Are bikes allowed to go through red lights on major roads?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I did enjoy the first two people immediately responding no just because they reactively dislike all things bikes do

Are you a member of the groups who ride their bikes 3 abreast while traveling 20 mph on a two lane road? Such thoughtful riders!

[Anonymous]

Insurance companies will tell you that the vast majority of accidents (like 80 percent) involving cyclists are the cyclist's fault. This from the people who investigate what actually happened.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Today, I was driving westbound on Macarthur Blvd, and I stopped at a red light. Two bicyclists, with children in tow, came up behind me, crossed four lanes of traffic to turn left onto Dana Place. I know bikes can do a rolling stop through stop signs, but is this correct behavior at a stop sign. It seemed very dangerous to me as cars were crossing Macarthur with the light.

That intersection has crosswalks on all sides. So it sounds like they were effectively turning left onto the crosswalk across MacArthur and along Dana. If there was traffic turning left off Dana onto MacArthur, they could have remained on the crosswalk and been protected by the right of way. If there was no traffic on Dana, then they can just merge from the crosswalk onto the Dana proper without any issue. A cleaner way of doing this would have been to come up onto the sidewalk of MacArthur before turning left onto the crosswalk, but either way this sounds like a perfectly safe move. Had they followed the law for cars, they’d be stuck in the left westbound lane waiting for the oncoming traffic to clear before they could turn left and would still need to worry about cars turning right from MacArthur onto Dana while running the risk of being rear-ended by a driver on MacArthur who was not paying attention. I’ll take what they did any day over that risk.

This is likely what happened. My only disagreement is that biking in the crosswalk actually can be dangerous because you’re less visible.

Less visible than what? If drivers are unable to see people who are in the crosswalk, that's a real problem.

If you’re going to bike in the city (esp with kids) you REALLY need to learn this. Biking in a crosswalk can be unsafe because cars are only looking for people moving at walking speed. You can bike through a crosswalk but you need to go slowly and look out for turning cars.

I always look for cars whenever I'm on a bike, and I don't like biking through crosswalks because I don't want to hit pedestrians. But let's be clear: The responsibility for avoiding a crash involving a vehicle turning and anyone doing anything in a crosswalk is primarily on the driver of the turning vehicle.

The responsibility to keep yourself (and your kids!) alive is yours. There’s a reason right-hook accidents are the most common - because those types of accidents are the ones where the objective physics of traffic make it most difficult for cars to see bikes. It’s absolutely idiotic to neglect to educate people on bike safety out of some kind of ideology that “cars are always at fault.”

Cars can't see bikes, ever. Drivers can see bikes, and more importantly, people on bikes. Unfortunately, road engineering and vehicle design make it difficult for even motivated drivers to see.

"Here's how right hook crashes happen, and here are some things you can do to reduce your chances of being in a right hook crash?" Yes.

"Biking in crosswalks is unsafe!"? Nope. Stop with the victim-blaming nonsense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Insurance companies will tell you that the vast majority of accidents (like 80 percent) involving cyclists are the cyclist's fault. This from the people who investigate what actually happened.

I, too, can make up fact-free assertions out of thin air!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can you imagine what it would be like if cycling was actually popular in DC?

PARIS — On a recent afternoon, the Rue de Rivoli looked like this: Cyclists blowing through red lights in two directions. Delivery bike riders fixating on their cellphones. Electric scooters careening across lanes. Jaywalkers and nervous pedestrians scrambling as if in a video game.

Sarah Famery, a 20-year resident of the Marais neighborhood, braced for the tumult. She looked left, then right, then left and right again before venturing into a crosswalk, only to break into a rant-laden sprint as two cyclists came within inches of grazing her.

“It’s chaos!” exclaimed Ms. Famery, shaking a fist at the swarm of bikes that have displaced cars on the Rue de Rivoli ever since it was remade into a multilane highway for cyclists last year. “Politicians want to make Paris a cycling city, but no one is following any rules,” she said. “It’s becoming risky just to cross the street!”

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/02/world/europe/paris-bicyles-france.html#:~:text=In%20Paris%2C%20parts%20of%20the,bike%20lanes%20weave%20through%20traffic.

What a nightmare

A nightmare that is in fact a dream relative to what carbrains and their legislative enablers have done to this planet.

oh it's this guy. you have a real obsessive, stalker-y vibe going here. do you feel compelled to respond to literally every single post on this site that suggests maybe cyclists aren't angels? id suggest maybe not being such a creep and go talk a walk or something.

All cyclists are not angels. But they are also not all jerks. It’s sad that this needs to be said but there is at least one person on here who consistently feels the need to dehumanize every person who rides a bike in DC. But whether angels, jerks or just normal people, those riding bikes are contributing to climate change while doing so. The same cannot be said only those who drive everywhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Today, I was driving westbound on Macarthur Blvd, and I stopped at a red light. Two bicyclists, with children in tow, came up behind me, crossed four lanes of traffic to turn left onto Dana Place. I know bikes can do a rolling stop through stop signs, but is this correct behavior at a stop sign. It seemed very dangerous to me as cars were crossing Macarthur with the light.

That intersection has crosswalks on all sides. So it sounds like they were effectively turning left onto the crosswalk across MacArthur and along Dana. If there was traffic turning left off Dana onto MacArthur, they could have remained on the crosswalk and been protected by the right of way. If there was no traffic on Dana, then they can just merge from the crosswalk onto the Dana proper without any issue. A cleaner way of doing this would have been to come up onto the sidewalk of MacArthur before turning left onto the crosswalk, but either way this sounds like a perfectly safe move. Had they followed the law for cars, they’d be stuck in the left westbound lane waiting for the oncoming traffic to clear before they could turn left and would still need to worry about cars turning right from MacArthur onto Dana while running the risk of being rear-ended by a driver on MacArthur who was not paying attention. I’ll take what they did any day over that risk.

This is likely what happened. My only disagreement is that biking in the crosswalk actually can be dangerous because you’re less visible.

Less visible than what? If drivers are unable to see people who are in the crosswalk, that's a real problem.

If you’re going to bike in the city (esp with kids) you REALLY need to learn this. Biking in a crosswalk can be unsafe because cars are only looking for people moving at walking speed. You can bike through a crosswalk but you need to go slowly and look out for turning cars.

I always look for cars whenever I'm on a bike, and I don't like biking through crosswalks because I don't want to hit pedestrians. But let's be clear: The responsibility for avoiding a crash involving a vehicle turning and anyone doing anything in a crosswalk is primarily on the driver of the turning vehicle.

The responsibility to keep yourself (and your kids!) alive is yours. There’s a reason right-hook accidents are the most common - because those types of accidents are the ones where the objective physics of traffic make it most difficult for cars to see bikes. It’s absolutely idiotic to neglect to educate people on bike safety out of some kind of ideology that “cars are always at fault.”

Cars can't see bikes, ever. Drivers can see bikes, and more importantly, people on bikes. Unfortunately, road engineering and vehicle design make it difficult for even motivated drivers to see.

"Here's how right hook crashes happen, and here are some things you can do to reduce your chances of being in a right hook crash?" Yes.

"Biking in crosswalks is unsafe!"? Nope. Stop with the victim-blaming nonsense.

I said it “can be unsafe.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Today, I was driving westbound on Macarthur Blvd, and I stopped at a red light. Two bicyclists, with children in tow, came up behind me, crossed four lanes of traffic to turn left onto Dana Place. I know bikes can do a rolling stop through stop signs, but is this correct behavior at a stop sign. It seemed very dangerous to me as cars were crossing Macarthur with the light.

That intersection has crosswalks on all sides. So it sounds like they were effectively turning left onto the crosswalk across MacArthur and along Dana. If there was traffic turning left off Dana onto MacArthur, they could have remained on the crosswalk and been protected by the right of way. If there was no traffic on Dana, then they can just merge from the crosswalk onto the Dana proper without any issue. A cleaner way of doing this would have been to come up onto the sidewalk of MacArthur before turning left onto the crosswalk, but either way this sounds like a perfectly safe move. Had they followed the law for cars, they’d be stuck in the left westbound lane waiting for the oncoming traffic to clear before they could turn left and would still need to worry about cars turning right from MacArthur onto Dana while running the risk of being rear-ended by a driver on MacArthur who was not paying attention. I’ll take what they did any day over that risk.

This is likely what happened. My only disagreement is that biking in the crosswalk actually can be dangerous because you’re less visible.

Less visible than what? If drivers are unable to see people who are in the crosswalk, that's a real problem.

If you’re going to bike in the city (esp with kids) you REALLY need to learn this. Biking in a crosswalk can be unsafe because cars are only looking for people moving at walking speed. You can bike through a crosswalk but you need to go slowly and look out for turning cars.

I always look for cars whenever I'm on a bike, and I don't like biking through crosswalks because I don't want to hit pedestrians. But let's be clear: The responsibility for avoiding a crash involving a vehicle turning and anyone doing anything in a crosswalk is primarily on the driver of the turning vehicle.

The responsibility to keep yourself (and your kids!) alive is yours. There’s a reason right-hook accidents are the most common - because those types of accidents are the ones where the objective physics of traffic make it most difficult for cars to see bikes. It’s absolutely idiotic to neglect to educate people on bike safety out of some kind of ideology that “cars are always at fault.”

Cars can't see bikes, ever. Drivers can see bikes, and more importantly, people on bikes. Unfortunately, road engineering and vehicle design make it difficult for even motivated drivers to see.

"Here's how right hook crashes happen, and here are some things you can do to reduce your chances of being in a right hook crash?" Yes.

"Biking in crosswalks is unsafe!"? Nope. Stop with the victim-blaming nonsense.

I said it “can be unsafe.”

Do you describe yourself to people as an avid cyclist?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I did enjoy the first two people immediately responding no just because they reactively dislike all things bikes do

Are you a member of the groups who ride their bikes 3 abreast while traveling 20 mph on a two lane road? Such thoughtful riders!

I commute solo, mostly taking bike lanes. Sometimes I have to ride with cars and there also allowed

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Today, I was driving westbound on Macarthur Blvd, and I stopped at a red light. Two bicyclists, with children in tow, came up behind me, crossed four lanes of traffic to turn left onto Dana Place. I know bikes can do a rolling stop through stop signs, but is this correct behavior at a stop sign. It seemed very dangerous to me as cars were crossing Macarthur with the light.

That intersection has crosswalks on all sides. So it sounds like they were effectively turning left onto the crosswalk across MacArthur and along Dana. If there was traffic turning left off Dana onto MacArthur, they could have remained on the crosswalk and been protected by the right of way. If there was no traffic on Dana, then they can just merge from the crosswalk onto the Dana proper without any issue. A cleaner way of doing this would have been to come up onto the sidewalk of MacArthur before turning left onto the crosswalk, but either way this sounds like a perfectly safe move. Had they followed the law for cars, they’d be stuck in the left westbound lane waiting for the oncoming traffic to clear before they could turn left and would still need to worry about cars turning right from MacArthur onto Dana while running the risk of being rear-ended by a driver on MacArthur who was not paying attention. I’ll take what they did any day over that risk.

This is likely what happened. My only disagreement is that biking in the crosswalk actually can be dangerous because you’re less visible.

Less visible than what? If drivers are unable to see people who are in the crosswalk, that's a real problem.

If you’re going to bike in the city (esp with kids) you REALLY need to learn this. Biking in a crosswalk can be unsafe because cars are only looking for people moving at walking speed. You can bike through a crosswalk but you need to go slowly and look out for turning cars.

I always look for cars whenever I'm on a bike, and I don't like biking through crosswalks because I don't want to hit pedestrians. But let's be clear: The responsibility for avoiding a crash involving a vehicle turning and anyone doing anything in a crosswalk is primarily on the driver of the turning vehicle.

The responsibility to keep yourself (and your kids!) alive is yours. There’s a reason right-hook accidents are the most common - because those types of accidents are the ones where the objective physics of traffic make it most difficult for cars to see bikes. It’s absolutely idiotic to neglect to educate people on bike safety out of some kind of ideology that “cars are always at fault.”

Cars can't see bikes, ever. Drivers can see bikes, and more importantly, people on bikes. Unfortunately, road engineering and vehicle design make it difficult for even motivated drivers to see.

"Here's how right hook crashes happen, and here are some things you can do to reduce your chances of being in a right hook crash?" Yes.

"Biking in crosswalks is unsafe!"? Nope. Stop with the victim-blaming nonsense.

I said it “can be unsafe.”

Do you describe yourself to people as an avid cyclist?

you’re being a totally idiot here. talking about how to stay safe biking is ok - you don’t need to maintain some kind of rigid messaging discipline where nobody is allowed to acknowledge that you can do things to bike more safely.

[Anonymous]

I'm a new poster very enthusiastic about cyclists in theory (from an urban planning perspective) but worried and frustrated in practice as both a pedestrian and driver. We non-cyclists do need the cyclists who compete with us for sidewalk(!!!), crosswalk, and road space to at least be predictable. If cyclists assume moving through space is a free-for-all situation, they're risking collisions. Everyone should have rules and priorities spelled out and followed. And I think i encounter enough cyclists going rouge every day that I do see a problem.

The Idaho stop thing is supposed to be for empty intersections, or at least cyclists say they use it when there are no other vehicles in the intersection, but in fact it is being used when cars or pedestrians would otherwise have the right of way. Basically, cyclists don't ever stop. We all have to work around them, even if it means jumping out if their way when crossing the street or ignoring normal stop sign priority when driving.

All that said, I favor separated bike lanes and applaud alternative transportation methods. We just need cyclists to observe some rules and I fear there's a cultural issue making that difficult.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Today, I was driving westbound on Macarthur Blvd, and I stopped at a red light. Two bicyclists, with children in tow, came up behind me, crossed four lanes of traffic to turn left onto Dana Place. I know bikes can do a rolling stop through stop signs, but is this correct behavior at a stop sign. It seemed very dangerous to me as cars were crossing Macarthur with the light.

That intersection has crosswalks on all sides. So it sounds like they were effectively turning left onto the crosswalk across MacArthur and along Dana. If there was traffic turning left off Dana onto MacArthur, they could have remained on the crosswalk and been protected by the right of way. If there was no traffic on Dana, then they can just merge from the crosswalk onto the Dana proper without any issue. A cleaner way of doing this would have been to come up onto the sidewalk of MacArthur before turning left onto the crosswalk, but either way this sounds like a perfectly safe move. Had they followed the law for cars, they’d be stuck in the left westbound lane waiting for the oncoming traffic to clear before they could turn left and would still need to worry about cars turning right from MacArthur onto Dana while running the risk of being rear-ended by a driver on MacArthur who was not paying attention. I’ll take what they did any day over that risk.

This is likely what happened. My only disagreement is that biking in the crosswalk actually can be dangerous because you’re less visible.

Less visible than what? If drivers are unable to see people who are in the crosswalk, that's a real problem.

If you’re going to bike in the city (esp with kids) you REALLY need to learn this. Biking in a crosswalk can be unsafe because cars are only looking for people moving at walking speed. You can bike through a crosswalk but you need to go slowly and look out for turning cars.

I always look for cars whenever I'm on a bike, and I don't like biking through crosswalks because I don't want to hit pedestrians. But let's be clear: The responsibility for avoiding a crash involving a vehicle turning and anyone doing anything in a crosswalk is primarily on the driver of the turning vehicle.

The responsibility to keep yourself (and your kids!) alive is yours. There’s a reason right-hook accidents are the most common - because those types of accidents are the ones where the objective physics of traffic make it most difficult for cars to see bikes. It’s absolutely idiotic to neglect to educate people on bike safety out of some kind of ideology that “cars are always at fault.”

Cars can't see bikes, ever. Drivers can see bikes, and more importantly, people on bikes. Unfortunately, road engineering and vehicle design make it difficult for even motivated drivers to see.

"Here's how right hook crashes happen, and here are some things you can do to reduce your chances of being in a right hook crash?" Yes.

"Biking in crosswalks is unsafe!"? Nope. Stop with the victim-blaming nonsense.

I said it “can be unsafe.”

Do you describe yourself to people as an avid cyclist?

you’re being a totally idiot here. talking about how to stay safe biking is ok - you don’t need to maintain some kind of rigid messaging discipline where nobody is allowed to acknowledge that you can do things to bike more safely.

"My only disagreement is that biking in the crosswalk actually can be dangerous because you’re less visible." said you.

That's terrible advice.

Here's good advice:

-Use protected bike lanes where possible.
-Ask other bicyclists about the routes they prefer to use.
-Sometimes it's safer to ride on the sidewalk, but watch out at driveways for dangerous drivers who don't take into account that they're crossing a sidewalk.
-Watch out for the dangerous drivers who are looking to their left while turning right.
-Watch out for the dangerous drivers who are staring at their phone or at their dashboard.
-Watch out for the dangerous drivers who roll right through stop signs and red lights.
-Watch out for the dangerous drivers who don't see anything smaller than a car.
-Watch out for the drivers of dangerous trucks and SUVs with huge blind spots.
-Try to take the lane instead of riding in bike lanes where a driver or passenger can door you.
-Try to keep your head on a swivel to look out for drivers who are turning left (this is an impossible task).
-If you're riding in the road, take the lane at intersections, especially intersections with stop signs and traffic signals, but be aware of the dangerous drivers who don't see anything smaller than a car.
-Do everything you can to never, ever be to the right of a truck or a bus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a new poster very enthusiastic about cyclists in theory (from an urban planning perspective) but worried and frustrated in practice as both a pedestrian and driver. We non-cyclists do need the cyclists who compete with us for sidewalk(!!!), crosswalk, and road space to at least be predictable. If cyclists assume moving through space is a free-for-all situation, they're risking collisions. Everyone should have rules and priorities spelled out and followed. And I think i encounter enough cyclists going rouge every day that I do see a problem.

The Idaho stop thing is supposed to be for empty intersections, or at least cyclists say they use it when there are no other vehicles in the intersection, but in fact it is being used when cars or pedestrians would otherwise have the right of way. Basically, cyclists don't ever stop. We all have to work around them, even if it means jumping out if their way when crossing the street or ignoring normal stop sign priority when driving.

All that said, I favor separated bike lanes and applaud alternative transportation methods. We just need cyclists to observe some rules and I fear there's a cultural issue making that difficult.

Ideally everyone, in every mode, is predictable - no? But because people are people, you shouldn't assume that anyone is predictable. Drivers certainly aren't predictable, which is why when I'm driving, and I'm at a traffic signal, and my light turns green, I check for drivers running red lights before I go. Similarly, when you're driving, you should drive slowly enough so that, when you encounter a pedestrian or bicyclist (or driver) behaving unpredictably, you can stop in time so as to not hit them.

Bicycling isn't an "alternative" transportation mode (neither is walking), it's just a transportation mode.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Today, I was driving westbound on Macarthur Blvd, and I stopped at a red light. Two bicyclists, with children in tow, came up behind me, crossed four lanes of traffic to turn left onto Dana Place. I know bikes can do a rolling stop through stop signs, but is this correct behavior at a stop sign. It seemed very dangerous to me as cars were crossing Macarthur with the light.

That intersection has crosswalks on all sides. So it sounds like they were effectively turning left onto the crosswalk across MacArthur and along Dana. If there was traffic turning left off Dana onto MacArthur, they could have remained on the crosswalk and been protected by the right of way. If there was no traffic on Dana, then they can just merge from the crosswalk onto the Dana proper without any issue. A cleaner way of doing this would have been to come up onto the sidewalk of MacArthur before turning left onto the crosswalk, but either way this sounds like a perfectly safe move. Had they followed the law for cars, they’d be stuck in the left westbound lane waiting for the oncoming traffic to clear before they could turn left and would still need to worry about cars turning right from MacArthur onto Dana while running the risk of being rear-ended by a driver on MacArthur who was not paying attention. I’ll take what they did any day over that risk.

This is likely what happened. My only disagreement is that biking in the crosswalk actually can be dangerous because you’re less visible.

Less visible than what? If drivers are unable to see people who are in the crosswalk, that's a real problem.

If you’re going to bike in the city (esp with kids) you REALLY need to learn this. Biking in a crosswalk can be unsafe because cars are only looking for people moving at walking speed. You can bike through a crosswalk but you need to go slowly and look out for turning cars.

I always look for cars whenever I'm on a bike, and I don't like biking through crosswalks because I don't want to hit pedestrians. But let's be clear: The responsibility for avoiding a crash involving a vehicle turning and anyone doing anything in a crosswalk is primarily on the driver of the turning vehicle.

The responsibility to keep yourself (and your kids!) alive is yours. There’s a reason right-hook accidents are the most common - because those types of accidents are the ones where the objective physics of traffic make it most difficult for cars to see bikes. It’s absolutely idiotic to neglect to educate people on bike safety out of some kind of ideology that “cars are always at fault.”

Cars can't see bikes, ever. Drivers can see bikes, and more importantly, people on bikes. Unfortunately, road engineering and vehicle design make it difficult for even motivated drivers to see.

"Here's how right hook crashes happen, and here are some things you can do to reduce your chances of being in a right hook crash?" Yes.

"Biking in crosswalks is unsafe!"? Nope. Stop with the victim-blaming nonsense.

I said it “can be unsafe.”

Do you describe yourself to people as an avid cyclist?

you’re being a totally idiot here. talking about how to stay safe biking is ok - you don’t need to maintain some kind of rigid messaging discipline where nobody is allowed to acknowledge that you can do things to bike more safely.

"My only disagreement is that biking in the crosswalk actually can be dangerous because you’re less visible." said you.

That's terrible advice.

Here's good advice:

-Use protected bike lanes where possible.
-Ask other bicyclists about the routes they prefer to use.
-Sometimes it's safer to ride on the sidewalk, but watch out at driveways for dangerous drivers who don't take into account that they're crossing a sidewalk.
-Watch out for the dangerous drivers who are looking to their left while turning right.
-Watch out for the dangerous drivers who are staring at their phone or at their dashboard.
-Watch out for the dangerous drivers who roll right through stop signs and red lights.
-Watch out for the dangerous drivers who don't see anything smaller than a car.
-Watch out for the drivers of dangerous trucks and SUVs with huge blind spots.
-Try to take the lane instead of riding in bike lanes where a driver or passenger can door you.
-Try to keep your head on a swivel to look out for drivers who are turning left (this is an impossible task).
-If you're riding in the road, take the lane at intersections, especially intersections with stop signs and traffic signals, but be aware of the dangerous drivers who don't see anything smaller than a car.
-Do everything you can to never, ever be to the right of a truck or a bus.

I would add:
- bike slowly (not much faster than walking) through crosswalk.
- do not shoot off the sidewalk at full speed because drivers are not looking for you.
- always look behind your shoulder for turning cars when crossing the street from a protected lane. cars may not see you in the protected lane.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I would add:
- bike slowly (not much faster than walking) through crosswalk.
- do not shoot off the sidewalk at full speed because drivers are not looking for you.
- always look behind your shoulder for turning cars when crossing the street from a protected lane. cars may not see you in the protected lane.

Biking speed in the crosswalk is not the issue. In fact, the faster you go in the crosswalk, the shorter the time you are exposed to the hazard of being in the crosswalk.

Entering the crosswalk is the issue - for pedestrians as well as bicyclists. Because way too many drivers are simply not looking for anything that isn't a car, and/or driving large vehicles that make it very difficult for drivers to see anything smaller than another large vehicle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Today, I was driving westbound on Macarthur Blvd, and I stopped at a red light. Two bicyclists, with children in tow, came up behind me, crossed four lanes of traffic to turn left onto Dana Place. I know bikes can do a rolling stop through stop signs, but is this correct behavior at a stop sign. It seemed very dangerous to me as cars were crossing Macarthur with the light.

That intersection has crosswalks on all sides. So it sounds like they were effectively turning left onto the crosswalk across MacArthur and along Dana. If there was traffic turning left off Dana onto MacArthur, they could have remained on the crosswalk and been protected by the right of way. If there was no traffic on Dana, then they can just merge from the crosswalk onto the Dana proper without any issue. A cleaner way of doing this would have been to come up onto the sidewalk of MacArthur before turning left onto the crosswalk, but either way this sounds like a perfectly safe move. Had they followed the law for cars, they’d be stuck in the left westbound lane waiting for the oncoming traffic to clear before they could turn left and would still need to worry about cars turning right from MacArthur onto Dana while running the risk of being rear-ended by a driver on MacArthur who was not paying attention. I’ll take what they did any day over that risk.

This is likely what happened. My only disagreement is that biking in the crosswalk actually can be dangerous because you’re less visible.

Less visible than what? If drivers are unable to see people who are in the crosswalk, that's a real problem.

If you’re going to bike in the city (esp with kids) you REALLY need to learn this. Biking in a crosswalk can be unsafe because cars are only looking for people moving at walking speed. You can bike through a crosswalk but you need to go slowly and look out for turning cars.

I always look for cars whenever I'm on a bike, and I don't like biking through crosswalks because I don't want to hit pedestrians. But let's be clear: The responsibility for avoiding a crash involving a vehicle turning and anyone doing anything in a crosswalk is primarily on the driver of the turning vehicle.

The responsibility to keep yourself (and your kids!) alive is yours. There’s a reason right-hook accidents are the most common - because those types of accidents are the ones where the objective physics of traffic make it most difficult for cars to see bikes. It’s absolutely idiotic to neglect to educate people on bike safety out of some kind of ideology that “cars are always at fault.”

Cars can't see bikes, ever. Drivers can see bikes, and more importantly, people on bikes. Unfortunately, road engineering and vehicle design make it difficult for even motivated drivers to see.

"Here's how right hook crashes happen, and here are some things you can do to reduce your chances of being in a right hook crash?" Yes.

"Biking in crosswalks is unsafe!"? Nope. Stop with the victim-blaming nonsense.

I said it “can be unsafe.”

Do you describe yourself to people as an avid cyclist?

you’re being a totally idiot here. talking about how to stay safe biking is ok - you don’t need to maintain some kind of rigid messaging discipline where nobody is allowed to acknowledge that you can do things to bike more safely.

Don't even engage with this guy. He lives to troll drivers. He's on every single thread that has remotely anything to do bikes, posting compulsively. I think this entire thread is a whole bunch of drivers arguing with this one batshit crazy cyclist.