Chances are if you are reading this you are part of the solution and not the problem. The vast majority of club and race team bicyclists operate within reason of what the law and safe practice require. As a LAB certified traffic skills educator I can say most of us probably have room for improvement, but that is a different topic.

This is about those who run red lights and stop signs without so much as a cursory squeeze of the brake handles. I’m not talking about riders who come to a red light which doesn’t sense them, wait out a couple of cycles and then treat it as a stop sign (technically illegal in Virginia). Or those who do a “California stop.” I’m talking about those of us who blaze through as if they are on their way to a half off sale down at the local bike shop or treat cycling as an extreme ‘X’ sport.

I understand the arguments about cyclists having better visibility and that we can’t create the kind of carnage and mayhem that a one ton car can make. And I do support steps taken in states such as Utah such as allowing bicyclists to treat certain traffic controls as yield or stop signs.

However, this is Virginia and until the law is changed we should abide by it unless a compelling case can be made that doing so would put a cyclist at grave risk. I don’t believe stopping for red lights or stop signs fits that description.

One would think that compliance is in our own best interests. After all, no one wants to be hit. But lately I’ve had more than one cyclist tell me that they routinely disregard these, rationalized by a perceived need for maintaining momentum.

It’s unfortunate that most police departments are strapped for manpower such that this isn’t enforced more. This disregard negates efforts to build respect with motorists by those who do ride lawfully.

How many times have you seen a motorist radically maneuver in an effort to avert a crash with a red light runner? If a driver and their family crash into a fixed object or another car in an effort to avoid a red light running cyclist, has any less damage and injury occurred than if a car had created the same situation?

A final point to consider is that I’ve been hearing of more cases where motorists or their insurance companies have sought compensation from at fault cyclists following a crash. This shouldn’t come as a surprise, after all we live in a society that puts a high value on personal responsibility. A bike operated on a public street or highway is considered a vehicle and as drivers of vehicles we should be held to the same standards we expect of others.

Same road, same rules, rights, and responsibilities. It works. Just do it.

This video does a great job showing just how far out into the roadway we need to ride, to avoid being “doored.” Please share it!

The instructor in this video is Preston Tyree, head of education (Smart Cycling, formerly BikeEd) for the League of American Bicyclists.

To the astonishment of many, a recent fatal accident involving a skilled cyclist legally using a public roadway did not result in any charges against the driver who hit him. According to the Commonwealth’s Attorney for Virginia Beach there are no laws protecting bicyclists, pedestrians or other non-motorized users of a public road from being struck by a vehicle whose driver plainly “didn’t see” the victim. Unless there is proof of gross negligence or circumstances such as alcohol, drugs, speed or an illegal maneuver on the part of the driver there are simply no provisions in state law to support bringing charges.

For the drivers that are cited, often times it is a mail in fine. It seems that killing a cyclist or runner doesn’t even merit a court appearance. Society is in effect saying to the driver “it’s ok that you killed someone, we understand.”

Whether the accident occurred through inattentiveness or incompetency, the driver doesn’t even merit a look by officials to see if they should continue to have a license. They are free to go back out and kill or injure someone else. In practice, Virginia law places seemingly little burden on drivers to be alert for and safely maneuver around other roadway users. The balance certainly seems tilted in the drivers favor.

This needs to be changed. Non-motorists using a road or street have every right to expect that drivers will be alert and avoid them. For those drivers who aren’t willing or are unable to comply, there needs to be a provision in state law where their driving skills are called into question and penalties applied.

One way this could be accomplished is by introducing what is termed a “vulnerable roadway user” into Virginia law. This defines a class of roadway users who are vulnerable to being killed or seriously injured by a car or truck. The definition can include pedestrians, runners, bicyclists, equestrians, highway workers, and even motorcycles and farm equipment.

In July 2007 Oregon enacted such a law (HB3314; ORS 801.608, ORS 811.135); there is also a similar bill working its way through the Texas legislature (SB488/HB827).  (VBF note — the Texas law was passed by the legislature with a healthy margin, but vetoed by the governor.) Oregon’s provisions include a mandatory court appearance, a one year suspension of driving privileges, and a $12,500 fine. It falls short of what many would like to see, but is a start.

Adoption of similar measures by Virginia would provide law enforcement with a useful tool for charging drivers who cause serious injury or death to other users of the public way. “I didn’t see him or her” will no longer be automatically excusable.

An internet search on this topic turns up plenty of background material, some of which I’ve repeated above (Ray Thomas; http://www.stc-law.com/vulnerable.html ). Do the reading, and if you agree and want to help change Virginia, please contact your state and local elected officials to seek their support.

There’s a lot of talk lately about sharrows — shared lane arrows — which are properly used instead of bike lanes to keep cyclists out of the “door zone,” and motorists aware of a cyclist’s proper place on the road.

Information on the web about sharrows has been sparse. But this video from the San Luis Obispo County Bike Coalition does a great job showing what a sharrow is, how it is used, and what it does.

We love sharrows, but we especially love good communication efforts like this!

Blacksburg has a sharrow project in the works — stay tuned.

A recent cyclist fatality in Virginia Beach has sparked much discussion about bike safety on our roads, cyclists’ rights on our roads, and the responsibility of drivers for cyclists’ safety.  This video, from the League of Illinois Bicyclists, gives a good overview for both drivers and cyclists:

This next video demonstrates riding safely on roads with heavy traffic and higher speeds.  Courtesy of CyclistView.

The Virginia Bicycling Federation (VBF) announces the creation of a bicycling education fund in remembrance of Daniel Wayne Hersh, an avid Virginia Beach cyclist who was killed by an overtaking motorist while bicycling locally on April 19.

We are deeply moved that Gregory and Stephen Hersh, the sons of the late Dan Hersh, have designated the Virginia Bicycling Federation as the recipient of memorial donations honoring their late father. VBF will dedicate these funds for bicycling education initiatives within Virginia–targeting motorists, law enforcement personnel, and/or bicyclists–with the goal of decreasing the incidence of future bicycling tragedies within our state.

Contributions to the Hersh Memorial Fund can be mailed to the Virginia Bicycling Federation at P.O. Box 5621, Arlington VA 22205-5621. To properly direct their contribution, donors need only include a simple note on their check stating “Hersh Memorial”. The Virginia Bicycling Federation is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, and all contributions to the Hersh Memorial Fund are tax deductible to the full extent of the law.

Every bicycling fatality is a tragedy, but nearly all bicycling crashes are preventable when motorists and bicyclists share our roadways lawfully, carefully, and courteously. The Virginia Bicycling Federation will proudly honor Dan Hersh’s memory by using this new fund to advance bicycling education and traffic justice and to otherwise enhance the rights and safety of bicyclists on Virginia’s roadways.

A memorial ride will be held Sunday, April 26, 8am, at Conte’s Bicycles in Virginia Beach.

“Cyclists fare best when they act and are treated as drivers of vehicles.” –John Forrester

This video by Brian D’Souza and Dan Gutierrez shows how, and why:

The discussion following this video on YouTube is well worth reading too, as it covers both California and Virginia law about lane position.

D’Souza and Gutierrez are doing great work with their Dual Chase View (TM) video technique. You can see some of their other videos at CyclistView, along with powerpoint presentations, and other bike safety training materials.

After many years where it was common knowledge through the halls of the State Legislature that “any bill restricting dogs that comes down here will soon be dead on arrival“, the highly publicized tragic death of the Fredericksburg woman and her pet dog after being mauled by a neighbor’s pit bull a couple of years ago has changed all that.That incident, more than anything, led to the passage of the bill, effective on July 1, 2006 which established a “Dangerous Dog Registry” and actually went quite a bit further. Rather than publish the bill in its entirety here, I urge all of you to go to the www.vdacs.virginia.gov website and print a copy of the three page bill for yourself, while I will briefly summarize it and give a few suggestions here.

Note the definitions, wherein a “Dangerous” dog is one who “has bitten, attacked, or inflicted injury on a person“; while a ”Vicious“ dog is one who ”has killed a person, inflicted serious injury, or continued to exhibit behavior that resulted in a previous finding that it is a dangerous dog“.

Since this law is relatively new, police, animal control officers, and judges have not yet had much experience with it, so it will be helpful if you are familiar with it, so you can coach them along. Note that in Section B, only a “law-enforcement or animal control officer ……. shall apply to a magistrate of the jurisdiction for the issuance of a summons requiring the owner ….. to appear before court, etc.“ Since I have found it very difficult to contact the animal control officers in some jurisdictions, I would suggest anyone trying to do so should call 911 and report an “attack” to the law enforcement dept. and let them get the animal control officer involved, which they seem to be quickly able to do. I would assume from reading the act that any rider who has been bitten certainly can make a case for a dog to be declared “dangerous”. I would also assume that a rider who’s bike has been run into, or under, by a dog, and caused to fall, could make a good case that they have been “attacked”. If, however, the dog has run at your bike, but not bitten or caused you to fall, I would think it would be very difficult to take that to a point where the dog would be adjudged “Dangerous”. I’ll be interested in hearing from any of our attorneys in the club, as to how they view this legislation.

Print the act and read it closely, so that anyone who is bitten or knocked over by a dog from now on will know the serious consequences, including registration with a $50 fee; maintaining $100,000 in liability insurance coverage; confinement, leashing and muzzling requirements; and fines for failure to do so, that will burden the owner of that dog if it is found to be “dangerous” (and possible euthanization, if the dangerous dog repeats its behavior and is found to be “vicious”).

Please contact me if you are involved in any such incidents, so we can see if we can establish a few precedents using this law. As with all such situations, there is some effort and inconvenience involved in waiting for police and animal control to arrive at the scene, and appearing in court later. However, if we can get a dog or two in our area adjudged to be “Dangerous”, and publicize it, the word might get around to the dog owners in the rural areas, resulting in fewer dogs running loose, and chasing cyclists.

Update: we have a new page on this subject, covering what cyclists should do after a dog incident.