Falls Church Enforcement on the W&OD

[consularrider]

@baiskeli 36090 wrote:

So cyclists need never stop or slow down when approaching a crossing?

Suppose you are riding your bike on the trail and approaching a street crossing (without any stop signs or other controls). You can see that a car is approaching the crossing and you wouldn’t have time to cross without it hitting you. By law, who must slow or stop, you or the car?

It looks like if you are being treated as a pedestrian at a crosswalk, you still can’t enter without due consideration of traffic.

[baiskeli]

@consularrider 36093 wrote:

It looks like if you are being treated as a pedestrian at a crosswalk, you still can’t enter without due consideration of traffic.

Okay, but I’m not sure what you mean by “if it looks like you’re being treated as a pedestrian…” Legally, you are one in that situation.

[consularrider]

@baiskeli 36095 wrote:

Okay, but I’m not sure what you mean by “if it looks like you’re being treated as a pedestrian…” Legally, you are one in that situation.

Which means you can’t just ride out into traffic.

[baiskeli]

@consularrider 36098 wrote:

Which means you can just ride out into traffic.

Okay, glad we cleared that up!

[americancyclo]

@consularrider 36098 wrote:

Which means you can just ride out into traffic.

but not in disregard of it.

[baiskeli]

@baiskeli 36095 wrote:

Okay, but I’m not sure what you mean by “if it looks like you’re being treated as a pedestrian…” Legally, you are one in that situation.

I just realized I misread this. Consularrider said “It looks like if…” not “If it looks like.” Big difference. Sorry.

[mstone]

@baiskeli 36090 wrote:

So cyclists need never stop or slow down when approaching a crossing?

You’re raising straw men again. Let me put it in real simple terms for you. Current state of law if pedestrian is hit in intersection: “motorist probably at fault, but has the opportunity to convince a jury that the pedestrian was negligent”. State of law if pedestrian is hit in intersection given proposed changes for stop signs: “pedestrian was at fault”. That’s it: the only thing that changes is that a jury is no longer responsible for determining what happened and the pedestrian has no protection in law. This has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH BEST PRACTICE OR COMMON SENSE, REGARDLESS OF HOW MANY TIMES YOU ASK WHAT PEOPLE SHOULD DO WHEN APPROACHING AN INTERSECTION.

[Tim Kelley]

Really guys? We’re back at this again??

[baiskeli]

@mstone 36142 wrote:

You’re raising straw men again. Let me put it in real simple terms for you. Current state of law if pedestrian is hit in intersection: “motorist probably at fault, but has the opportunity to convince a jury that the pedestrian was negligent”. State of law if pedestrian is hit in intersection given proposed changes for stop signs: “pedestrian was at fault”. That’s it: the only thing that changes is that a jury is no longer responsible for determining what happened and the pedestrian has no protection in law. This has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH BEST PRACTICE OR COMMON SENSE, REGARDLESS OF HOW MANY TIMES YOU ASK WHAT PEOPLE SHOULD DO WHEN APPROACHING AN INTERSECTION.

But you wrote: “What should happen is what the law requires: cars yield to vulnerable road users in a marked crosswalk unless there is a traffic control signal.”

So you brought it up.

So I’m on my bike. I’m approaching an intersection. I see a car coming. What does the law require me to do?

It’s not a straw man, it’s a question.

[baiskeli]

@Tim Kelley 36143 wrote:

Really guys? We’re back at this again??

Apparently the horse is still holding on. We’ve got to make sure it’s dead, or who knows what it will do next? Those things are big.

[Tim Kelley]

http://xkcd.com/386/

[baiskeli]

Tim, if you ever come across a bloody, still, seemingly lifeless horse lying in the bike trail and you go up close to inspect it and it suddenly rises up and bites your face off with its big horse teeth and tramples you and breaks all you leg and arm bones with its huge hooves, don’t say I didn’t warn you about beating horses until you are absolutely sure they are dead.

[DaveK]

@baiskeli 36149 wrote:

Tim, if you ever come across a bloody, still, seemingly lifeless horse lying in the bike trail and you go up close to inspect it and it suddenly rises up and bites your face off with its big horse teeth and tramples you and breaks all you leg and arm bones with its huge hooves, don’t say I didn’t warn you about beating horses until you are absolutely sure they are dead.

Just make sure it was a pedestrian at the time.

[GuyContinental]

@baiskeli 36149 wrote:

Tim, if you ever come across a bloody, still, seemingly lifeless horse lying in the bike trail and you go up close to inspect it and it suddenly rises up and bites your face off with its big horse teeth and tramples you and breaks all you leg and arm bones with its huge hooves, don’t say I didn’t warn you about beating horses until you are absolutely sure they are dead.

Is it in the crosswalk? Or the street? Between the two? Was it perchance riding a bicycle? Is it lifeless because of a lack of a helmet? Sooo many questions!

[baiskeli]

@DaveK 36153 wrote:

Just make sure it was a pedestrian at the time.

Is it waiting to cross, or is it lying in the crosswalk?

[Author]

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