Tucson Cyclists: Help Me Understand

[tumamoc]

Tucson has a few crosswalks that are also designated bicycle crossings. I can respect that, but it kinda sucks to be in one of the cars backed up on the roadway waiting for a 30 second cross"walk", while the cyclist is already a quarter-mile away.

[recycled]

Those bicycle and pedestrian crossing locations are along very busy, fast moving streets that otherwise could be very dangerous to cross under normal traffic conditions. There is one of those crossing locations just a short distance from where I live, at Swan and 3rd Street. This crossing location serves the bicycle riders along the 3rd Street bicycle boulevard.
I personally use that signal crossing location to get across Swan about 3 or 4 times a week.

The car drivers that have to stop at these crossings for a flashing red light don't have to wait 30 seconds or more for the red light to stop flashing before proceeding. The car drivers simply have to stop and wait until the bicycle rider or pedestrian clears the crossing area. Then the car driver can proceed. It would be helpful to learn the rules of the road before making the false claim that a motorist always has a 30 second wait when a cyclist or pedestrian uses a signal protected crossing location.

And really now, how often does the average car driver encounter a signal protected crossing location where they get a red light to stop. Once a day, maybe? And it costs the driver 15 or 30 seconds? How big of a deal is that in the greater scheme of things. That might have saved somebody from getting run over while crossing a busy road, so it is really that bad of a thing?

[eddie gein]

Originally Posted by tumamoc

Tucson has a few crosswalks that are also designated bicycle crossings. I can respect that, but it kinda sucks to be in one of the cars backed up on the roadway waiting for a 30 second cross"walk", while the cyclist is already a quarter-mile away.

As an aside, when I lived in Tucson and trained as a cyclist we would do a couple of "A" mountains to warm up to climb Tumamoc two or three times. That is a pretty stout climb........and the summit always had a herd of javelinas that always made things interesting.

[tumamoc]

I would patiently wait 30 seconds for a javelina crossing.

[tijlover]

Originally Posted by recycled

When I am a bicycle rider in the bicycle lane or on the shoulder of a street, I am operating a vehicle, not a pedestrian. Therefore, I ride (not walk) through the intersection with the flow of vehicles and follow the vehicle traffic lights. The "walk" sign is for pedestrians, not bicyclists in the street with other vehicles. I don't know the rules for Nevada, which might be different for AZ or CA. However, here is a link to a most excellent Tucson bicycle map issued by a government authority, Pima County. I never ride on the sidewalk in Tucson, that is deadly. If the street is not safe to ride on, I don't ride on the street, I take one of the recommended streets shown on the bike map below. Read all of the bicycle safety rules shown on the map.

https://www.tucsonaz.gov/bicycle/maps
http://webcms.pima.gov/UserFiles/Ser...eb%20cover.pdf
http://webcms.pima.gov/UserFiles/Ser...20interior.pdf

28-812. Applicability of traffic laws to bicycle riders
A person riding a bicycle on a roadway or on a shoulder adjoining a roadway
is granted all of the rights and is subject to all of the duties applicable to the
driver of a vehicle by this chapter and chapters 4 and 5 of this title, except
special rules in this article and except provisions of this chapter and chapters
4 and 5 of this title that by their nature can have no application.

Back in Las Vegas, when my roommate was hit by a car, car turning right at a stop light (it's legal for a car to turn right at a stop light), he tried to get the motorist to pay for his bike, but in the police report, it stated that both were at fault. He should have been walking his bike with the Walk sign! Luckily, he escaped with minor injuries.

[auto camper]

Awkward task to walk in bicycle shoes. Cleats make this act something like high heels in reverse.

[llowllevellowll]

Originally Posted by Bummer

So far, few have disputed the fact there is, to some extent, a small amount of debris in the gutters / bike lanes in and around Tucson, however, is that any justification for a cyclist to violate the dividing line?

Technically, the bicyclist has every right to the entire lane on the road itself, so they're not "violating" anything.