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February 21, 2010
Arizona Road Cyclist News is published every other
Wednesday and sent out by E-mail free of charge.
I apologize for getting this issue out several days late. I
would list all of the appropriate excuses here if I thought
anyone would care, but since that is not the case, let's get down
to business.
In this issue:
3 Cyclists Win in Court on "Riding to the Right"
Nine-Mile Hill to Get Bike Lanes
Phoenix Midweek Criterium Series Takes a Breather
Tucson Midweek Criterium Series has Started
Yuma's North End Classic -- February 27 & 28
San Tan Criterium -- March 6
Hungry Dog Criterium -- March 7?
Tucson Bicycle Classic Stage Race, March 12, 13 & 14
Sierra Vista Bicycle Classic -- March 14
Mining Country Challenge -- March 20
About Arizona Road Cycling News
3
Cyclists
Win in Court on "Riding to the Right"
My thanks to Ed Beighe, who maintains the
Arizona
Bike Law Blog, for drawing my attention to several cases
involving cyclists not riding far enough to the right to
suit a police officer. All three cyclists lost their cases
in traffic court, but all three later won on appeal.
Many of us have had a police officer pull us over or yell at us over a
bullhorn for not riding far enough to the right to suit the officer.
The officer will often
assert that cyclists are required "to ride as far to the
right as possible." That is not true. The officer will
also often state that you were stopped for your own safety,
which is paternalistic poppycock. With the exception of
intoxicated drivers, against whom there is no real
protection, motorists will almost never drive into the rear
of a cyclist who is riding out in the lane, but they will
strike cyclists by misjudging the width of their vehicles
when attempting to pass too close. Riding too far to the
right in narrow traffic lanes is dangerous.
Arizona Revised
Statute (ARS)
28-815 reads that "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...."
The two portions in italics are important. The first
basically says that unless a cyclist is riding slower than
the traffic present at the time, there is no obligation to
ride to the right.
The second point is that when traffic does require that a
cyclist ride
to the right, the requirement is to ride as far to the right
as "practicable," not as far to the right at "possible." Just how close to the edge
of the road is it "practicable" to ride? This is obviously
open to interpretation. Most cyclists who have given the
matter some thought believe that riding about two feet to
the left of the edge of the road or of the gutter pan is
about as far to the right as it is practicable to ride. The
law itself spells out some examples of when it is not
practicable to keep to the right:
1. If overtaking and passing another bicycle or vehicle
proceeding in the same direction.
2. If preparing for a left turn at an intersection or into a
private road or driveway.
3. If reasonably
necessary to avoid conditions, including
fixed or moving objects, parked or moving vehicles,
bicycles, pedestrians, animals or surface hazards.
4. 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 withing the lane.
It should be pointed out, that in the statutes, the word
"vehicle" refers to a motor vehicle; a bicycle is not a
vehicle according to Arizona traffic laws.
How wide must a lane be before it is safe for a cyclist to
share it with a motor vehicle? The general view is that any
lane narrower than 14 feet, not including the gutter pan, is
too narrow to share. Richard
Moore, a traffic planner and cyclist, has created a diagram
in PDF format showing how this width is calculated, which you can
view by clicking
here. Many lanes on Arizona urban streets are only 11
feet wide, and are therefore not wide enough to share, and
the cyclist is not only permitted but is actually encouraged
to move out into the lane in order to discourage drivers of
motor vehicles from passing dangerously close.
Subsection B of the statute reads: "Persons riding bicycles on a
roadway shall not ride more than two abreast except on paths
or parts of roadways set aside for the exclusive use of
bicycles." This subsection has an upside and a downside for
cyclists. On the negative side, cyclists who ride more than
two abreast on the street outside of a bike lane would seem
to be violating the statute under all conditions. What if cyclists group more
than two abreast at a stop light? What if one cyclists is
passing two other cyclists who are riding two abreast? If a
group of cyclists takes over a lane that is too narrow share
with motor vehicles, it should not matter how many of them
ride abreast as long as they all ride within a single lane.
However, I
would not want to have to defend myself against a traffic
ticket written under those circumstances.
On the positive side, there is an implied right to ride two
abreast, no matter how narrow the lane and no matter how
much it annoys motorists or police officers, and that right
has been upheld in court.
Unfortunately, many police officers assigned to traffic duty have no more than a
superficial understanding of traffic laws, and although the
justices and magistrates who conduct traffic court are
pledged to neutrality,
many of them will bend over backwards to find in favor of the
police officer, especially in rural jurisdictions, suburbs,
and rural communities. However, if the hearing officer disregards
the law in deciding against the accused, the accused has a right to appeal to superior court, where
a trained
judge can usually be expected to rule according to the law.
On December 4, 2007, cyclists Ben Goren was charged with
violating ARS 28-815 when riding southbound on Rural Road in
Tempe in the left wheel lane of the curb lane of the street.
In court, the officer told the hearing officer that he
believed that Mr. Goren should have been riding to the very
right hand side of the lane with his handlebars overlapping
the sidewalk, which would have required him to ride in the gutter
with no room for maneuvering, or better yet, on the sidewalk,
although in Tempe's University District, signs are posted
which specifically prohibit cyclists from riding on the
sidewalk. He said the lane was 12 feet 10 inches wide, which
he said was wide enough for a bicycle to share with a motor
vehicle.
Mr. Goren measured the lane width at 11 feet, not including
the gutter pan and maintained that the lane was not wide
enough to share. He submitted a
drawing,
which he produced, and a
pamphlet
published by the Arizona Department of Transportation to
support his argument.
The hearing officer found Mr. Goren in violation of the
statute. Although he agreed that Mr. Goren had a right to
ride in the center of the lane, he ruled that by riding in
the left wheel track, Mr. Goren was not giving vehicles in
the next lane sufficient space to pass him with three feet
of clearance and thereby obey
ARS 28-735.
The superior court judge overruled the hearing officer, writing in his
decision: "The duty imposed in A.R.S. §
28-815(A)(4) is applicable to bicyclists not motor
vehicles." In other words, drivers of motor vehicles
are required to give cyclists three feet of clearance when
passing, but cyclists are not required to give three feet of
clearance to motor vehicles. You can read the appeal court ruling in PDF
format by clicking
here, and you can listen to the audio of the original
traffic hearing by clicking
here.
Pima County sheriff's deputies have a history of harassing
Tucson-area cyclists on the weekly Shoot Out Ride. Cyclists
have begun fighting back in the courts by appealing unjust
traffic citations and convictions to Superior Court and
wining.
In one Pima County case,
cyclist Corey J. Piscopo was cited for not riding his
bicycle far enough to the right in Madera Canyon. The
cyclist was represented in court by attorney Erik Ryberg,
who also maintains the
Tucson Bike Lawyer Website. The defendant argued that
the 11-foot wide lane was not wide enough to share, and he
therefore had the right to ride out in the lane. The Pima
County Justice Court ruled against him, but the cyclist
prevailed on appeal. The appeal judge's succinct
ruling in PDF format is available by clicking
here.
Yet another Pima County case involves a cyclist, Jonathan
Roberts, who was
ticketed by a sheriff's deputy for riding two abreast. The cyclist
testified
that he was riding a rotating pace line, that Arizona law
permits cyclists to ride two abreast, and that the lane was
too narrow to share with a motor vehicle. As is too often
the case, the traffic court ruled against the cyclist and in
favor of the deputy. The traffic
court's ruling was overturned in Superior Court on appeal
on January 6 of this year. The superior court did not rule
on the question of whether the cyclists had an absolute
right to ride two abreast, noting that the 11-foot-wide lane
was too narrow to share and that Mr. Roberts therefore had a
right to ride out in the lane.
The Superior Court judge's decision in PDF format can be
read by clicking
here.
These three rulings are important for cyclists, because they
can be cited in traffic court as precedent by any cyclist
who is unjustly ticketed for not riding far enough to the
right to suit a police officer. Perhaps if more hearing officers in traffic court
realized that cyclists are going to appeal rulings that are
not based on the law, they would be more inclined to do
their jobs properly, and that in turn might in turn motivate police officers to
respect cyclists' rights to the road and only write citations when
a
cyclist actually violates a statute.
Nine-Mile Hill to Get Bike Lanes
My thanks to reader Skip Legrady for drawing my attention to
the fact that Rio Verde Drive is to be widened and bike
lanes are to be added. Rio Verde Drive, better known to
Phoenix-area cyclists as Nine-Mile Hill, descends from Reata
Pass in North Scottsdale to the community of Rio Verde, and
it used to be a favorite of those masochistic cyclists who
enjoyed slogging up one of the longest hills in the Greater
Phoenix area. However, the road is narrow, and with the
opening of McDowell Mountain Park, traffic on the road
became heavy enough to make it dangerous for cyclists,
especially on weekends, when lines of pickup trucks towing
trailers loaded with off-road vehicles speed down the hill,
often precariously driven by young males who steer with one
hand while juggling an open can of beer in the other and
entertaining themselves by passing as closely as possible to
cyclists without actually striking one.
Construction work on the project is scheduled to begin on
March 1 and continue to the end of June. When completed, the
road will sport new, five-foot wide shoulders, which I hope
will be entirely dedicated to the bike lanes. During
construction, the road will remain open but with
restrictions and pilot cars to guide traffic through the
work areas. To read the official announcement to the public
in PDF format, click
here.
Phoenix Midweek Criterium Series Takes a Breather
There will be no bicycle racing in the parking lot at
Phoenix Municipal Stadium this week due to the fact that
another event has priority use of the facility. Racing will
be back Tuesday evening of next week, however, from 5 to 7
p.m. and continue on Tuesday evenings until the end of
April. One exception is that the Tuesday March 9 race has
been rescheduled to Thursday March 11. There are four races
nightly: a D race for beginners and juniors, a C race for
category 4 and 5 riders, a B race for category 3, 4, and 5
riders, and an A race for category 1, 2, 3, and 4 racers.
Riders register for the races on site, and both day and
annual racing licenses can also be purchased.
The Phoenix Midweek Criterium Series is promoted by the
Phoenix Consumer Cycle Club (PCCC). To view the race series
brochure in PDF format, click
here.
Tucson Midweek Criterium Series has Started
The Tucson Midweek Criterium Series is also underway on
Wednesday evenings through March 24, promoted by Team Tolero.
There are three races held each week: a C race for category
4 and 5 riders, a B race for category 3, 4, and 5 riders,
and an A race for category 1, 2, and 3 riders. Racers must
register in advance at
Bikereg.com. To go to the race's Web page, first click
here and then
click on "EVENTS."
Yuma's
North End Classic -- February 27 & 28
The Yuma Bike Club
presents the Doug Flynn Memorial Classic on February 27 and 28
in and near Yuma. Readers of Arizona Road Cyclist News
may remember that Doug Flynn was a Yuma cyclist and president of
the Yuma Bike Club who was killed in a head-on collision with a
passenger car south of Yuma last September.
Saturday's race is a
criterium in downtown Yuma, and Sunday's race is a circuit race
on a 2.5-mile course across the Colorado River in California.
This year's prize list includes $4,500 in cash and primes. New
this year is a race for category 4 and 5 masters in the 30+ age
group. There is also a raffle of a gift certificate for $500 in
VeloVie products, with the proceeds of the raffle to benefit
Doug Flynn's family. You can browse the race's Website by
clicking
here.
San Tan
Criterium -- March 6
San Tan Cycling and Paragon Cycling present the San Tan
Criterium on March 6, which will be held south of Mesa's Falcon Field beginning at
7 a.m. with the women's pro and category 1/2/3 race beginning at
2:50 p.m. and the main event, the men's pro and category 1/2
race, beginning at 3:40 p.m. The entry fee is $30 for USA Cycling
racers and free for the kids' race, which begins at 12 noon. To
access the event's Website, click
here.
Hungry Dog
Criterium -- March 7?
The Hungry Dog Criterium is on the racing calendar for March
7. However, as of this writing, I was unable to find any
information about this event.
Tucson
Bicycle Classic Stage Race, March 12, 13 & 14
TriSports.com presents the Tucson Bicycle Stage race over a
three day period from March 12 through March 14 with a $6,800
prize list. Friday's race is a time trial, Saturday's is a road
race, Sunday's is a circuit race. Entry fees for the three-day
event vary from $30 for juniors 10 to 12 years old to $85 for
professional and category 1 male racers. At $10 to $15 late fee
will be added for registrations submitted after March 1. To
access the event's Website for more information, click
here.
Sierra
Vista Bicycle Classic -- March 14
The Greater Arizona
Bicycle Association (GABA) is putting on the Sierra Vista
Bicycle Classic on March 14 with 40-, 71-, 90-, and 100-mile
options. The 71-mile and longer options go through the historic
copper-mining town of Bisbee just north of the Mexican border.
After the event, riders are invited to partake of a barbeque
lunch compliments of Mike's Cowboy Barbeque. This sounds like an
event that might make it worthwhile for Phoenix-area cyclists to
gas up the old buggy and make the drive south.
The weather should be
cool for this ride, as much of it takes place at higher
altitudes above 4,700 feet. To access the ride's Website, click
here.
Mining
Country Challenge -- March 20
It's not too early to
start getting into shape for the Phoenix Metro Bicycle Club's
Annual Mining Country Challenge. There are two versions of this
ride, a 96-mile full (almost) century ride and a 66-mile metric
century. Both rides start in Superior, Arizona. The official
start of the century is 8:00 a.m. with the metric century
starting a half-hour later. Registration and check-in open in
Superior at 7:00 a.m.
Both of these rides are
very tough and rank among the most challenging organized rides
in Arizona. The metric century goes from Superior to Winkleman
and back and crosses twice over "End of the World", the
leg-breaking 11% climb that goes on and on. As a prelude to End
of the World, the return ride from Winkelman also includes Ray
Mine Hill.
The full century is a
loop starting in Superior and heading uphill over Top of the
World to Miami and Globe. From Globe, the ride turns to the
right and passes over the El Capitan climb. From there it's
mostly an exhilarating downhill ride to Winkleman and lunch, but
then the ride climbs Ray Mine Hill and the incredibly tough
climb over End of the World before descending back to Superior.
Online pre-registration
is now open. The cost of the ride is $30 for members of PMBC,
ABC, and GABA and $35 for others until March 16. After that, the
price jumps to $40 for members of these three clubs and $40 for
non-members.
To view the Mining
Country Challenge Website, click
here.
About Arizona Road Cycling News
Arizona Road Cyclist
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