Bike Laws in Phoenix? (Glendale, Scottsdale: living in, safe, moving)
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once again - try riding around in your car going nothing but 15 mph for a week and see how long it takes before a friendly officer comes and have a chat (if you don't get ran over first)
LOL, you guys are @sses. I mean that. People ride their bikes in the right lane down Central Ave. all the time. No one honks at them or passes them dangerously because it is illegal to do so. Once again, driving is a privilege that we share with one another. Riding a bike (considered a "motorized vehicle") has the same right of way as a car, actually more, just like a pedestrian. You can't hit a pedestrian because he isn't crossing legally, as pedestrians ALWAYS have the right-of-way. The burden and privilege of driving a heavy projectile also comes the responsibility to ensure your safety and safety for others; especially those that are more vulnerable to injury from your vehicle.
To be accurate, the law does not consider a bicycle to be a motor vehicle. It's a key distinction because bicycles are not expected to travel at motor vehicle speeds.
Sometimes I get annoyed by all the little inconveniences of city life; the traffic, the smog, the bicyclists who block my path; then I think of Iraq.
I'm thinking of all our heroic soldiers in Iraq (or gone, God Bless their souls) who have had to live or die on roads that weren't just a mere inconvenience, but actual death-traps. Bombs. Seeing friends die. Then I don't feel so inconvenienced. But sometimes we're so removed from other realities, it's easy to forget how good we really have it in this beautiful country.
Sometimes I get annoyed by all the little inconveniences of city life; the traffic, the smog, the bicyclists who block my path; then I think of Iraq.
I'm thinking of all our heroic soldiers in Iraq (or gone, God Bless their souls) who have had to live or die on roads that weren't just a mere inconvenience, but actual death-traps. Bombs. Seeing friends die. Then I don't feel so inconvenienced. But sometimes we're so removed from other realities, it's easy to forget how good we really have it in this beautiful country.
100% agree. At the end of the day, it's maybe 10 seconds to pass a bicycle. There are much bigger fish to fry.
Besides, the OP already got an answer to this question.
These people are total idiots who are suicidal in my opinion. I have even seen them in the turn lanes. WTF are they thinking? As far as I am concerned, they need to far enough over to the right not to block the lane. To the poster who said pedestrians ALWAYS have the right of way, you are incorrect. I used to have a friend back in Phoenix who was a severe alcoholic. He used to get so wasted that he would walk right out in front of cars without even realizing it. I had seen him do it many times but luckily the cars always saw him and stopped. One night I had the horrifying experience of watching him do it where he got hit. Unfortunately, he died instantly as he was hit hard. I had to stay for the police to tell them what I had seen. The driver did not get any charges because he was jaywalking. This happens all the time so get your facts straight before posting nonsense.
Section 1. Title 28, chapter 3, article 7, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended by adding section 28-735, to read:
28-735. Overtaking bicycles; civil penalties
A. When overtaking and passing a bicycle proceeding in the same direction, a person driving a motor vehicle shall exercise due care by leaving a safe distance between the motor vehicle and the bicycle of not less than three feet until the motor vehicle is safely past the overtaken bicycle.
B. If a person violates this section and the violation results in a collision causing:
1. Serious physical injury as defined in section 13-105 to another person, the violater is subject to a civil penalty of up to five hundred dollars.
2. Death to another person, the violater is subject to a civil penalty of up to one thousand dollars.
C. Subsection B of this section does not apply to a bicyclist who is injured in a vehicular traffic lane when a designated bicycle lane or path is present and passable
28-815. Riding on roadways and bicycle paths; prohibition of motor vehicle traffic on bike paths
A. A person riding a bicycle on a roadway at less than the normal speed of traffic at the time and place and under the conditions then existing shall ride as close as practicable to the right-hand curb or edge of the roadway, except under any of the following situations:
If overtaking and passing another bicycle or vehicle proceeding in the same direction.
If preparing for a left turn at an intersection or into a private road or driveway.
If reasonably necessary to avoid conditions, including fixed or moving objects, parked or moving vehicles, bicycles, pedestrians, animals or surface hazards.
If the lane in which the person is operating the bicycle is too narrow for. a bicycle and a vehicle to travel safely side by side within the lane.
B. Persons riding bicycles upon a roadway shall not ride more than two abreast except on paths or parts of roadway set aside for the exclusive use of bicycles.
C. A path or lane that is designated as a bicycle path or lane by state or local authorities is for the exclusive use of bicycles even though other uses are permitted pursuant to subsection D or are otherwise permitted by state or local authorities.
D. A person shall not operate, stop, park or leave standing a vehicle in a path or lane designated as a bicycle path or lane by a state or local authority except in the case of emergency or for crossing the path or lane to gain access to a public or private road or driveway.
E. Subsection D does not prohibit the use of the path or lane by the appropriate local authority.
These people are total idiots who are suicidal in my opinion. I have even seen them in the turn lanes. WTF are they thinking? As far as I am concerned, they need to far enough over to the right not to block the lane. To the poster who said pedestrians ALWAYS have the right of way, you are incorrect. I used to have a friend back in Phoenix who was a severe alcoholic. He used to get so wasted that he would walk right out in front of cars without even realizing it. I had seen him do it many times but luckily the cars always saw him and stopped. One night I had the horrifying experience of watching him do it where he got hit. Unfortunately, he died instantly as he was hit hard. I had to stay for the police to tell them what I had seen. The driver did not get any charges because he was jaywalking. This happens all the time so get your facts straight before posting nonsense.
Yeah, according to Arizona law (see above -28-815(A)(2)), bike riders can enter and turn in left-hand turn lanes. It's the safest way to do it.
They're not "motor vehicles" as defined by law, and so are not bound by minimum speed limits.
28-101. Definitions
...
5. "Bicycle" means a device that is propelled by human power and on which a person may ride and that has either:
(a) Two tandem wheels, either of which is more than sixteen inches in diameter.
(b) Three wheels in contact with the ground, any of which is more than sixteen inches in diameter.
...
50. "Vehicle" means a device in, on or by which a person or property is or may be transported or drawn on a highway, excluding devices moved by human power or used exclusively on stationary rails or tracks.
28-704. Minimum speed limits; requirement to turn off roadway
A. A person shall not drive a motor vehicle at such a slow speed as to impede or block the normal and reasonable movement of traffic except when reduced speed is necessary for safe operation or in compliance with law.
Both sides should show courtesy. Most drivers don't know Arizona law as it relates to bicycles.
you should also post the parts about bicycles must obey the rules and restrictions of vehicles - including the one about if you are going so slow that traffic is backing up and can't safely pass you must leave the roadway
you should also post the parts about bicycles must obey the rules and restrictions of vehicles - including the one about if you are going so slow that traffic is backing up and can't safely pass you must leave the roadway
Okay.
28-704
C. If a person is driving a vehicle at a speed less than the normal flow of traffic at the particular time and place on a two-lane highway where passing is unsafe, and if five or more vehicles are formed in a line behind the vehicle, the person shall turn the vehicle off the roadway at the nearest place designated as a turnout by signs erected by the director or a local authority, or wherever sufficient area for a safe turnout exists, in order to permit the vehicles following to proceed.
So five or more cars backed up on a two-lane highway and a bicycle has let traffic pass. Okay. They're still allowed to occupy the road and lane of your typical four-five lane thoroughfare. You're still not allowed to honk.
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