BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

Funny, I had a similar experience on Saturday, though it wasn't an off-duty police officer.

Shoulda just taken the plate number and called the cops. Not that they would have done anything once they found out it was a cop.

cops are the problem

This one certainly appears to be a scofflaw.

I wonder, are there actually any laws on the books concerning bike lanes? I suspect that there are none.

If there isn't a direct law, then I would think that changing lanes and an inability to remain within the pavement markings would be grounds for a citation.

Can't change lanes in an intersection and can't change lanes through a solid white line. So if there is a vehicle in the bike lane, then they would have had to break at least one of those.

In which case, how are bicycles supposed to get into them, legally?

by being operated by law abiding folk?

I would think bicycle lanes generally fall under the same rules as hov lanes. There are criteria for their use. Failure to meet those criteria excludes you from use of that lane.

It might be wise to find out just what laws are applicable. If we go to the city to complain about people misusing the bike lane, we should know exactly what that means and may even need to remind the city of their responsibilities.

PA Vehicle Code

Part 3, Chapter 33:

§ 3301. Driving on right side of roadway.

(a) General rule.--Upon all roadways of sufficient width, a vehicle shall be driven upon the right half of the roadway except as follows:

(3) When and where official traffic-control devices are in place designating a lane or lanes to the left side of the center of the roadway for the movement indicated by the devices.

§ 3309. Driving on roadways laned for traffic.

(3) Lanes limited to specific use.--Official traffic-control devices may be erected to restrict the use of specified lanes to specified classes or types of traffic or vehicles, including multioccupant vehicles or car pools, and drivers of vehicles shall obey the directions of every such device.

Can't find the penalties, though.

And what the laws *ought* to be, as well...

It would really suck to go complaining and then have the city make bike lane use mandatory, as in Philadelphia.

For example, the best practice to prevent right-hook collisions is for motorists to first merge to the right, through the bike lane, before turning. If the lanes are painted solid into the intersection, and you insist on absolute prohibition of crossing a solid line, then the motorist is forced into a bad practice. Same goes for bus lanes which are placed on the right of right-turning traffic.

At the same time an absolute prohibition on crossing solid lines would prevent me from leaving the bike lane and moving left in order to prevent being right-hooked. It would also prevent me from leaving the bike lane to avoid road debris, potholes, car doors, etc.

All I'm saying is, be careful what you ask for lest you get it. Good and hard.

Since we are looking up the laws can anyone tell me what the rules/laws are on the bike trail itself when it comes to cars. In the past week I have passed 3 cars on the northside trail between PNC and where the pavement turns to dirt on the trail. I stopped one lady and asked her nicely if she was lost or needed help and she rudely informed me she had a permit to park on the trail down where the kayak rental place is. Has anyone else seen cars driving here? If they are letting people drive to park down there shouldn't there be signs up warning walkers and bikers on the trail? When I come around a bend in the trail I usually expect to see joggers or someone on a bike and passing usually isn't a issue. The last think one would expect on a bike trail is a huge SUV blocking the whole path with a driver talking on a cell phone and not even looking at the road, I mean trail.

Lyle do some heavy lifting and check out the rest of Chapter 33.

http://www.dmv.state.pa.us/pdotforms/vehicle_code/chapter33.pdf

left turns, parking... it's all covered. For once your government has enacted laws for your benefit. Now enforcement on the other hand...

Curiosity got the better of meh. I went out and did a loop around the east end to hit up a couple of the bike lanes.

ELB is a hodge podge of pavement markings. Sometimes the solid lines terminate at the intersection, others terminate about 50 feet shy of the intersection and dogleg into the curb.

Wightman and Beacon have solid lines up to about 50 feet shy of a signaled intersection, at that point the solid line is dashed and terminates into the curb. On Beacon there are breaks in the solid line and sometimes dashs at large driveways.

Hard to know if you're breaking the law if there is no consistency in the pavement markings.

@Willie - see my earlier post Ch.33,Section 3309 - if there's a sign that states "bike's only," then no cars are allowed. People park up and down the trail on game days.

ELB's lane markings are strange now that they've been repainted, and not necessarily any better than before, aside from being more visible. I'm still amazed at the cars who use it as a turn lane.

As for the Northside Trail, I don't recall seeing any cars down by the kayak place the last time I was there...I don't normally go down there, but I find it strange that you'd park there...I don't even know how you'd get car down there by the kayak place.

standards do exist, and surprisingly can be incorporated into pittsburgh's street patterns.

there is a FHWA document called the MUTCD that lays all of this stuff out pretty clearly. here is the bike section:

http://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/pdfs/2003r1r2/ch9.pdf

what i've noticed is that the engineers who design the streets usually do it correctly, by the book so to speak, but somewhere between them and the city workers or contractors, something goes awry. either they are not paying attention to details, can't read the details and make stuff up, or they just don't care. also, in their defense (a bit), they've never had to install this stuff before, and without proper professional training...

also, since i've been paying attention to this stuff, they don't just mess up bike stuff, but "normal" car markings and crosswalks as well.

yeah, i wish they used the standard. just think about how many different types of crosswalks exist in the city. (a side note: an astute observer would notice that the crosswalk they just installed crossing forbes at bouquet was put in wrong, and they had to erradicate it and install it correctly)

i see mess ups all the time. and if you think about it, what citizen group aside from us is even paying attention and calling them out on it?

i do see progress and have hope, it's just something that i think we didn't realize we would have to get into until we opened up some cans of worms

@greenbike-well honestly I havent seen these cars parked anywhere just driving on the trail. One of the drivers told me the kayak place was where she was headed, she had a staff shirt on also. As far as getting onto the trail there is plenty of room at the far end of the riverfront apartment complex coming off of river road. I have had 2 sitings on my way to work around 10 am and one coming home friday night about 8 pm.

I saw a guy on a mountain bike go zipping down the trail by the kayak place, zig left, and then just at the foot of the stairs, he pulled a real fancy bmx-style rear-wheel hop-slide and made the sharpest fastest 90-degree right-hand turn around the blind concrete wall there. It was impressive. Fortunately for him, he did it about six hours before I saw an SUV coming the other way or the impression would have been completely one-sided. Fortunately for the pedestrians, nobody was coming down the stairs at that moment.

Sure was a trick move tho.