I watched the video with horror, then shock, then anger, then − finally − judgment against my own people.
The SUV vs. the cyclists.
Earlier this month in Georgia, there was a confrontation between a motorist driving an SUV and bike riders in a small pack, which was captured on video, and it serves as the perfect reminder that it is officially cycling season. There are laws that permit cyclists to use the same streets as motor vehicles.
The footage out of Georgia shows a driver passing a cluster of cyclists and crossing over a double yellow line on a two-lane road. The SUV sideswipes one of the cyclists in the process. Most of the riders were two-by-two on the road, and going up a slight incline, so there wasn’t room for the SUV to legally pass.
Jake Newborn, the assistant director of the Wisconsin Bike Fed, was alerted to the video − which drew great interest on social media − by the Journal Sentinel and helped sort out the situation.
“The behavior of using a multi-ton vehicle to intentionally harm others is not OK whether or not those cyclists are following the rules or not,” Newborn said.
There are Wisconsin laws that protect cyclists, but I am constantly − internally − debating my own thoughts on cycling etiquette and consideration that must be taken by both the drivers of vehicles and the cyclists, in my opinion.
I’m just a recreational cyclist who has done a number of rides and races. But when I was about 11 years old, I was hit by a car while riding my bike on 27th Street on Milwaukee’s south side. I was biking on the right side, in the same direction as the traffic, when a car sped out of the main lane to try to pass another vehicle, and hit me. The motorist left the scene without checking on me, but I was fortunate to be picked up by Milwaukee police and had minor injuries.
That one incident forever affects my confidence − and the risks I just won’t take, even if there are laws.
Still, let’s review those important laws:
You can ride two-by-two
In the Georgia incident, most of the riders are riding two-by-two, and they’re climbing a slight hill.
In Wisconsin, those riders have the right to ride as it is shown in the video.
“In Wisconsin, riding two abreast is permitted on any street, as long as other traffic is not impeded,” Newborn said. “You both have to ride within a single lane. That means both riders should stay in that lane − and not take on multiple lanes.”
Impeding is the gray area
Newborn said this is the tricky part: the interpretation of “impeding.” Can a vehicle get around the two-by-two riders? Or are the two-by-two riders blocking traffic? If so, they should drop back in to single file to make it easier for the motorist to pass.
“The impeding is kind of a more of a subjective issue,” Newborn said. “Is there a couple seconds that the motorist is held up? Do you give the cyclists time to go back to single file, to get around? Those are just a couple of situational-awareness issues that might apply.”
In the case of that Georgia video, the riders did not fall back. But even in single file, it was unlikely there was enough room for the SUV to pass without illegally crossing the double line.
The law in Wisconsin is that the motorist is supposed to wait behind the riders.
Motorist is supposed to wait behind
When cyclists are present, cars are supposed to wait until it is legally safe to pass. That might mean waiting for the cyclists to drop back in single file or it might mean waiting for cyclists to climb an incline. It might even mean waiting if the cyclists aren’t following their own rules.
It might mean an agonizingly slow crawl at 12 to 15 mph for a while until the horizon clears, and that’s where I don’t trust half of the impatient and inconsiderate motorists out there.
“I don’t think that gives anyone the right to endanger others’ lives,” Newborn said. “Whoever’s right in that case, I think that the car should act with caution. The safest thing, the most ideal situation, would be the car should wait, to go slow and be behind. Maybe they shouldn’t be passing with the double line, because they can’t see, and they don’t want to harm another human being who is riding.
“You should give this cyclist a proper amount of time to then maybe go back to single file, move over a little bit, and then allow other cars some space to go.
“So if they cannot accomplish a legal passing of more than three feet away from you − due to the environmental factors − they should not be passing. And the cyclist has every legal right to operate in taking that lane, if there’s a lot of gravel. You’re not required to ride in the ditch on the side of the road or there’s a bunch of glass or gravel there.”
Here’s my beef with the cyclists
There’s a saying: You can be right and you can be dead right.
In that Georgia video, when the cyclist fell after the SUV collision, another rider immediately proclaimed he got it on video. That’s good, of course, the video provides a few seconds of the interaction, but it was also weird. What events happened between the cyclists and the SUV that led to someone preparing to shoot video? And why was that the first reaction − to state that it was recorded − and not to assist the fallen cyclist to make sure he was OK?
I wanted the Georgia riders to fall back in to single file, all of them, to indicate that they were aware of a motorist nearby, and a willingness to be considerate. Fall back as a goodwill gesture: “I will move over; you will not hit me” kind of thing. Why test the patience of a stranger in an SUV?
“I would say that there’s some sort of etiquette aspect where you’re riding in a group,” Newborn said, “you’re two abreast, you realize you’re in a situation that it will be difficult for that car to pass. You should be cognizant of that situation, and then single file up for a little bit, allow that car to get through, and then you can go back to two abreast.
“If we want the motorist to be nice, you know, we need to be a little nice, too.”
This would solve everything
The best answer, of course, would be to cover the world with bike lanes.
“The United States has historically, heavily subsidized the auto industry and making space for people to drive and making that it is the easy option,” Newborn said. “We have not prioritized separated, protected facilities for bicycling, like you may see in Copenhagen or Paris.
“I do think it makes it easier for people of all ages and abilities to get out and ride their bike and feel safe and be a little safer from automobile traffic. I’m sure a lot of drivers would like cyclists to be separated. I think that there’s drivers that get a little nervous − the good ones who don’t want to hurt anyone.”
That creates a need for an organization like the Wisconsin Bike Fed, which advocates education for drivers and cyclists, engineering for bike lanes and law enforcement from the police. Finally, the organization evaluates and considers areas that might have the most crashes.
“It doesn’t hurt to slow down and take it easy,” Newborn said.
For more information:
https://wisconsinbikefed.org/what-we-do/advocacy/wisconsin-bike-pedestrian-crash-map/ https://www.nhtsa.gov/road-safety/bicycle-safety https://transportal.cee.wisc.edu/partners/community-maps/crash/search/BasicSearch.do
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Internal debate between my rights vs my instincts as a cyclist | Lori Nickel
Reporting by Lori Nickel, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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