Posted on 06/14/2015 9:02:41 AM PDT by TurboZamboni
Yes, Maine has a three foot rule. I think it should be reformed, requiring the bicycle to give the car at least 3 feet.
Yesterday my SUV became a transcycle. It is allowed in the bike lanes now.
My Civic became a Formula One car.
The Mpls Star & Tribune always has articles on people riding their bicycles as if it is normal for an adult to ride to work or to go shopping. It isn’t. You ride bikes for fun and exercise. Where I work they are doing a road project, widening it a bit to add a divider for safety and adding drainage pipes. They always had a bike lane but the bike riders of course barely are in that lane. During the road project the lanes have been narrowed to just 2 and there is a sign that says and I kid you not that bike riders can use the full car lane.
Now imagine you are driving and come across a bike rider doing 5mph and traffic backed up because of them. I have during the months of this project.
Yes, good point. It should work both ways.
As a former competitive cyclist, (old school: hard clips, sew-up tires, the works) I can say whatever I want about the spandex holier-than-thou nazis. If you don't like what I say, tough noogies.
We also have a minimum distance....I think its four feet. There are two likely possibilities in the local case I cited. The driver may have been acting with malice - trying to blast by the rider as close as possible. Or he may have been taken by surprise....as far as I can put together this was eastbound in the morning, and the sun could have been a factor. Another important factor, IMHO, was the location. In Kansas we have alot of two lane roads with little shoulder designated as highways...and this road was one of those. And it was a few miles outside a small town - not many bikers. But some state organization was having a bike event in the area, bringing bikers in. I could certainly see how a driver could top a hill and be surprised to encounter a biker, especially on one of these remote highways.
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