My experience is this:
I expect every car to turn right, whether they are signaling or not.
When approaching an intersection, a make sure I am either fully in front
of a car that might turn, so they see me, or fully behind it so I can
slow down behind it or pass it on the left as it is turning.
When I lived on the eastside and came into downtown every day over the
Broadway bridge, I would often leave the bike lane as I approached the
entrance to I-5N, and merge not with the right-hand turn-only lane but
go all the way over to the lane that could turn or go straight (assuming
I was able to keep up with the traffic). This may sound crazy, but it
pretty much guaranteed that I would not end up plastered on someone's
door. That didn't prevent me from landing on some lady's hood one
morning a couple blocks before that, however. Nor did it prevent me from
getting hit not once, but twice where the I-5 N exit merges onto
Weidler.
A friend of mine once said giving a person a car is like giving them
alcohol.
Law don't mean sh^*(&! when you're dead.
-Evan
Evan MacKenzie
Urban Planner I
City of Hillsboro
150 E. Main Street, 4th floor
Hillsboro, OR 97123
503-681-6154
eva-@ci.hillsboro.or.us <mailto:eva-@ci.hillsboro.or.us>
http://www.ci.hillsboro.or.us/Planning_Department/
<http://www.ci.hillsboro.or.us/Planning_Department/>
------------- __o
---------- _ '\<,_
----------(_)/ (_)______Get on your bikes and ride!
________________________________
From: Cp53-@aol.com [mailto:Cp53-@aol.com]
Sent: Tuesday, October 11, 2005 11:59 AM
To: RCJoh-@attglobal.net; ob-@topica.com
Subject: Re: [OBRA Chat] Bike lanes & right of way
I agree that the best defense is assuming that nobody in a car is
looking out for me or knows or cares what the rules are. And I haven't
had an accident in many years for that reason, I believe.
But, just because somebody signals doesn't automatically mean they get
to turn right away. When it's between two cars, you put your turn
signal on (that's to let everybody else know what your intention is)
then you look over your shoulder (to make sure all is clear and nothing
is in your blind spot-which you almost never see) and THEN you make the
turn. If you change lanes and a car is there and you hit it, aren't you
at fault?
Does the same rules not apply to the situation we're talking about here?
Again, I agree that staying out of the way is best-everybody is in a
hurry to get in line at the red light or the on ramp. It's better to be
happy than to be right sometimes.
-----Original Message-----
From: RCJoh-@attglobal.net
To: ob-@topica.com
Sent: Tue, 11 Oct 2005 18:29:22 +0000
Subject: RE: [OBRA Chat] Bike lanes & right of way
I have actually collided with a minivan in exactly that scenario. The
collision was the resut of one other factor, sun shining directly into
the minivan's taillight obscuring any indication or braking or turning.
One minute I'm pacing traffic about to enter an intersection the next
thing I know everybody's slowing down and there's a minivan directly
across my path. I wasn't able to stop quickly enough and a collision
resulted.
During my subsequent review of the situation I could find no indication
where either party violated a right of way. Bike lanes don't exist in
intersections (my understanding), I was riding with traffic in a normal
manner and the van was making a legal turn. The Oregon DMV advises
cyclists to be exceptionally cautious when passing othere vehicles on
the right, though it is not prohibited. Regardless, I was not intending
to pass anyway, just to establish my position in the flow of traffic in
order to get safely through the intersection.
So, we both lost. I had to rebuild a front wheel and was off my bike
for three months with a torn shoulder ACL. The minivan needed about
$750 worth of bodywork repair.
The bottom line is that it was truly an accident. I try to be even more
cautious now and avoid those types of intersection whenever possible.
Rick
Tom wrote:
Well here is a topic that will probably get beat to death, but I have
a
scenario to throw out and get the educated riders opinion.
You, as a cyclist are approaching an intersection while riding in a
bike
lane. The bike lane continues on the other side of the intersection.
There is a car in the traffic lane next to you that is turning right.
Here is where some variables kick in, but lets leave those out (I
don't
know them). If the bike rider hits the side of the car as they are
turning right (in front of you), who is at fault?
We have all had similar situations to this, so I am sure there will be
a
lot of opinions.
Tom
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