this post was submitted on 28 Feb 2024
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There's really no winning as a cyclist when most people are in cars. If you stop at all stop signs, and obey they right-of-way, people will yell at you and/or try to wave you through ahead of your turn dangerously. If you do an Idaho stop (which is the safest way to approach a stop, whether it's legal or not), people will honk and yell at you and possibly try to run you off the road.
I used to commute by bike a lot during rush hour. If there was a lineup of cars waiting at a red-light, and I just waited in line, people in cars behind me would honk at me as if me preventing them from being one cars-length further ahead in line would somehow affect them. If I filtered forward, like I should, people would actually edge their cars over to try and block me.
I think for the most part, it's misplaced anger from drivers who don't want to face the fact that they are the source of danger on roads. The worst bicycle collision is way less severe than a car crash. They also really hate when bicyclists can get anywhere faster than them, which is often the case because it shows them just how much time they waste being traffic.
what's an Idaho stop?
If you are on a bike, you treat stop signs as yields, and red lights as stop signs. Iit has been shown to be safer.
If it were codified like this as law everywhere, people would accept it better. The rule breaking is what pisses a lot of people off. It would be much more predictable and safer too.
Yeah, the government needs to get behind it (and tell people about it). I've come up to stop signs before, and been nearly run over from behind by cars that didn't expect me to stop.
I have literally never seen this hypothetical 'rules following' cyclists, but I do have several dings on my car from cyclist's lane splitting in traffic, which is illegal in our state.
You know, I was actually curious about the legality of lane splitting. I've never really done it cause I never bike on roads with more than one lane in each direction. I looked it up state-by-state (all 50), looking only at the actual law, or official state department of transportation documents.
I did not see a single law that prohibits bicycles from lane splitting. Most states that have laws against lane splitting specify that it applies to "motorcycles". Most states are literally just copy-pasted from each other.
Another good chunk of states say that "vehicles" can't lane split, but the official legal definition (which I checked for each state) specifically excludes human-powered devices like bikes from being called "vehicles". In those states, e-bikes and other motorized bicycles would not be allowed to lane split.
One state (virginia) even goes so far to have a law that explicitly states that lane splitting is legal on bikes.
None of that means that you won't get harassed by cops, but it's at least fair to say that there is no state where lane splitting on a regular bicycle is illegal.
if you can get a dui on a bike it is a vehicle, there is no exemption for bike-type vehicles on lane splitting. There ARE exemptions for lane splitting on motorcycles in stupid places like California.
I literally just looked it up for every state. I found no state with a law against lane splitting for bicycles. It's legal in every state.