Mo. college town passes bike harassment law

[mlcorson]

This is good news. Check the comments also.
Mo. college town passes bike harassment law
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/ne...EE85C8A573141C8C862575D7004604BF?OpenDocument

 

[Happy Valley]

I like it. There was a bicycle law passed here that dictates a 3 foot minimum clearance, just not sure how that's gonna be enforced. One thing for sure, it doesn't stop the cretins yelling inanities and flipping the bird. Reading some of the comments I guess they're everywhere. It probably won't stop it in Columbia either, but it's a start.

 

[mlcorson]

131 comments at the end of the aricle. Not all supportive. Degraded into an argument at one point...sigh.

 

[bamabikeguy]

18 comments on this one:

http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2009/jun/19/harassment/

The Columbia Tribune's View
Harassment
Heckling the cyclists

By Henry J. Waters III

Friday, June 19, 2009



The new city law punishing drivers who harass bicyclists has the same enforcement challenge as all other forms of hate crime: How can a plaintiff or a law officer or a judge know what's in the mind of an alleged offender?

How can you tell whether that car honk is a mean-spirited attempt to bother an unsuspected cyclist or a friendly warning?

Well, city attorney Fred Boeckmann says you can tell. Like obscenity, he can't exactly describe when it is present, but he knows it when he sees it. He believes a fair-minded person knows when an angry person is leaning on the horn and when a helpful person causes a quick beep.

Since I'm neither a regular cyclist on busy city streets nor an a-hole behind the wheel, I can't personally attest to a problem, but the arrival of enough gripes prompts the city to pass a law. You can say no such law should be necessary, and you'd be right, but that's not to say supersensitive two-wheel travelers are to blame. Judging from the angry attitude many drivers display, it's sadly clear driver rage is enough of a problem to warrant attempted control.

Police officers won't be pulling over many motorists. The law mainly will be helpful if it brings a subtle change of heart and mind so rather than raising the middle finger a driver might swallow his ire and give way for a moment.

It also will be helpful if bikers go out of their way to act right. Having gotten a law passed, they have responsibility for not provoking anger from behind the wheel. After all, people aboard the fragile slow-wheelers do need to remember city streets are primarily built to move motorized traffic. As Columbia takes extraordinary pains to accommodate the non-motorized kind, we are conscientiously creating more conflict on the roadways. More biking is a good thing, most of us think, but it poses a challenge that riders of bikes must do their part to meet.

After all again, bike riders should remember who will come in second if they mix it up with a car or bus. They should not assume they own the road. They don't.

HJW III

 

[SirJakesus]

I have to admit some of the gram counting yuppies around here annoy the heck out of me. They're all way out in the car lanes or several of them are shoulder to shoulder and almost none of them have mirrors that would give them a clue that there's a line of cars behind them unable to pass because they're climbing a hill and weaving all over the place. *sigh*
This is one of the reasons I think MB's are safer than pedal-pushers at least in hilly areas. With the engine helping you don't get distracted by the fact you're about to pass out and you can pay more attention to your surroundings.
I hate overly aggressive idiot cagers but SOME people on bikes just cause trouble and get in the way. Probably the same folk that stop instantly in the middle of an aisle at a store and don't have any clue that others may need to get by. Saying "excuse me" politely gets tiring after awhile with the amount of those type of people around...

Show courtesy, get courtesy.

/end rant.

 

[nhfembiker]

I have nothing useful to add (as usual), but I clapped after reading that post. And yelled "YEAH!" at the computer screen

 

[bamabikeguy]

Pretty funny letter to the Columbia Tribune editor:

http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2009/jun/28/horn-laws-and-paint-dont-fix-road-issues/

Open Column
Horn laws and paint don't fix road issues

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Editor, the Tribune: What a useful new law we now have on the books.

No longer is it legal to harass a bicycle rider. I can beep my horn at another motorist asleep at a light, at a pedestrian standing in the street, at another car that wanders into my lane as the driver chats on his cell phone, but not at a bicyclist.

That makes sense; I wouldn't want to startle him into getting the **** out of the way.

On Sunday I followed a line of cars going 5 miles per hour. Fortunately, I was not in a hurry, but it did anger me when it turned out that the holdup was four folks on bicycles pedaling down the middle of the road, totally oblivious or perhaps delighted that they had traffic backed up. They never pulled over. Eventually we got to a passing zone where we all managed to get around.

I have also noted that streets once overcrowded with vehicles before now have several feet lined off and stencils of bicycles painted on them. Without widening the roads, the application of paint has somehow rendered them safe for bicycles. Motor vehicles have less room to maneuver and smaller safety margins - great thinking.

Before too much money is spent, I have a suggestion for the city council. I would suggest that the zones where motorized vehicles and bicycles must mingle be painted red for the same reason the lower decks of wooden warships were painted red: to hide the blood!

Paul Mazan
Rocheport

 

[Pablo]

What about the spandex idiots with hands frozen in the single finger salute position? Courtesy my arsh.

 

[sjackson]

as somebody who spends a majority of his time on an unmotorized bicycle, I think it's a good law. Most of the people upset need to realize that it's not illegal to honk at a bicyclist. What's illegal is running them off the road, throwing things at them, or verbally assaulting them. Road rage has been illegal in most parts of the country for years... this is basically an extension of that law. I don't see what the big deal is.

We can talk about giving respect to get it all you want, but as somebody who obeys all traffic laws on his bike I can say that it really doesn't get me anywhere. And I'm not exaggerating. I am more lawful on my bike than I am in my car. I do not want to give anybody an excuse to treat me like I deserve it. I've been run off the road, swerved at, had horrible things yelled at me, cups full of soda and ice thrown at me, people threatening to beat me up... All because I was on "their" road.

To be honest though, these people I can handle. They at least have the courtesy to announce their presence and their intentions. It's the ones who almost kill you by being oblivious that are the real threats. Cell phones are a curse.

 

[Happy Valley]

Your post is well stated and yes, same here. Ask almost any cyclist who logs steady mileage.