Question on Bike Etiquette?
I’m almost hesitant to post this, because it seems any posts regarding cars and bikes end up in a “they’re so rude… no they are” string of comments - but I’d love to get a legitimate answer from someone at Bike Portland or someone actually knowledgeable on bike etiquette - because my bike only gets an occasional spin on a park path or over to Kennedy school for beers - and I don’t claim to have any real knowledge about biking laws or safety.
I am however very conscious of bikes on the road. A good part of my daily drive is up Williams where there are tons of bike commuters. I always try to keep my eye on them when I’m turning across the bike lane, when we’re going through an area with parked cars, just in general. But this week with the return of some nice weather the bike lane was packed solid. I honestly think there were nearly as many bikes as cars. And that caused some clogging in the bike lane.
There were two cyclists going much faster than most everyone - I saw them ahead as they were gaining on a slower rider. Where they were at there were cars parked as well - but just ahead was a long span of no parked cars where they would easily have room to pass with the slower bike moving into the parking lane. This is what I assumed they would do.
Instead the faster bikes slid into traffic right in front of me - put his hand back into a ’stop or slow’ gesture to me, and passed right there. Now if I was farther back - I wouldn’t have thought anything of it, when there’s room - they should use the traffic lane. But they were close enough to me that I had to hit my brakes hard enough that my bag on the passenger seat flew to the floor.
To me that seemed no different that a car that wanted to pass a slower driving cutting me off in traffic so that he didn’t have to slow down. Am I wrong to be pissed and think that those were examples of bad biking etiquette - or is moving into the traffic lane even if it slows down the auto traffic considered to be ok?
Related posts:
I ride a bike, and that’s very poor etiquette. And worse, it’s unsafe. I’m getting very tired of other cyclists in Pdx giving all of us a bad name. I was walking my dog the other day, and a person on a bike almost ran me over - and I had right of way while she had a stop sign. Very uncool.
As someone who rides, I want others to police themselves before enough people get hurt that our local po-po will do it for us.
divebarwife,
I’m not exactly crystal clear on the situation you describe… and I’m not a lawyer… but as far as I’m concerned,
–if you ride in a traffic lane, you should try and go at a similar speed as cars.
–you should never be a jerk to other cyclists. hand gestures are rude most of the time.
–courtesy trumps all laws.
It’s more than bad etiquette, it is a traffic violation–”impeding traffic” I beleive. Bikes have to follow the same rules as automobiles when they are using the roads. Although, there should be some allowances for slow-rolling stop signs on bikes
Bikes are vehicles. The same laws that apply to cars also apply to bikes.
Cars can’t (legally) pull into oncoming traffic for any reason. And neither can a bike. Pretty simple. Someone needs to tell that biker to chill.
And I agree with Jonathan. Hand gestures are usually rude…
I also ride a bike, and agree it is poor etiquette the way this particular person decided to behave in this situation. It is, however, very common to merge with traffic out of the bike lane to pass slower cyclists. That is, only after performing the proper research to ensure you’re not going to pull a “Captain Cut-off” on a 4-wheeled ton of metal. Then, when you’re around the slower folks, merge back in to the bike lane while again checking for riders & cars coming up from behind. It just makes good sense, people. As it is, I do whatever I can not to piss off drivers while I’m biking.
Personally, I don’t think it’s an issue of bikes or cars, etiquette or laws. The issue is human stupidity, and oh my god is there plenty of it.
Washington State passed a law against text messaging while driving, because drivers really truly are that stuuuuuupid.
Text messaging while driving!
Drivers and cyclists are each just plain stupid all too often. I see bikes running red lights all the time. In fact, I’m more surprised when a bike DOESN’T run the light, because that’s what I see less often. Drivers view the speed limit - LIMIT - as the slowest they should go rather than the fastest.
Stand outside of a bar and you’ll see people who have trouble walking yet think they’ll have no trouble driving. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
In the case of your situation, the cyclist is clearly wrong, but he or she won’t learn until there is an awful accident.
It’s sad that people really are that mind-bogglingly stupid. People sacrifice their safety and the safety of everyone around them just to get to the store 30 seconds sooner.
We mourn the senseless deaths of 32 students at Virginia Tech - as we should. But how many senseless deaths happen on our roads every day? How many families lose loved ones because Jimmy was in a hurry. It’s a lot more than 32 a day, that’s for sure.
Cutting people off is never polite or smart. But, yeah, if there’s a slow cyclist in front of me, I’ll absolutely pull into the traffic lane (when safe!) to pass them. It takes me, what, 10 seconds to pass a slow bike? If you (generic “you”, not divebarwife specifically) can’t handle going a little slower for 10 seconds, that’s your problem, not mine. But, yeah, cutting people off is just mean and dangerous.
I don’t do “whatever I can” not to piss of drivers because people a short fuse while driving (or biking) and I don’t feel compelled to kowtow to people who get angry because I slowed them down for ten seconds. Some people are just going to get angry no matter what. But also I’m pretty mellow and have never yelled or even gotten angry at a driver that hit me (four times now, always the driver’s fault).
i don’t get why bike riders tend to go down the busiest streets in the first place. it would never occur to me to ride my bike down williams or hawthorne or burnside if there were parallel streets readily available. i’d much rather ride down, say, clinton street with a minimal amount of car traffic than go a block north and risk getting run over on division. i know that the main roads have less stops, but i’d rather stop a few extra times than turn my commute into a death-defying act. why deal with car traffic at all? isn’t that the point of biking?
i love the fact that we have so many bike commuters here. it’s awesome. but i do not understand this insistence on being “equals” with cars, both in terms of public perceptions and, apparently, physical space. that just seems nuts to me.
ORS info that’s applicable:
814.400 Application of vehicle laws to bicycles. (1) Every person riding a bicycle upon a public way is subject to the provisions applicable to and has the same rights and duties as the driver of any other vehicle concerning operating on highways, vehicle equipment and abandoned vehicles, except:
(a) Those provisions which by their very nature can have no application.
(b) When otherwise specifically provided under the vehicle code.
(2) Subject to the provisions of subsection (1) of this section:
(a) A bicycle is a vehicle for purposes of the vehicle code; and
(b) When the term “vehicle” is used the term shall be deemed to be applicable to bicycles.
(3) The provisions of the vehicle code relating to the operation of bicycles do not relieve a bicyclist or motorist from the duty to exercise due care. [1983 c.338 §697; 1985 c.16 §335]
http://www.leg.state.or.us/ors/814.html
Bicycles have the same privileges (use of full car lane, etc) AND responsibilities (signaling, etc) as a car. The last part of the statute is especially interesting “duty to exercise due care.”
Two changes would reduce the number of bikers using auto-traffic-heavy roads. First, the city should adopt the BTA’s plan to increase the number of bike boulevards and thereby provide safer, lower traffic routes with few stop signs. In a commendably open process, the city bike coordinator is right now leading rides with Portlanders to help figure out where more of those and other bike friendly enhancements should go.
Second, the state should adopt Idaho’s law that allows bikers to treat some stop signs as Yield signs, so that bikers could use those lower traffic streets without having to stop and start every few feet — a real impediment to bike commuting for many potential riders.
Critical Mass this Friday? I don’t know
what’s become of that in Portland. I’m
curious to see what happens in San Francisco.
Last month, the Chron reported that about
7000 participated. That sounds high, but there were lots. The mayor (Newsom) is taking a lot
of grief about how it was handled.
Mike:
N. Williams is especially popular with the bikes because it actually has a bike lane on it.
Imagine that these cyclists were in cars. They would have been driving aggressively, but not out-of-control, and definitely not at random. And their etiquette could have been much, much worse, especially from the POV of the slower cyclists. Here’s my reading:
One of the most un-safe thing cyclists can do is pass each other on the right. Especially since as soon as there is room on the right, slower cyclists will automatically move over for others to pass — often without checking behind them. Passing other cyclists on the left is really obligatory for safety and manners. It’s not really safe to pass another cyclist in the bike lane, unless you’re certain they know you’re about to do so. Like with any vehicle, all people have the responsibility to yield to those in front of them, pass them predictably, give plenty of room, signal, etc.
So as far as the way the fast cyclists treated the slow ones, their etiquette was good. As for cutting off motorists to do this, this seems a little shakier. Yes, it’s perfectly acceptable for a bicycle, like any vehicle, to signal and then to merge into traffic — and it’s very polite of traffic to let them in, just as you might let in someone in a car merging on the highway or out of a parking spot. I think the cyclists you mention in this anecdote were probably merging far too aggressively in this case, which is bad etiquette and somewaht unsafe, but not an unheard-of practice among drivers, either. They should have waited to make eye contact with you, or given you a chance to wave them into your lane. But their behavior was far from erratic or unpredictable.
In general, there need to be two bike lanes on busy roads like this, one for passing and one for traveling — especially if there are, as you say, as many cyclists as drivers.
Thanks for all the responses!
I was pissed when it occurred - then I thought later - maybe I should have been more forgiving and sharing of the road.
It seems maybe a combo of both - they were too aggressive - but I could have given them some space since I saw them ahead.
Some of the ideas Brett mentioned seem pretty realistic - and would make sense. Good luck to all the bike folks in getting that done!
Sounds to me like this rider did an aggresive lane change with a left turn hand signal. The aggressive lane change ie. cutting off a car, bike or pedestrian is bad etiquite. HAND SIGNALING IS NOT RUDE IT IS SAFE. Many auto drivers don’t seem to recognize the hand signals we all had to learn in drivers ed or long before that. I’m surprised to see Jonathan say hand gestures are rude most of the time. I see many riders use hand signals and I do too. If a driver dosn’t recognise a hand signal or a biker makes starts the signal and the move at the same time that is a problem
I agree with Mike, although I will single out busy streets without bike lanes. Take Hawthorne Blvd as an example. Bicyclists insist on riding on this street with 4 narrow lanes, lots of cars and Trimet. Yet just 4 blocks north and south of Hawthorne are pleasant bike streets with little traffic and no stop lights.