Everyone should be careful
It’s just getting sad. It seems like every week I’m hearing about another person either killed, or seriously injured while riding a bicycle.
Exactly one week ago, an 18 year-old was killed when hit by a truck in downtown, another bicyclist died from injuries after being struck in St. Paul on Saturday, and a 65-year-old man died from a hit and run on Sept.11, coincidentally about a block from my house.
According to Hennepin County Medical Center, as of July, 88 bicyclists had been admitted for injuries related to crashes, and the end of the year tally is expected to surpass 2007, which saw 115. In 2006 the number was 84, 2005 recorded 79 and 2004 was at 90.
Obviously, the numbers speak for themselves and are on the steady rise, which I think can be a combination of both more bicyclists on the roads (higher gas, healthier, etc.) and no one seeming to know what the correct laws are.
Personally, I ride a bike in the city. You actually get around faster, it’s a great workout and my husband is basically obsessed with bicycles so it’s also somewhat of a compromise to ride the bikes. However, I’ll be the first one to admit I don’t know every single law pertaining to bike laws, and in situations where I need to scratch my head I figure, the vehicle is bigger, they have the right of way.
But there’s one thing I do know about riding a bike in the city, it can be scary.
Just two weeks ago I was walking through Uptown when I heard a woman yell at a biker for riding through a red light. “Traffic laws apply to you too.” I was somewhat confused. Is it legal if no cars are coming? Or are bike laws the same as motorists?
Turns out bikes are supposed to wait for the light to change, but there’s a strong push for legislation to be passed that would allow bicyclists to run stop signs and red lights, as long as no traffic was coming.
However, the commonality of both bicyclists and motorists not knowing the law can be seen both ways. For example, I’ve heard driver’s yelling that bikes need to be on the sidewalk. Well, no. Depending on where they are, that would be illegal. For example, in downtown Minneapolis and uptown, state statute clearly states bicyclists need to either be in a) a bike lane or b) as far over to the right as possible.
Now these are only two examples of where either the biker or driver had no idea what was supposed to be happening, yet, if I was a betting person, I’d imagine they both thought they were right and the other was wrong.
My suggestion, which I am now actually taking myself, is that everyone brushes up on all the rules and recommendations for safety. That means drivers start watching out for bikers, and bikers start following all the laws and remember there’s others on the road.
With that being said, I would also like to take one quick moment to clarify one of the before mentioned cyclists who was killed. On Sept. 21, Jim Nisser, 65, was riding his bike to work on Excelsior Boulevard, when he was struck and killed during a hit and run. In this situation I have to say it was solely the driver’s fault, for if it wasn’t, they wouldn’t have been a coward, pulled over and did the right thing. I pray police find whoever hit an innocent person trying to get to work and punish them to the furthest extent the law allows.
