Cyclists’ Responsibilities

Bicycling in itself is not inherently dangerous. But to an even greater degree than the sea, it is terribly unforgiving of carelessness, incapacity, or neglect.
Mangled from a quote by Anonymous on Aviation



It’s a great honor to be the Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Officer for the State of Nevada. I love the job and try to fight hard for all of you, my fellow cyclists throughout the state. However, (this word generally denotes the author is going to get preachy) every once in a while you folks can be a pain in the rear, and I don’t mean the good kind you get after a long satisfying ride.

Right from the get-go, there are some folks that shouldn’t read this column. Those of you that see yourself as an oppressed minority and therefore entitled to do almost anything in traffic, stop reading right now. For those of you that believe, “It’s just a bike, traffic rules are for cars” move on. You folks that believe, since you are riding for exercise and therefore doing something good for yourself and the environment so the petty rules of traffic don’t apply, tune out. Or maybe you are the people that should be reading. For the rest of you (us), find one of the above, sit on him or her and read this to them.

We’re burying too many cyclists this year. Way too many. Thus far this year we’ve had six cyclist fatalities. Last year we had four. One is one too many. From a quick review of the crash reports, the crashes were overwhelmingly, the fault of the cyclists. They violated some pretty basic rules of traffic and, unfortunately, paid the ultimate price. If a random sampling of cyclist behavior that I’ve seen and other cyclist friends, such as your President, have reported to me is anything to go on, it’s getting worse. I just finished talking to Eric Glick, our State Bike/Ped Coordinator about this and he thinks so too.

Here’s a BFO (Blinding Flash of the Obvious) we all need to remember. “Cyclists fare best when they act like, and are treated as drivers of vehicles.” No joke. The fact that cyclists are about a thousand times more vulnerable than motor vehicles only adds to the reality of this quote.

When someone asks me what to do in a specific cycling situation, I always ask, “What would you do if you were driving?” Nine out of ten times or more, the person asking comes up with the right answer. It’s not a knowledge deficiency we’re dealing with here, it’s and attitude problem.

Obey traffic rules. Stop at Stop signs and red lights. Get into the proper lane before you make a turn or, if you can’t get over to make a left turn at an intersection, get off your bike and cross as a pedestrian. Ride on the right where we all look for you and where you are supposed to be by law.

We have a great set of bicycle laws here in Nevada. If you’re unfamiliar with them, I’ll be glad to send you a copy. We distribute about 10,000 a year to the public. The laws are there to keep you alive. They haven’t failed and aren’t the reason we’re loosing so many cyclists.

I read all the fatality reports on every cyclist and pedestrian killed in Nevada. I’ve got too much reading material this year, way too much. For every death there is usually a grieving family, a shocked and distraught motorist, a law enforcement officer that has to investigate the crash and medical personnel that respond to the scene and do their best to save the victims. These tragedies take a toll on everyone they touch. That toll is preventable. Don’t violate the law and don’t tolerate others that do. Report them to the police and demand that action be taken, it might just save that cyclists’ life down the road.

Remember, we don’t call them accidents, accidents just happen, crashes are always preventable.

(October 2002)