Austin Considers Bicycle Helmet Law

Helmets laws are a bad idea because it is impossible to outlaw stupidity. People should take responsibility for their own safety. Helmets are one way of doing so.

Another bad idea, which I will mention since this is the HPR blog, is riding a bike on HPR. Here we have miles and miles of winding roads with no shoulder, poor visibility and few safe places for cars to pass bikes. Cars + bikes + HPR = high probability of death for someone.

Fortunately most cyclists seem to understand this and ride elsewhere. I see a few but rarely the same people twice, probably because they get the crap scared out of them the first time.

Hi pablo. As a resident of HPR and enthusiastic cyclist, I ride on HPR all the time. It's the road in front of my house. If automobiles have to slow down and obey the rules of the road, fine.

We need more cyclists on HPR, not fewer.

Ok. Suppose I turn on to HPR from highway 71 and a cyclist is in the lane in front of me. He goes maybe 20 mph. My speed limit is 55. My choices are:

1) Stay behind him at 20 mph until we both get to the first passing zone, which is just before Hwy 12 - about 6 miles.

2) Pass him by pulling across the double yellow lines into the opposing lane, which is both unsafe and illegal.

3) Stay in my lane and run him off the road.

I take it your position is that I should use option 1. This is pure fantasy with the number of cars that now use HPR, and will only become more so as the new developments are occupied. Since I am not a violent person, I use option 2 and try to be careful. I think this is what most drivers do, and I've seen some close calls as a result. It is only a matter of time before this practice leads to a fatality accident. It may be the car's fault, but this will not make the victim(s) any less dead.

My point is that unless and until HPR can be widened or at least have shoulders the entire length, cyclists should ride elsewhere. That's what I do.

Pablo

And the survey said...

"2) Pass him by pulling across the double yellow lines into the opposing lane"

which is both safe, and legal. And common sensical.

It is safe because he is going 20 mph. A car can pass him in a second, and because a bike is only a couple of feet wide, you don't even cross into the other lane much . If no car is coming the other way you will zip past him in 0 seconds.

It is legal, because to slow your car to his speed will impede the normal flow of traffic.

Pablo, I appreciate your sensitivity on this issue. And we agree shoulders on HPR would be a good thing. Also, when I am county judge, we're lowering the speed limit to 45!

Hugh, the reason there are double lines in some locations, and not others, is that TxDot or the county have already determined that passing on the left in those zones is prima facie unsafe. This is due to lack of visibility or other reasons. Statutes reserve that decision to the authorities, not to individual drivers or cyclists.

Now, can you safely get away with it 99.9% of the time? Yes. Eventually, however, the odds will catch up with somebody and there will be a serious accident. The unlucky driver who crossed the lines will almost certainly, if he survives the resulting head-on collision, be held responsible for the accident both in civil actions and criminally.

All I'm saying is that there are lots of other roads in the area where bikes and cars can coexist with a much higher degree of safety. Cyclists who chose to ride on HPR are creating an unnecessary hazard not only for themselves, but for everyone who uses the road.

Pablo

Let's go back to your example: Suppose I'm riding my bike up HPR from 71 toward 12, at 15 mph (more likely, for me, than 20!). In your car, you turn in behind me. According to your interpretation of the law, you refuse to pass me until around Deer Creek you get permission from the yellow lines.

So we're all going along. After about 20 minutes, we are approaching the Lazy Fork. Me on my bicycle; you in your car; and the 40 or so other cars that have turned onto HPR since we began the journey.

Now imagine that the car behind you is a state trooper.

Do you think the trooper will ride behind you patiently for that time, or will he at some point pull up to you and see what the problem is?

Of course, the situation I painted is absurd, and you yourself said you would just pass me. I am only drawing this picture to point out that passing me is the legal, and common sense, thing to do.

Now, you say it is dangerous to pass me. You say that "TxDot or the county have already determined that passing on the left in those zones is prima facie unsafe. This is due to lack of visibility or other reasons." But TxDot painted those lines based on assessing the safety of passing a motor vehicle traveling at highway speed. If a car in front of you is doing 50, and you are not driving a Ferrari, yes, it is unsafe to pass, because your Civic can't accelerate to go around fast enough to beat a car coming at you around the next corner. Additionally, to passs a motor vehicle you pretty much have to go all the way into the left lane.

To pass a cyclist, however, is a different matter. Since the cyclist is going 15-20 mph, you can pass him in a second or two with any ordinary car. You could go all the way into the oncoming lane if you wanted, because the limited sight distance that would run out of time before you could pass the motor vehicle, gives you way more than enough time to clear a slow moving cyclist. As an added bonus, you don't really have to move all the way over into the left lane, because the cyclist is a lot narrower than a car.

So the safe behavior for a motorist is just the common sense behavior. If there's no oncoming traffic, maintain your speed (or slow a little), give the cyclist clearance, and pass him. If there is oncoming traffic, you have to slow down until it passes; then swing out and pass him.

On HPR, visibility never has been the issue. As a motorist, I've always seen cyclists way ahead of time; the visibility on the road is great. You won't be surprised by a cyclist coming out of nowhere. There's nothing inherently unsafe about HPR. The safety issue is speed and clearance. If you drive 55, we'll all be fine.