Starting today you have to leave 3 ft. between your car and bicycle as you pass them.cyclist ass you pass him. (Los Angeles: insurance, live in)

[jm1982]

People also don't pay attention for pedestrians either. It is pretty sad .

[Mike121]

Originally Posted by V8 Vega

Our idiot goverment has spent probably millions painting bicycle lanes all over the place that take away lanes for cars which is what everybody uses. Also provides a way for police to give you a ticket if you don't cross the bicycle lane in just the right spot and the obvious real intent is more money for the city.
Politicians here want people to ride bicycles for less traffic while ignoring the obvious that nearly no one rides bicycles especially to work or errands. So we now have all these lanes all over the place and probably a fraction of 1% of drivers use them. Plus cars pay for the roads with our highest in the nation gas tax, they should make bicycles pay for the roads too.

Actually it is about 1% bicyclists.

The idea that cars pay for the roads through the gas tax isn't really true, by the way. They pay only about 30% of the cost of roads. The rest of the money comes from income tax. Some of the cyclists probably pay income tax, so the money argument doesn't really hold water.

Gasoline Taxes and Tolls Pay for Only a Third of State & Local Road Spending | Tax Foundation

I like the bike lanes, but, you're probably right that they're not making traffic better. The truth is that they don't make biking safe enough to convince regular non-hardcore people to get out of their cars.

[munchitup]

Originally Posted by JerZ

Um, if you swerve out three feet from a bicyclist who is already, say a foot or two from the curb, aren't you pretty much swerving into the other lane?

Yes. That is why if there is a car in other lane next to you, you slow down and allow space in the next lane over so you can pass the bicyclist safely. Or perhaps use your signal. Driving in a congested metropolis should require some give-and-take, and it seems a lot of times motorists only want to "take".

[smokingGun]

can someone who's driven in Chicago or NYC tell me if they have similar 3-feet ordinances? The traffic in those metros is even more hellish than Downtown LA and they're hyper-aggressive drivers. It's hard for me to imagine that they'd give up a wide swath of the lane to cyclists.

[jm1982]

I was driving on Melrose the other day and it was the time of day when the sun was pretty blinding..I had a bicyclist riding VERY close to me..it was pretty scary.

Melrose is a very narrow street it feels like and there are always cars parked the the street most of the time because its a popular area. On a street like that it's hard to give 3 feet.

[CALGUY]

This morning coming home from the park with my dog, I thought about this new law, an as I was driving on a road with a bike lane, the stupidity of this law came to light.
As I drove on this divided stretch of road that has two lanes in either direction, with a grass medium separating them, I came across a guy peddling his bike in the bike lane.
In order for me to stay three feet away from him., I had to move to the left, which put me clearly half way into the lane to my left.
This law is stupid, and it will cause more accidents than it will prevent.

Bob.

[True Freedom]

Originally Posted by CALGUY

As I drove on this divided stretch of road that has two lanes in either direction, with a grass medium separating them, I came across a guy peddling his bike in the bike lane.
In order for me to stay three feet away from him., I had to move to the left, which put me clearly half way into the lane to my left.

Hey Bob,
if there are two lanes in either direction, and you're in the right most lane, and there's not enough room to give the biker 3 feet... you switch lanes prior to passing. I know switching lanes is tough.. I mean, you have to look to see if there's a free spot, you have to signal, you might have to slow down a bit, and you have to turn the wheel a few radians ... but, sometimes we have to make *extreme* sacrifices for our fellow humans.

[DinsdalePirahna]

If people were not so self entitled and looked out for each other, our government(s) would not have to pass "nanny state' regulations.

bag bans are passed because people are slobs
3 foot cycling rule was passed because there are a lot of idiots out there that think bikes belong on sidewalks and think its funny to harass a cyclist.

Now I would just love to see higher fines and stricter enforcement on using mobile phones while driving.

[genjy]

Originally Posted by CALGUY

This morning coming home from the park with my dog, I thought about this new law, an as I was driving on a road with a bike lane, the stupidity of this law came to light.
As I drove on this divided stretch of road that has two lanes in either direction, with a grass medium separating them, I came across a guy peddling his bike in the bike lane.
In order for me to stay three feet away from him., I had to move to the left, which put me clearly half way into the lane to my left.
This law is stupid, and it will cause more accidents than it will prevent.

Bob.

Just slow down and move over to the next lane if necessary.

Have you ever moved aside to the left a bit or switched lanes because of a wide truck parked on the side of the road? Same idea. It's not rocket surgery.

[CALGUY]

Originally Posted by genjy

Just slow down and move over to the next lane if necessary.

Have you ever moved aside to the left a bit or switched lanes because of a wide truck parked on the side of the road? Same idea. It's not rocket surgery.

Many times, but this stretch of road was curved, and the guy on the bike wasn't visible until I was about five feet from him.
I glanced quickly in my rear view mirror to see if I could move over to the lane to my left.
Luckly no one was in that lane.
Had there been, I couldn't have moved over, and would have been less than three feet from the guy on the bike.
If this stupid law is to work, bike riders are going to have to stay to the extreme right side of the bike lane.
For one thing, the bike lanes are much to wide.
They could be narrowed by two feet, and there would still be room for a bike.
I really think someone is going to get hurt, if not seriously injured because of this stupid piece of legislation.
What is needed is to narrow the bike lanes, and educate the bikers to stay to the right of the bike lane, not in the middle, or left hand edge of the bike lane that is closest to traffic.
Bike lanes are not enough.
People on bikes need to understand they are under the same road rules as vehicles.
When a vehicle is stopped at a light, or stop sign, the same laws hold true for bikes.
The operator of the bike is supposed to stop and move when it is safe to do so, and in the case of a traffic light, wait until they have the green light before moving forward.
How many times have you been driving your vehicle, then stopped at a stop sign or traffic light, and see some jerk on a bike wiz right through the stop.
That is a dangerous practice, but it happens all the time.
No wonder bike and vehicle accident are on the rise.
Stupid, stupid,stupid bike riders.
Bob.

Bob.