Abiding By the Law

School just started for many students locally. It still takes some getting used to for me because I grew up in a place where no one even dreamed of being back in school until September, but I understand that weather likely plays a big part in the return-to-class reasoning here.

Like many morning travelers, I frequently find myself at intersections with children darting across roads and crossing guards attempting to keep some sort of order. There's a particular intersection that I travel through nearly daily at child-drop-off time in the morning. The intersection is set up so that the north-south bound traffic has no stop sign and only yields to the crossing guard (or someone walking through the crosswalk). The east-west bound traffic has a stop sign and waits for the traffic to clear before proceeding. There are also bike lanes that travel in all four directions, which is great.

I am no expert on traffic patterns or engineering, but I have assumed there are people far smarter than me who have determined that at this particular intersection it makes sense for traffic flow that two of the lanes of travel stop, and the other two do not. Yet, at least once a week as I approach the stop sign at this intersection on my bicycle, someone driving a motorized vehicle through the perpendicular road wants to stop where there is no stop sign and attempt to coerce me into proceeding through the intersection in front of them.

A non-perfect representation of the intersection in question.

As it happened, one day this week, this moment presented itself again. I was traveling west to the intersection where I would meet up with the stop sign. I had signaled that I was coming out of the bike lane to make a left hand turn as I was approaching the intersection. At that moment, there were no vehicles behind me as the parents were busy dropping off their children. I stopped at the stop sign as I am supposed to do, looked both ways (which is not easy at this intersection as there are always lots of large vehicle parked along the street, blocking the view) and could see that there were vehicles coming in both directions on the road to which I was planning to turn.

On the north-west side of the intersection was a crossing guard who was holding back individuals to allow some of the road traffic to get by. I was waiting for the traffic to get through (or for the crossing guard to stop the traffic to allow my left turn to the south) when suddenly a truck behind me started honking, presumably at me as I was not yet moving due to the vehicles traveling through the intersection. As I looked to the north, a woman sitting in her SUV was waving at me to travel through in front of her. I vehemently shook my head and waved for her to make her turn, to which she finally acquiesced, as I muttered about people who don't follow the laws.

I understand what this woman in the SUV was likely thinking. I "get" that she believes she is extending a nice gesture by allowing me to pedal out in front of her before she makes her turn, but the truth is that she 1) does not need to do this as traffic flow will allow me to pass within a few seconds if she just proceeded through, 2) is technically breaking the law by doing so (and forcing me to break the law if I went through as she'd wanted), and perhaps most importantly 3) is potentially causing me to have a run-in with injury or death.

When traveling on roadways, I find that there can be two extremes with people driving motorized vehicles. One side wants to continuously yield to cycling traffic, regardless of who actually has the right-of-way, instead of treating those on bikes like any other vehicular traffic; and the other side will do anything in their power to try to keep cyclists off what they view as roads meant only for motorized traffic. Both of these types of people are potentially dangerous.

On one hand, I understand why many motorists want to yield to cyclists regardless of the circumstances because I've witnessed instances when some on bicycles blow through stop signs/lights, ride on the wrong side of the street, and perform other acts as though there is no one else traveling on the road. I suppose for those who do this, it's easy to understand why a motorist could be unsure of what someone on a bicycle is going to do. However, this thought process falls apart when it is apparent and obvious that the cyclist in question is doing what should be done -- in this case, halting at a stop sign.

As the woman turned in front of me to head away from where I stood waiting to proceed, she shook her head at me, rolled down her window and told me that I "should've just gone." But, before I could respond to her, she was well on her way in the opposite direction. However, the air around me got an ear-full, despite it being an entirely useless rant.

As someone who rides a bike regularly, I understand that there are times when a person on a bicycle who breaks the law can be a safer option than following the letter of the law. Until streets are built everywhere that allow for different modes of transportation to travel with ease and safety, I think this is just a reality. I am absolutely not advocating for cyclists to break the law, but I am stating that I have found myself in situations where it made more sense for safety's sake to bend the rules a bit.

However, when a motorist is attempting to get someone on a bicycle to put him/herself in harms way, I absolutely must protest. While the intention of the motorist may be one of good will, many simply don't understand what they are doing to a vulnerable road user. While the sentiment is appreciated, the actual action has potential to cause far more harm than good.