Share the road

There are many signs telling us that spring is here...the plants are turning green again, the jackets are being put in the closet, and the bikers are returning to our streets.

Last week, Minneapolis held an event entitled "Share the Road" and it involved bringing awareness to drivers about keeping an eye out for the two-wheelers. While I wholeheartedly agree that some drivers need to be more conscious of bikers on the streets, I am dismayed that this event did not focus on bikers sharing the road with drivers. While this is not an attack on all bikers, there are some who pedal around our city acting as though they have the right of way in every situation. There are bikers who refuse to use the bike paths and bike lanes built solely for their use and instead insist on riding in the middle of the street, well below the posted speed limit, creating significant traffic disturbance from all directions. There are also those who refuse to follow the rules of the road by failing to use the appropriate hand signals to indicate turns and by neglecting the stop lights and stop signs posted for all traffic control.

This has been a huge "pet peeve" of mine for years. However, it really came to a head last weekend.

I live in the Warehouse district in downtown Minneapolis. There are bike lanes all over my neighborhood. I know where they are, despite the fact that they are rarely used by those who ride their bikes. On Friday night, I was driving to meet my family for my boyfriend's birthday dinner. While turning right onto Third Avenue from North Second Street, I paused at a green light to allow a young woman to walk through the crosswalk. I was completely stopped when, all of a sudden, I saw a flash out of the corner of my eye and felt something hit my car. When I looked to my right, I noticed a very angry biker screaming at me. He had run his bike into the passenger side of my car. At this point, I was completely uncertain as to what had transpired based on the fact that I was at a complete stop when I was hit.

After exiting my vehicle, I was subjected to a tirade by this biker, telling me that he had the right-of-way, despite the fact that he had a red light at the intersection for the direction he was headed. After being subjected to several derogatory comments about the kind of woman I was, his argument boiled down to the fact that he had every right to ram my car because he had a bike lane. However, I wasn't in his bike lane, but merely making a right onto a street under heavy construction. If I had been infringing on his lane in any way, it was only to avoid the large orange cones and the steady stream of oncoming traffic. After being threatened with legal action, I snapped.

My frustration stems from the fact that, yes, we are supposed to share the road with bikers. This means that bikers need to share the road with cars. It does not mean one needs to intentionally ram his bike into a vehicle. This man should have stopped. He shouldn't have hit my car. Can you imagine if drivers chose to intentionally hit other cars because of gridlock traffic or a car stopped at a yellow light instead of speeding through it? What would happen if a driver hit a biker because he was riding in the middle of the street at a significantly slower speed? Perhaps this man had a bad day and I was simply on the receiving end of his meltdown. But, this really speaks to a larger issue that needs to be addressed:

1. If bikers are going to ride on the streets, they need to follow the street signs and traffic lights. This is for the safety of all drivers and pedalers. They need to use hand signals to indicate which direction they are turning. Drivers are required to use their turn signals and bikers should follow the same rules of the road.

2. If bikers aren't riding at the posted speed limit, move to the side of the road. This again, is a simple traffic law. Slower traffic should move to the right and allow for the faster moving traffic to pass on the left. Forcing a car to pass a biker in a lane of oncoming traffic is not safe for either the biker or the driver.

If bikers refuse to follow the rules of the road, they should be given a moving violation.

3. Use the bike paths. I will never understand why a biker chooses to ride in the street, right next to a perfectly good bike path. Using words like "on your left" clears up any traffic that may be moving slower on the paths.

4. Stop weaving in and out of traffic. Cars are watching you to see what you're doing, trying to avoid hitting you, and not necessarily paying attention to what else is going on around them. If there are bike lanes, I don't understand why bikers don't use them.

5. Lastly, to the man who hit me, get over yourself. You ride a bike in spandex. You aren't Master of the Universe and your bike does not entitle you to special privileges. You were wrong. Attempting to demean me and humiliate me doesn't make you a bigger person or make it right to yell at me.

And, like I told you that night, I'm a lawyer...I love a good fight. So bring on the law suit.