The Wise Drive

Q: I am fearful as a driver, especially during the short daylight time of year when I see so many bicyclists wearing dark clothing, and with no reflectors, taillights or headlights. Are there no laws requiring lights and/or reflectors on bicycles at night and if there are, why are violators not cited by law enforcement more often?

A: Years ago I took a bike ride in a new-to-me part of our fine state. Given the route, I was sure I would get back before dark. And from this setup, you already know I didn’t. Well into the ride I came to a tee in the road that I didn’t remember on the map. To the left was a sign that read, “Watch for bears,” so I went right, and ended up going miles in the wrong direction. By the time I got reoriented I knew I’d be ending this ride in the dark. And as a committed daytime-only rider, I didn’t have lights on my bike.

The fear you (and many of us drivers) have about unlit cyclists at night does not compare to how I felt knowing I was nearly invisible on a rural, unlit road. I ended up walking a good stretch while using the flashlight on my phone so drivers could see me. This was years ago, and I still remember the happy feeling of reaching a road with streetlights and a sidewalk.

It was that fear, and not the law, that prompted me to equip my bike with lights. But there is a law. When riding “during the hours of darkness” bikes need a headlight, visible for at least 500 feet, and a red rear reflector, visible for at least 600 feet. In addition to the rear reflector, cyclists can also add a steady or flashing red rear light.

Why don’t cyclists always have lights and reflectors? It could be inexperience. I didn’t think I’d need a light on my bike, until I did. But also, people ride bikes for a lot of reasons; fun, exercise, mental health, convenience, reducing your carbon footprint, it’s cheaper than owning a car. There’s also a subset of bike riders that are on a bike because they lost their privilege to drive. The same folks that were making poor driving decisions are now making poor biking decisions.

Yes, cyclists need to follow the law. At the same time, us drivers are the ones with a license, which implies both adequate knowledge and an understanding of the responsibility involved in piloting a multi-ton projectile. A cyclist’s ignorance, or even disregard, of the risks can put them in a dangerous situation, but the damage comes from the 6000-pound SUV that they collide with. I’m not trying to place or shift blame; this is just a reminder that it takes all of us to make our roads safer.

As to why bike light laws aren’t enforced more, I can’t speak on behalf of law enforcement agencies. However, if I were in charge of prioritizing traffic enforcement in a police department, I’d want to be informed by crash data. Last year 18 cyclists were killed in crashes in Washington. Meanwhile, 141 motorcyclists, 157 pedestrians, and 493 drivers or occupants of vehicles died in crashes. The top contributing factors were impairment, speed, distraction, and lack of seatbelt use. Those aren’t just data points; they’re our friends, family, and neighbors. When an officer stops a cyclist riding at night without a light they might save a life; when a department prioritizes enforcement of the top contributing factors to fatal crashes they can save a lot of lives.

Q: I’ve seen some tiny car-like vehicles available in Europe (from Citroen and Fiat, for example), called quadricycles. Any chance we’ll see those in the US any time soon? Are they street-legal here?

A: I don’t know how interested a car manufacturer like Fiat or Citroen is in importing their tiny quadricycles into a market that’s obsessed with giant SUVs and pickups, even if they could. But in Washington you’d be allowed to drive one on the road, with limitations, if you could get one (and that’s the tricky part).

Continue reading “Tiny Transportation”

Q: What are the rules on what bike lanes can be used for?  I’ve scoured state and local codes and can find no mention of this.  Surely, they are reserved at least to some degree for bikes.

A: Obviously, you can’t drive in a bike lane, right? That would defeat the whole point of having them. But where does the law say that? You’d think there would be a law in the traffic code that says, “Don’t drive in the bike lanes.” If there is, I couldn’t find it. But it must be on the books somewhere, because the Washington Driver Guide says it’s not allowed: “Do not drive in a bicycle lane except when making a turn or when you need to cross the bicycle lane to park near the curb.”

Continue reading “Who Are Bike Lanes For, Really?”

Q: I have a question about two-lane right turns. Can you take a right turn on a red light on the outer lane of the two lanes too? Everybody does it, but I’m never sure if I am really allowed to do it.

A: For the people who need an answer to this question right now, yes, you can make a right turn on a red light in either lane. The same rules apply to both lanes. And for the folks who aren’t willing to accept a “yes” without evidence, even if it’s the answer you want, thank you for your skepticism. The most important time to question something is when it aligns with the outcome you were hoping for.

The Revised Code of Washington has the evidence you’re looking for, so we’ll start there. And then as a bonus, we’ll take a look at another law that, on the face of it, would seem to outlaw a second right turn lane entirely.

Continue reading “Two Right Turn Lanes and Red Lights”

Q: You’ve mentioned before that the book of traffic laws is very thick. So that leads to what I think is a reasonable question: Is it realistic to actually know all the traffic laws? And assuming it’s not, how can I as a driver be held responsible for laws I don’t know (or even know they exist)?

A: The Revised Code of Washington, Title 46, (Washington’s book of vehicle and traffic laws) is about half a million words long. That’s approaching Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace, and some parts of Title 46 are only slightly easier for the average monolingual American to understand than reading Tolstoy’s tome in its original language. No, it’s absolutely not realistic for a driver (or police officer, traffic prosecutor, defense attorney, or judge) to have all those laws embedded in their brain cells.

Continue reading “Should You Know All the Laws?”

Q: I know that cars need to stop for pedestrians at any intersection whether there is a marked crosswalk or not. But beyond that, when a pedestrian is crossing a street and a car stops, how far across the street should the driver let the pedestrian get before the driver starts moving again?  Do you let the pedestrian get all the way across? Is enough if they are now in the other lane of the street?

A: Have you ever read something in English and felt after reading it that you might as well have been reading it in Klingon? That was me the first time I read the law that applies to your question. (I’m assuming no one reading this knows Klingon, but maybe I’m unaware of an overlap in the Star Trek nerd/traffic safety nerd Venn diagram.)

Continue reading “Waiting for Pedestrians”

Q: As a cyclist, I find that some drivers try to be nice and stop to wave bicyclists across the road, even when the driver doesn’t have a stop sign and the cyclist does. I don’t want to upset someone by rejecting their generosity, but I also don’t want to break the law or put myself in danger. What’s the correct thing to do?

A: Just yesterday I came to a stop at a stop sign in my car. Cross traffic was backed up, and a driver waiting in the line waved for me to make a right turn in front of her, which I gratefully accepted. But if I had been intending to cross the lane rather than join it, I might not have been so willing to take that offer, and even less so if I’d been on my bike.

Continue reading “Waving for Cyclists”

Q: Are turn signals required in parking lots?

A: Yes, absolutely. I mean, they’re not required by law, but they are a requirement for human decency.

It’s like golf. Now, I’m no expert on golf. If you cut off one of my hands I could still count on my fingers how many times I’ve golfed, and I’d have digits left over. It also wouldn’t change my golf game. That makes me extra-qualified to make my point. When a golfer hits a ball and it goes an unintended direction, they’re supposed to yell “Fore!” and even point in the direction of their errant shot, to warn other golfers a ball is headed their way. The police aren’t waiting around with a ticket book to issue an infraction to anyone who fails to yell fore, but golfers give the warning because it’s the right thing to do.

Continue reading “Turn Signals in Parking Lots”

Q: Why don’t the police ticket pedestrians walking on the right side of the road with their back to traffic, instead of facing traffic so they can see what could hit them, as required by WA state law? Unfortunately, those hit with their back to traffic believe they should walk on the right.

A: I think you might have answered your own question, so I’ll ask another one. What’s the point of traffic enforcement? I’ll accept answers along the lines of, “to increase safe driving behaviors” or “to reduce crashes.” (And since somebody reading this probably answered, “to generate revenue,” if that were true tell me why the traffic enforcement unit is the first thing to get cut when a police department has a budget shortfall.)

Continue reading “Walking the Wrong Way”

Q: Do the cars on my side of the road need to pull over when an emergency vehicle is approaching from the opposite direction? Are there different rules for two-lane vs multi-lane? How about if there’s a median?

A: I’d like to believe that when we see an emergency vehicle approaching with lights and siren, we all want to do the right thing. But as I’ve experienced, and likely you have too, when an emergency vehicle does appear, not all drivers do the same thing, which suggests that we don’t know what the right thing is.

Continue reading “When to Pull Over for Emergency Vehicles”