed for the idea in 1982.
Police were ticketing bike riders for failing to come to a complete, foot-down stop. Judges, however, saw "technical violations" clogging up their courts.
"We recognized that the realities of bicycling were a lot different than driving a car," Bianchi said.
Labels: bike crash, idaho stop
(0) comments
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Idaho stop law
Bike advocates in Oregon are working for passage of an Idaho Stop law. It's called the Idaho Stop law because "in 1982, the Idaho legislature passed a law that allowed bicyclists to treat stop signs as yield and not always come to a complete stop" (from the BikePortland Idaho Stop Law FAQ).Most cyclists don't come to a full stop at stop signs; they slow, check for oncoming traffic, then proceed cautiously. Some cyclists proceed not so cautiously, as do many motorists. The FAQ does a good job of explaining the nuances of the proposed law, but the video below does a much better job of visualizing how the law would work and why cyclists prefer to maintain some forward momentum at a stop sign.
Bicycles, Rolling Stops, and the Idaho Stop from Spencer Boomhower on Vimeo.
Labels: idaho stop
(0) comments
