http://www.alligator.org/opinion/columns/article_32fecd44-064e-11e4-9481-001a4bcf887a.htmlDrivers: Share the road with cyclists — it’s the law
Posted: Tuesday, July 8, 2014 12:00 am
On June 29, an older man in a red Jeep laid on his horn behind a Jimmy John’s bicycle deliverer on University Avenue.
The
driver sped down University around the cyclist, who was riding in the
lane once the light had turned green, close enough for the cyclist to
touch the Jeep.
Witnesses said the driver attempted to open his
door onto the cyclist, intending to push him off his bike onto the road,
but the cyclist was focused on getting off of the main road.
The Jeep followed him.
Gunning it, the Jeep flew past the cyclist and swerved in front of him — slamming his brakes.
That
caused the cyclist to crash into the back of the vehicle and ricochet
off into the lane of oncoming traffic, hitting another car before he
fell off his bike and scraped his shoulder and back across the hot
asphalt. The driver emerged from the Jeep and yelled at the cyclist but
quickly silenced when he realized there were witnesses to his attempt on
the cyclist’s life.
The driver walked away with a citation, attributing his episode to road rage.
The
cyclist left the scene with hundreds of dollars in damage to his bike
that he bought with tips from happy college students, blood on his
shirt, a lost shift and a trip to the emergency room.
And I got a
call from the cyclist, my boyfriend of almost four years, with his
steady voice telling me he had been assaulted by a vehicle but would be
OK.
“What does OK mean?” I asked. Does he have internal bleeding? How fast can I get to him? Was he breaking any laws? Then:
Is
he OK to ride his bike still? Will he still be able to pick me up and
swing me around? Is his shoulder still strong enough to play tug-of-war
with my Boston terrier, Buddy?
Luckily, he really is OK.
Road rage isn’t an excuse for trying to kill someone. And ignorance of road rules is not an excuse for road rage.
“The most basic right of all vehicle operators, including bicyclists, is that they are entitled to the use of the roadway.”
Flbikelaw.org
outlines basic statutes of cycling laws from the Florida Legislature
and offers easy-to-understand translations of the legal language.
Being
entitled to the use of the roadway has many responsibilities, a few
being cyclists and drivers must obey all traffic signals, if you intend
to pass a vehicle, there must be enough clearance, (to pass a cyclist,
there must be 3 feet between you and the bicycle) and both cyclists and
drivers must move with the flow of traffic.
But maybe the most relevant:
“Bicyclists
in narrow lanes are not required to keep right or ride single file,
regardless of the presence of drivers desiring to go faster. (A)
bicyclist must only move right and ride single file if the lane is wide
enough to share.“
“A bicyclist remaining far to the right in a
narrow lane is at risk of unwittingly encouraging drivers to attempt to
unlawfully and unsafely pass within the lane.”
Gainesville is No. 37 on
Bicycling.com’s list of most bike-friendly cities.
Keeping
these statutes in mind can help make this community better and safer,
but driving your more-than-4,000-pound Jeep at a cyclist really just
takes away from the magic of the ranking.
So that cyclist who is “in your way”? That cyclist has the same right to be on the road as you do.
[Emily Cardinali is the Alligator copy desk chief. A version of this story ran on page 7 on 7/8/2014 under the headline "Drivers: Share the road with cyclists — it’s the law"]