Is a bicycle a pedestrian…
Or more importantly, is a bicycle a pedestrian when in the crosswalk?
As almost nobody knows or cares about, I commute on a bicycle. When I ride my bike, just about every day I have to dodge a car, pedestrian, other biker, or random obstacle from outer space. Alien probings and zombie attacks are quite rare, but now that summer is here hardly a day goes by when I don’t have to dodge a bicycle doing something idiotic.
The most common thing bikers do to annoy me is run red lights. And stop signs. And just generally ignore all the laws. There are two problems with this. First, of course, it’s illegal: bikes are supposed to be the same as cars. More importantly, it makes cars resent bikers. It’s dangerous enough out here without people actually aiming for me on purpose!
The most annoying biker is the one that rides in the bike lane…going the wrong direction. This biker never has a helmet, rarely has a headlight, and sometimes expects me to swerve into traffic to go around him. I put my head down and play chicken in this case.
But the one that confuses me most is the biker who rides on the sidewalk. Now, in some parts of town, this is legal. However, when this biker enters the crosswalk, (s)he expects to get the right of way. Half the time this is a nice cruiser bike, with a very nice person wearing a helmet on it. But then they act like they have the right of way, and ride right out in front of you. What makes this most annoying, though, is that I can’t decide whether they do.
So, the question of the day is: If you ride your bike carefully out into the middle of the street in a crosswalk, do you have the right of way?
