These Guys

Hello, see me?

Posted on July 12, 2024July 12, 2024 by ljleathem

OK, it’s been WAAAY too long since I posted anything. What can I say? Life.

Yeah, that’s not a good excuse. But I have been doing some serious thinking about this whole biking/”alternative transportationa’ thing. Partially because I’ve been forced to do so.

In my work with police agencies in the last few years, they’ve asked me to expand the scope in small ways. OK, individually, they were small ways, but the changes really added up. First, it was pedestrians. Then e-bikes. Then, as other newer “micro mobility conveyances” came out, I had to add those, too.

Why? Because laws and lawmakers haven’t kept up with all the new ways people are getting around: hoverboards, one-wheel skateboards, e-bikes, motorized bikes, electric personal assisted mobility devices, electric unicycles…the list goes on. Can they use the bike lanes? What’s their maximum speed supposed to be? Can they be used on sidewalks? Do I need a license? Do I have to wear a helmet? Do they follow the same rules as motorists? Again, the list goes on…With each new conveyance, the questions start again.

New devices, new laws

What are the laws? ARE there laws for their use?

Adding to the confusion is the fact that states, as they craft statutes to deal with these new devices, create DIFFERENT sets of laws, sometimes for seemingly identical devices: this one follows the same laws as that one, but type A has a max speed of 20mph, and type B has a max speed of 28mph.

Great. Let’s make safe use, and equitable enforcement impossible. Oh, let’s not tell motorists anything about any of this. We’ll just let them go on their way, with no understanding or appreciation that everyone on every one of those conveyances is a mother, a father, a sister, a brother…a PERSON, and is just trying to get from work to home, or to go the grocery store, or gym.

Consistency? Nah

I’ve done work this year in two states, and while the questions are often the same, the answers are widely divergent, due to the lack of standard treatment of all the new devices. I was asked yesterday to put together a proposal for another state; I took a quick glance at some of the key statutes, and guess what? The answers will all be different from the answers in the other two!

Well, I guess that’ll keep me busy, but it really leads to problems for everyone. Users don’t know what they’re supposed to do. Law enforcement officers don’t know how they’re supposed to react. Lawmakers may not even be aware of the latest new device that should have some structure around its use!

And in all that, it’s fantastic that we’ve come up with myriad ways to get around without using a motor vehicle. we’ll just have to deal with this period of growth and realize that it’ll all work out in the end.

Bikes and the law

Posted on September 8, 2020June 4, 2021 by ljleathem

“Is it about a bicycle?”

The Third Policeman, Flann O’Brien

No, it’s about bicycling and traffic law. I haven’t read the book from which the quote comes, but it looks fascinating, and more than a bit weird. I put it on hold at the library so I can learn what the line has to do with anything. But for now, I’m using this quote to spur me on to other thoughts.

I’m in the middle of thinking through/planning/executing a series of short videos on bicycling and traffic law. If you followed my blog for a bit, you know that working with police officers has been my “thing” for the last few years. Over the next year, I’ll have the opportunity to work with a whole new group of departments. I’ve gotten a grant to expand statewide here at home, so I’ll begin laying the groundwork now. For posts about earlier work I’ve done in this area see posts here (2018), here (2017) and here (2015).

But what’s the connection? The series of videos would be about bicycles and traffic law and directed towards bicyclists, rather than towards police officers. Because experience says that many bicyclists don’t understand the rules of the road…

Hey, that sounds familiar:

Many police officers, while they understand traffic law from the motorist’s perspective, don’t understand how that translates into traffic law while seated on a saddle. So, since I’ve developed a program that facilitates giving officers that perspective, I thought it might be a good idea to bring that to the public-at-large, too.

If will have to be a bit more general, though, since laws differ by location. I would discuss the general principles of traffic and how they might look to a person on a bike, but not get into specifics on any one state or municipality. With every state and many local governments creating their own laws under those principles, it would be impossible to do a comprehensive program.

But there’s still plenty to talk about. What are your rights and duties as a road user? What’s the deal with being a part of traffic? Do you need to follow the same rules as motorists? Can you get a ticket on a bike? How does a bicyclist’s view of the road differ from that of a motorist?

In all of this, I’ll show that it’s about the law and how, and when, it applies to people on bikes. It isn’t about a bicycle.

What do you think?