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Cyclists must come to a complete stop at red traffic lights. If there is no traffic coming the other way, they can proceed while the light is still red. Cyclists don’t have to come to a complete stop at stop signs, as long as there is no other traffic coming the other way/Idaho Press Tribune. More rules of the road here.
Question: How well do you know the rules of the road for bicycles?
D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.
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Frum Helen Back on June 25 at 10:51 a.m.
Thanks for this. I emailed the link to my husband who loves going for long rides on his bike.
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Lewis on June 25 at 10:56 a.m.
I know they don’t belong in my lane! What is with the bike riders that think they can ride in the vehicle lanes?
I followed a guy up the Monroe street hill the other day he was riding in the inside lane right in the middle and at the crest of the hill he was going 2 miles an hour.
If they want to ride in the vehicle lanes then they should get a license plate and pay 100 bucks a year like I do for the tabs. Also then they would have to have insurance.
Kind if takes all the reasons to ride for economy out of the equation.
I am not against bike riders but feel they should obey the same laws I do if they expect me to give them the right of way, HONK!
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Lewis on June 25 at 11:03 a.m.
I will never forget when I was about 10 years old I was riding my bike down Olympic hill at the bottom was a stop sign at Driscoll Blvd. I looked both ways and no one was coming so I just zipped right through.
Two blocks from home I heard a siren and a motorcycle cop (that is when they rode Harleys) pulled alongside and told me to stop. He told me that bike riders had to obey the same laws as vehicles. That was 45 years ago.
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Sisyphus on June 25 at 11:06 a.m.
Down boy. I don't know how you acquired ownership of the lane. Last I checked we all pay taxes for the roads.
Having said that, it was most discourteous and maybe even illegal for him not to move over as far as he could to the right to allow you to pass. Unless of course he was about to turn left and then he was within his rights. You in a big hurry? He has every much right to the lane as you do. And really he should get some credit for making your air cleaner and reducing our dependence on foreign oil.
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moscow_minidoka on June 25 at 11:28 a.m.
Jeez, Lewis, I hope I'm never riding my bike while you're driving. You sound like the kind of person who would throw empty beer cans at cyclists… that cyclist had just as much right to be in that lane as you and your car.
Perhaps he *was* rude and shouldn't have been hogging the lane… but what's with this double standard? A couple of bicyclists don't behave and 3/4 of the “patient” folks in the Inland Empire clamor to get all bikes off the roads and/or to stick 'em with a bunch of financial disincentives so they “learn their lesson.”
My god, how many bad DRIVERS do I see on any given day, regardless of whether I'm on my bike or in my car? Don't be such a hypocrite. Easily half of the motorists I encounter on a daily basis shouldn't be behind the wheel (because they are distracted, texting, eating, on the phone, gesturing with both hands, smoking while texting, etc) and I don't call for the immediate banning of ALL CARS from the roadways so that bicyclists and pedestrians can go about their business without the threat of death at the hands of idiots with licenses and insurance.
Good grief - get some perspective!
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moscow_minidoka on June 25 at 11:29 a.m.
“I am not against bike riders but feel they should obey the same laws I do if they expect me to give them the right of way, HONK!”
So, is there a law that cars cannot be in the inside lane of the Monroe Street Hill going 2 mph? Because you obviously haven't followed my wife's grandfather as he drives around Spokane…
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marmitetoasty on June 25 at 11:34 a.m.
I think the problem lies with you all riding ya bikes on the wrong side of the road :)… no wonder there is so many accidents..
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Sisyphus on June 25 at 11:58 a.m.
Well at least we have sides to our roads marmite. Some of yours are barely wide enough for a bike. ;-)
When you come to the states, do you drive? I recall as a passenger in England I was constantly pounding my leg into the floor reaching for the brake. I had no inclination to drive over there.
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marmitetoasty on June 25 at 1:11 p.m.
Sis……. 4 years ago I drove me maties big car whilst in the states, but they would only let me drive it on a straight part of road and they well nearly had a fit when we got to a junction and I asked which part of the rode was I suppose to head towards LOL
and me matie 2 summers ago in Maine only let me drive his car on his private track in the woods….. but I will add, when he went into a DIY shop once me and me lad stayed in the car in the car park and I jumped into the drivers seat and drove the car around the car park and parked at the opposite end from where it was first park :)
Bloody spoil sports…….. I would be ok, I think, but might get a bit confused trying to go round the wrong way at a roundabout and trying to figure out a mirror image at junctions LOL AND you have them funny dangly traffic lights that hang across the road on wires WTF is that about :)
Next time I will hire a car when in the states, cos it means ya less tied with what ya hosts are doing :)
I will add, Ive a very good driver, and have driven all sorts of vehicles up to HGV licence, and can tow a 26 caravan without even knowings its hanging on the back of me car :) - and I use to drive our HUGE fully loaded plant nursery lorries….. and yes, I can park and reverse way better then most blokes… *ha
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Sisyphus on June 25 at 1:14 p.m.
I don't doubt that for a second.
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marmitetoasty on June 25 at 1:15 p.m.
Sis - I did also notice that your roads are wellabit wide lol even the roads that went through little villages…. and whats with that not being allowed to walk across the road as and where ya please, and ya have to cross the road at a crossing point…. I thought me maties were joking when they told me off for walking across the road instead of walking all the way down the road to the traffice lights to cross….. now that is just plain daft….well it was until a copper stopped me half way across the road and called me a jaywalker and I told him me name was not jay :)
Our narrow lanes around here that are only wide enough for one car or van do have passing places cut out into the hedges for passing :)…. rule of the lanes….. if you meet another vehicle coming towards you….. the one to back up to a passing spot is the one that is driving UP an incline, if you are the car driving DOWN then you have right of way…..
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MichaelSnyder on June 25 at 1:33 p.m.
Did you know that Washington and Idaho have different laws for people on bicycles? http://apps.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.as…
When riding a bicycle in Washington, it is perfectly legal to take the entire lane if you are traveling at the speed of traffic, or if you are planning to turn, or if the far right isn't safe. It isn't safe to hug the curb behind a row of parked cars because you are invisible to cars behind you. It isn't safe to hug the curb around a corner because car drivers often cut the corner and their visibility is limited. Some states have “far to the right” verbage and others have “as near to the right as is practicable” language.
In Idaho, cyclists can treat stop signs as yield signs, but in Washington they need to stop.
Most of the bicycle riders that I see running stop lights don't know how to trip the light. There is a little sensor loop in the pavement by the lights. Most of them are triggered by the presence of a little bit of metal, not the weight of a car. If you couldn't figure out how to get the light to turn for you, you'd run it too, but how would you know?
The Bicycle Alliance of Washington has a good list of bicycle laws: http://bicyclealliance.org/safety/rcw…
One of the challenges is that the laws are somewhat different from state to state and even between cities and counties. In one city it is illegal to ride on the sidewalk and in the next it is legal to ride on the sidewalk but it is illegal to bicycle without wearing a helmet.
Bicyclists fare best when they act as, and are treated as, drivers of vehicles. If you want to learn better cycling, consider taking a class from a League of American Bicyclists certified instructor: http://www.bikeleague.org/programs/ed…
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Cis on June 25 at 8:11 p.m.
I am a curb hugger bike rider…. and I wish there was the option of riding the bike opposite direction that the cars go. I want to look that driver in the eye and make sure he/she sees me. It is unnerving to have a car come up behind you and you wonder if they are paying attention or not. I walk across intersections. Unless it is in Kootenai… then I ride thru stop signs, if no cars are near.
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