---

---

HOME · LIBRARY · COMMUNITY · WIKI · SURVEY · CONTACT

Date: Wednesday, 16 November 2005

Title: Law protects cyclists, cars

Source: By Andrew Irvine

Remarks: http://www.westernfrontonline.com

With the amount of daylight diminishing and winter weather making roads increasingly hazardous, a new law will protect bicycle riders and pedestrians from vehicles on state roads. The Washington state Congress passed the law, which took effect July 24, making it illegal for a car to pass another vehicle traveling in the same direction if bicyclists or pedestrians are within view and approaching from the opposite direction. Laws involving vehicles and oncoming bicyclists were uncertain before this law, Bellingham Police Lt. Craige Ambrose said. “This new law leaves no confusion,” Ambrose said. “It is very precise.” Motorists need to use common sense when driving near cyclists, but the new law allows state patrol officers to pinpoint the infraction drivers commit, he said. Due to the lack of passing zones on two-lane roads in Bellingham city limits, the new law mostly affects bicyclists, and vehicles traveling in the outer parts of Whatcom County, Ambrose said. The law will be most pertinent on roads such as Mt. Baker Highway and Highway 9, Ambrose said. The state Legislature passed the law after a May 2004 accident in Walla Walla, involving a group of bicyclists and an oncoming automobile. A sport utility vehicle struck and killed Walla Walla resident Ann Weatherill, 51, when it attempted to pass a group of cars, said Barbara Culp, executive director of the Bicycle Alliance of Washington, a regional nonprofit advocacy group. Before the new law went into effect, passing a car with oncoming bicyclists in sight, which was the case in Weatherill’s accident, was legal, Culp said. “There was nothing illegal about what the car did,” said Ellen Barton, the incoming chair of the Whatcom County Bicycle/ Pedestrian Advisory Committee. “There are huge holes in the legal system when someone can kill another person and not be in any legal trouble,” Barton said. The challenge will be to inform citizens about the law, Barton said. The Bellingham Parks and Recreation Department offers safety classes for bicyclists, but parents need to teach bicycle safety issues to children, Barton said. “If you gave a child the keys to a car without telling them what the laws were, something bad would happen,” Barton said. “This is exactly what we do with bicyclists.” The law also requires drivers to keep a safe distance from bicyclists and pedestrians traveling the same direction as the drivers. The distance varies depending on the speed limit. This aspect of the law makes cyclists feel more at ease, said Western sophomore Chris Daifuku, president of Western’s cycling team. Daifuku said he often experiences close encounters with motorists, since he spends 10 to 20 hours per week bicycling. “It is not uncommon for trucks and SUVs to come within a foot of me,” Daifuku said. “I was hit by a side mirror just about a month ago.” With any luck, the law will create a better relationship between bicyclists and drivers on highways, he said. “There are rude drivers and rude cyclists,” Daifuku said. “It would be nice if there was some harmony on the road.”