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Twice in the last week I found myself biking in dangerous situations with drivers looking at their phones while driving.
The first time I was waiting for the walk sign at Braker and Burnet. When the walk light came on, a car to my left started inching into the crosswalk in front of me. Sure enough, the woman had her left hand on the steering wheel and her right hand held her phone, which she was looking at. I shouted at her and she stopped. No big deal, but still.
Then two days later I was biking west toward Duval on 32nd Street. I passed a car on a side street to my right waiting to turn in the same direction. I was about half a block ahead of her when I moved into the center of the lane and signaled my intention to make a left turn onto another side street. I slowed down to wait for an oncoming car to pass which took about 5 seconds. Suddenly I heard the screech of brakes immediately behind me. A guy waiting nearby on his scooter said “Wow that was close!” I didn’t actually see the driver looking at her phone, but there’s no way she couldn’t have seen me in the middle of the lane, from half a block away – she probably just assumed I was still in the bike lane and didn’t bother to actually look at the road in front of her until it was almost too late. (She did stop completely at that point, and I gave her a dirty look before taking off. Maybe I should’ve said something, but what?)
Don’t know what to do about this – more public awareness? – but it seems like something of an epidemic.
Scott
A couple of evenings ago while bicyling south on Guadalupe near 46th I was pulled over by an APD officer and given a moving violation ticket for not coming to a complete stop at the stop sign. I'm not sure how much the ticket is yet -- I called the court two days later and they said it takes a week for it to get into their system and I should call back.
A bicyclist friend of mine asked an APD friend of hers about this, and she was told that indeed "an email had gone out" instructing APD officers to step up citations for bicycle traffic violations, apparently in response to the recent bicycle deaths. He also told her that there was a separate, lower fine for bicyclists than for car drivers. (I'm relating this second- or third-hand so I don't know for sure about that.)
Was the ticket justified? Yes, I understand that bicyclists are subject to the same laws as motorists. In fact I believe bicyclists should obey traffic laws, not only for safety reasons but also because it helps earn respect from motorists.
Will this citation make me stop at every stop sign in the future? No. I don't know any bicyclist who professes to stop at every stop sign, especially on quiet side streets. In fact I often ride down streets that have lots of stop signs because the streets that have no stop signs, like Lamar, are too dangerous. I can't see myself coming to a complete stop and putting one foot on the pavement over and over going down quiet residential streets with little or no traffic.
Will this citation make me ride safer? Well, as I roll through stop signs in the future I'll be looking over my shoulder for police vehicles, probably paying less attention to what's in front of me, so the answer is No.
Scott
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