New Illinois Bicycle 3 Feet Law
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2008-05-05 9:55 PM |
Extreme Veteran 563 Pekin, IL | Subject: New Illinois Bicycle 3 Feet Law Illinois passed and put into effect a new law required motorists to give bicycle riders 3 feet of room. Here is a link to our local newspaper article, don't miss the comments section on the bottom: http://www.week.com/news/local/18580804.html |
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2008-05-05 11:13 PM in reply to: #1383788 |
Regular 75 | Subject: RE: New Illinois Bicycle 3 Feet Law This is a nice jester but there is no way Chicagoland drivers will ever pay this law any attention and neither will Chicagoland police. Just how does something like this get enforced anyway much less in Chicagoland? As a cyclist, I'm happy not to live in Chicago anymore. I miss the pizza though..... Marc |
2008-05-05 11:16 PM in reply to: #1383788 |
Master 3127 Sunny Southern Cal | Subject: RE: New Illinois Bicycle 3 Feet Law I like the one comment that someone left for the article says that bikes don't belong on the road in the first place. Oh well, nice idea. Most people who drive have never ridden a bicycle down the side of a road as an adult, and they probably never will. Another doubling of gasoline prices is the only thing that might change that, but only in a few cases. |
2008-05-05 11:43 PM in reply to: #1383788 |
Expert 841 Trinity, Florida | Subject: RE: New Illinois Bicycle 3 Feet Law Florida put that same law into effect last year. It is the perception of the officer/deputy/trooper of what 3 feet from the bike and rider is to enforce the law. I have yet to write a citation for the offense but have seen drivers give plenty of passing distance. I have worked several vehicle vs bike crashes but ever time it has been the bike at fault. |
2008-05-06 12:04 AM in reply to: #1383788 |
Champion 8903 | Subject: RE: New Illinois Bicycle 3 Feet Law Raise the price of gas to $10 per gallon tomorrow and you'll have the road to yourself.
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2008-05-06 2:02 AM in reply to: #1383788 |
Los Angeles, CA | Subject: RE: New Illinois Bicycle 3 Feet Law Bush is working on that. |
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2008-05-06 2:07 AM in reply to: #1383788 |
Champion 7036 Sarasota, FL | Subject: RE: New Illinois Bicycle 3 Feet Law I think the Florida law has had some positive effect, based on my personal experience, with most drivers trying to stay clear when passing. Not to stereotype or sound too prejudicial, but it's my observation that the biggest threat still seems to come from guys in huge pickup trucks. I've had my shoulder brushed a couple of times by their right-side mirrors - even when there was no on-coming traffic and they had plenty of room to go around me. On narrow roads I'll frequently slow down so vehicles can pass me well before encountering on-coming traffic. Another frequent threat comes from drivers who pass then cut sharply back to the right and almost clip me with their right rear fender. I've had to hit the brakes hard or go off the road on more than one occasion to avoid getting hit. I think part of it is that many drivers don't realize that I'm riding along at 20 mph, not 5 mph. I thought it was ironic that the linked article has a picture with two cyclists riding side-by-side and taking up the entire lane - just the thing that ticks off a lot of drivers. Although Florida has the three foot rule, the law also says that cyclists shouldn't knowingly impede traffic. It works both ways ... Mark |
2008-05-06 3:09 AM in reply to: #1383788 |
Expert 841 Trinity, Florida | Subject: RE: New Illinois Bicycle 3 Feet Law Just a note about bikes riding two, or more, abreast...we had numerous complaints about the cycling groups taking over the roads at Ft Desoto on weekends. It got to a point where we had to issue citations to the bikes for impeading the flow of traffic. |
2008-05-06 7:36 AM in reply to: #1383788 |
Champion 6962 Atlanta, Ga | Subject: RE: New Illinois Bicycle 3 Feet Law I also noticed that neither rider has on a helmet either. Way to help us out with the picture! In Virginia, there is a 2' rule. I knew one guy that put a piece of flexible metal that stuck out 2' from his bike (attached to the rear wheel). Let's just say that, according to him, there are many vehicles with long scrapes down the right side of their car. |
2008-05-06 3:20 PM in reply to: #1383942 |
Master 3127 Sunny Southern Cal | Subject: RE: New Illinois Bicycle 3 Feet Law PhatNLazy - 2008-05-05 9:43 PM Florida put that same law into effect last year. It is the perception of the officer/deputy/trooper of what 3 feet from the bike and rider is to enforce the law. I have yet to write a citation for the offense but have seen drivers give plenty of passing distance. I have worked several vehicle vs bike crashes but ever time it has been the bike at fault. I'm curious how that works out. I'm sure that a cyclist could easily be at fault in an accident, but I have read quite a few accounts about a dead or comatose cyclists, with the driver saying that the cyclist swerved in front of them. I'm thinking that with a dead or unconscious guy lying there on the pavement, and only a driver and maybe his passenger as witnesses, you're going to get pretty much that exact account of the accident ten times out of ten. |
2008-05-07 6:49 PM in reply to: #1383788 |
Regular 75 | Subject: RE: New Illinois Bicycle 3 Feet Law Hell. Yeah. Damn right. For anyone, police officer or driver, to indicate that cyclists are almost always at fault is blasphemous. Once the cyclist is dead, the system is free to pin all the blame on the cyclist and there is little to contradict that assertion. Marc |
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2008-05-07 9:31 PM in reply to: #1388341 |
Expert 841 Trinity, Florida | Subject: RE: New Illinois Bicycle 3 Feet Law mcdelroy - 2008-05-07 7:49 PM Hell. Yeah. Damn right. For anyone, police officer or driver, to indicate that cyclists are almost always at fault is blasphemous. Once the cyclist is dead, the system is free to pin all the blame on the cyclist and there is little to contradict that assertion. Marc I assure you, and have the OT to prove it, that crash investigations are not as simple as he/she said it was this way. I have been doing crash reconstruction for years and work crash scenes all the time. It is never as simple as saying the deceased is the at fault. In the two most recent cases the cyclist were. Both were cyclist who use their bikes as primary means of tranportation, and not in a green way. |
2008-05-07 11:49 PM in reply to: #1383956 |
Elite 3498 Chicago | Subject: RE: New Illinois Bicycle 3 Feet Law max - 2008-05-06 12:04 AM Raise the price of gas to $10 per gallon tomorrow and you'll have the road to yourself.
Why stop at $10? Make it $40/gallon for passenger vehicles but keep it regular price for commercial carriers. Can you imagine what a great of a Sunday ride that would make????? |
2008-05-08 7:48 AM in reply to: #1383788 |
Regular 75 | Subject: RE: New Illinois Bicycle 3 Feet Law Its interesting that others are allowed to post here why rising the price of gas to $10 is good while if someone posts about how that won't result in positive changes regarding the environment or driving habits, that person is censored. Marc |
2008-05-08 8:49 AM in reply to: #1389250 |
Master 3127 Sunny Southern Cal | Subject: RE: New Illinois Bicycle 3 Feet Law mcdelroy - 2008-05-08 5:48 AM Its interesting that others are allowed to post here why rising the price of gas to $10 is good while if someone posts about how that won't result in positive changes regarding the environment or driving habits, that person is censored. Marc I'm guessing that if a post like that was made by itself, it probably got moved to the 'Cup of Joe' forum if there was no tie-in to triathlon, sbr, or fitness/health. |
2008-05-08 9:03 AM in reply to: #1389250 |
Elite 3498 Chicago | Subject: RE: New Illinois Bicycle 3 Feet Law mcdelroy - 2008-05-08 7:48 AM Its interesting that others are allowed to post here why rising the price of gas to $10 is good while if someone posts about how that won't result in positive changes regarding the environment or driving habits, that person is censored. Marc what do you mean someone was "censored"?
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2008-05-08 12:13 PM in reply to: #1383788 |
Expert 769 Murfreesboro, Tennessee | Subject: RE: New Illinois Bicycle 3 Feet Law This made me wonder about the Tennessee Bike Laws. Here's a website I found: http://kba.tripod.com/tncode.htm Tennessee has the same 3' law. (2) The operator of a motor vehicle, when overtaking and Here's another one: (a) Every person riding a bicycle upon a roadway is granted all |
2008-05-08 3:34 PM in reply to: #1383788 |
Pro 4578 Vancouver, BC | Subject: RE: New Illinois Bicycle 3 Feet Law CKinsey - 2008-05-05 7:55 PM Illinois passed and put into effect a new law required motorists to give bicycle riders 3 feet of room. Here is a link to our local newspaper article, don't miss the comments section on the bottom: http://www.week.com/news/local/18580804.html Good for Illinois. We have the 1 metre law (almost the same as 3 feet). I use it when passing cars that are parked on the right so I don't get doored. Edited by jeng 2008-05-08 3:34 PM |
2008-05-08 3:41 PM in reply to: #1390083 |
Veteran 152 Kansas City (Roeland Park) | Subject: RE: New Illinois Bicycle 3 Feet Law Blueraiderzone - 2008-05-08 12:13 PM This made me wonder about the Tennessee Bike Laws. Here's a website I found: http://kba.tripod.com/tncode.htm Tennessee has the same 3' law. (2) The operator of a motor vehicle, when overtaking and Here's another one: (a) Every person riding a bicycle upon a roadway is granted all So if a cyclist is subject to all of the duties applicable to the driver of a vehicle and the operator of a motor vehicle has to leave 3 feet does that mean that cyclists now have to pass within 15s and leave 3ft? |