The Finer Points of DC Traffic Law

[eminva]

Had an interesting conversation with a cab driver this morning while stopped at a light. I was riding in the L Street cycletrack when I came upon him, stopped IN the cycletrack to discharge a passenger in the 1900 block (note: this is not the block with the hotel, but one block to the west). As he pulled out into traffic, I called over to him that he couldn’t drive in the cycletrack; it was illegal. He told me he was required to discharge passengers at the curb. We continued our conversation while stopped at a red light. He asked me what he was supposed to do. I told him he could pull over to the right curb or pull around the corner, but that driving in the cycletrack wasn’t the answer and was just as likely to get him into trouble as discharging a passenger in the middle of traffic. He seemed persuaded by that observation and assented that he didn’t really want to get a ticket.

So, what are cabs supposed to do when discharging passengers when there is a cycletrack in the curb lane? I assume this is an issue on 15th (especially in the central downtown area) and will be on M Street to be sure. Also, whatever, the answer is, shouldn’t the cabbies have been educated about this by now?

Thanks.

Liz

Topic

[Kolohe]

I seem to remember a year or two ago a story on GGW (probably) about a cyclist who got doored by passenger offloading on the right (but far away from the curb) and the cyclist got a ticket and/or sued (because the passenger got hurt too).

(or was it the taxicab *passenger* that got sued by the cyclist?)

[jrenaut]

@Kolohe 86131 wrote:

I seem to remember a year or two ago a story on GGW (probably) about a cyclist who got doored by passenger offloading on the right (but far away from the curb) and the cyclist got a ticket and/or sued (because the passenger got hurt too).

(or was it the taxicab *passenger* that got sued by the cyclist?)

If it was the passenger getting sued, that would make sense because they would legally be at fault, at least in DC.

[dasgeh]

@mstone 86127 wrote:

And I have visions of tourists who have never seen a bike lane stumbling into one after suddenly opening their door. I don’t think predicting that a right hand door will suddenly open on your left from a line of stopped cars is as trivial as you make it out to be, especially if you’re riding to the left of a door-zone bike lane and watching for doors opening on the right.

Most of the time taxis aren’t unloading amidst a line of stop cars. They pull over to let someone out. On a bike, you can anticipate the door opening. It happens often enough now, whenever a car randomly pulls over and stops, I anticipate a door opening.

@mstone 86127 wrote:

Think a line of parking spots, with certain sections marked as no parking. It’s outside of the travel lanes, you’re not allowed to park there, but it seems reasonable to permit cabs to unload there. The most straightforward approach would be to add “protected cycletrack” to the existing “intersection or crosswalk” exclusion–I’m just not convinced that cabbies, MPD, or the general public would have any idea what that means. Is that term even generally defined in law?

But “no parking” is not the same as “cars are not allowed to drive here”. In your example, it’s perfectly legal to drive through those spots labeled “no parking”, e.g. if the legal parking spaces are open or when parking in those legal parking spaces. Cycletracks and bike lanes (aside from where there are dashed markings) are spaces that cars aren’t allowed to be in at all– driving, parking, stopping, anything.

[baiskeli]

@Steve O 86129 wrote:

But aren’t cyclists part of “traffic?” Parking in the cycletrack is, IMO, interfering with the “orderly flow of traffic.” This is even more the case with a counterflow track.

If so, it’s interfering with traffic either way. This regulation is simply outdated and didn’t imagine the existence of cycletracks.

[baiskeli]

In the meantime, remember that when you see a taxi dropping off in the cycletrack, it’s (apparently) legal and required, so don’t get mad at the taxi driver, unless he/she almost runs you over doing it.

[dasgeh]

@baiskeli 86143 wrote:

In the meantime, remember that when you see a taxi dropping off in the cycletrack, it’s (apparently) legal and required, so don’t get mad at the taxi driver, unless he/she almost runs you over doing it.

To be more clear, I think this statement is wrong. I’ve talked to the Secret Service about the 15th St cycletrack, and they agree that it’s illegal.

[eminva]

I didn’t mean to spark a debate. I do appreciate those who attempted to clarify the sitation. I think unfortunately it is not clear still, even to us. Perhaps this issue should be elevated to policy makers.

One note to add to my original post: The cycletrack in question is not a simple bike lane. It is separated from auto traffic with flexiposts. While some posts are missing, there are many places along L Street where, if a cabbie really wanted to discharge his passenger at the curb, it’s not real easy to get there — he may even have to back into the cycletrack. Certainly no one is suggesting that he’d be required by law to do that? Or are you? In any event, I’ve never seen that done, thankfully.

Thanks.

Liz

[jrenaut]

I think the general consensus is that the law never anticipated anything like what we have on L Street and so didn’t define what the behavior should be.

[mstone]

@dasgeh 86139 wrote:

Most of the time taxis aren’t unloading amidst a line of stop cars. They pull over to let someone out. On a bike, you can anticipate the door opening. It happens often enough now, whenever a car randomly pulls over and stops, I anticipate a door opening.[/quote]

Exactly–which is why I’m arguing that they should pull over (into a bike lane) and not just stop and open the door.

[mstone]

@Steve O 86129 wrote:

But aren’t cyclists part of “traffic?” Parking in the cycletrack is, IMO, interfering with the “orderly flow of traffic.” This is even more the case with a counterflow track.

I think the key is “unduly”. If your reading was correct, cabs would never be able to block a car lane to discharge passengers, and that is certainly not the case.

[Author]

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