On Saturday night, Melissa and I were riding bikes and someone in a Geo Metro slowed down to yell at us…while we were riding. We were riding west on 66, on that short section after Humphreys, in front of City Hall.

For this short section, we road two abreast and we took up the whole right lane. There is no bike lane on this section of road and there are significant breaks in the concrete next to the curb. His argument was, despite the conditions of the road, we are to be single file and as close to the curb as possible. In other words, “I don’t care about your safety, just get out of my fuckin’ way.”

We told him that he was wrong and even invited him to the house to look at the book together. He screeched away pissed off.

Here is the law. Section 28-815. Riding on roadways and bicycle paths; prohibition of motor vehicle traffic on bike paths:

A. A person riding a bicycle on a roadway at less than the normal speed of traffic at the time and place and under the conditions then existing shall ride as close as practicable to the right-hand curb or edge of the roadway, except under any of the following situations:
If overtaking and passing another bicycle or vehicle proceeding in the same direction.
If preparing for a left turn at an intersection or into a private road or driveway.
If reasonably necessary to avoid conditions, including fixed or moving objects, parked or moving vehicles, bicycles, pedestrians, animals or surface hazards.
If the lane in which the person is operating the bicycle is too narrow for. a bicycle and a vehicle to travel safely side by side within the lane.
B. Persons riding bicycles upon a roadway shall not ride more than two abreast except on paths or parts of roadway set aside for the exclusive use of bicycles.

If there is no bike lane, we have a lot of freedom. It is our lives against your convenience. It is completely up to the cyclist to determine a safe distance from the curb. It’s our discretion, not yours. And honestly, who is in a better position to make that decision? Cyclists are. We can see the road better than those in a car. We can feel the road better than those in a car. We are more susceptible to debris such as glass, rocks, and rubber. And it is legal to ride two abreast.

If this is annoying…if this pisses you off, than you should be supporting those people working to create bicycle lanes and alternate routes for bicycles. The train station has pamphlets that explain all these rules. I’m going to grab a stack and start throwing them at people.

On a side note - if someone in a car yells something at a cyclist and causes the cyclist to get distracted and crash. Those in the car are legally responsible for the accident.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 23rd, 2008 at 5:29 pm and is filed under bikes!. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site. Your comments will be moderated but will appear as soon as humanly possible.