DR. GRIDLOCK Cyclists, Drivers and Predestrians: Can't We All Just Get Along?

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Dear Dr. Gridlock:

I read with interest your recent column, “Cyclist Pushed Quest for Respect Back a Few Miles” concerning a complaint about cyclists who, while on the road, pass stopped motorists waiting at a light.

In your reply, you failed to point out that this practice, which is perhaps inconsiderate, is perfectly legal. In fact, some cities are installing bike boxes at intersections to make this practice safer. Bike boxes provide an area for cyclists to wait at the light and allow cyclists to regain their speed and balance before motorists attempt to accelerate past them. This makes it safer for all traffic to get moving once the light turns green.

The real problem, it seems, is that the road was not designed to make it easy for motorists to safely and easily pass cyclists. This is a problem for everyone. It will not be solved until motorists and cyclists decide to work together to solve it.

Jonathan Krall, Alexandria

The letter writer, Melanie Snyder of Vienna, noted that “While we wait for the green, the cyclist passes all the waiting cars, sometimes running through the red light,” which wouldn’t be legal anywhere.

Bike boxes, also known as advanced stop lines, are a great idea. At a traffic signal, they give cyclists room up ahead of the cars to make safe turns and generally make the cyclists more visible to motorists. Bicycling enthusiasts point out to me that intersections are very dangerous places for bikers, and we need to engineer improvements throughout the region.

Dear Dr. Gridlock:

I fully sympathize with Melanie, and your answer was quite good, with one exception. You volunteered that “bicyclists are allowed to switch from street to sidewalk and back.” You did add, “as long as they are following the rules in each case, such as yielding to pedestrians on sidewalks.” But I can tell you that bicyclists in my neighborhood, Dupont Circle, will read only the first part and have one more bit of ammunition for their flagrantly illegal behavior. We even have bike lanes for them, and they still swoop out from behind cars when there is a red light, run the light, then go up the ramp in the sidewalk and ride on the sidewalk without slowing down or watching for pedestrians.

I look both ways on one-way streets and try to see whether any bikes are coming up to the light from behind stopped cars before walking with my pedestrian signal. But I have almost been hit several times and have seen others lose their balance trying to get out of cyclists’ way.

The worst thing is that you can never predict which rules a particular bicyclist is going to disobey.

The only solution I have come up with that might work is bike licenses. We had them in Ohio when I was a kid. We could get them from bike shops when the bike was purchased, provided we were able to recite the basic rules of bicycling.

Jeanne M. Mallett, The District

Safe cycling, like safe driving and safe walking, requires engineering, education and enforcement. Like Krall, I’d like to see more engineering, and, like Mallett, I’d like to see more education and enforcement.

I felt no more sympathy for the protests about the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office ticketing several cyclists who police said ran stop signs while participating in a charity ride than I would for any motorist ticketed for a rolling stop.

Dear Dr Gridlock:

My wife and I enjoy walking along the Potomac River, in Rock Creek Park and at the Georgetown waterfront, but the chaos, lack of courtesy and downright flouting of regulations and courtesy are turning me into a grumpy old man.

Twice on the Georgetown walkway, by the boathouse, restaurants and boat moorings, my wife has been clipped by bicycle commuters who kept going, despite plain signs on every single lamppost clearly warning that biking is prohibited and bikes must be walked.

Once I even encountered a D.C. police officer and appealed to him to enforce the prohibition. He responded that the bicyclists were simply too numerous to police, even though there is a clear and safe legal detour along 29th Street by the Swedish Embassy to K Street and thence to the Capital Crescent Bike Trail.

Richard Schroeder, Washington

So much for that third E that I cited in the previous response.

Dr. Gridlock also appears Sundays in the Metro section. Comments and questions are welcome and may be used in a column, along with the writer’s name and home community. Personal responses are not always possible. To contact Dr. Gridlock:

By mail: Write to Dr. Gridlock at The Washington Post, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071

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