Riding thru Crosswalks in Oregon

Someone recently wrote in to a local newspaper, in Roseburg, Oregon, with a question:

Is it illegal for a bicyclist to ride through a crosswalk?

I see people doing that all the time. I thought they were supposed to get off their bikes and walk.

-- B.S., Roseburg

Love those initials! :-D

Read on...

This is the answer the writer of the "I want to know" column, in The News-Review, dug up:

According to the Oregon Revised Statutes, bicyclists may ride through an intersection so long as they are riding at the speed an average person would walk.

"A person commits the offense of unsafe operation of a bicycle on a sidewalk if the person ... Operates the bicycle at a speed greater than an ordinary walk when approaching or entering a crosswalk, approaching or crossing a driveway or crossing a curb cut or pedestrian ramp and a motor vehicle is approaching the crosswalk, driveway, curb cut or pedestrian ramp," according to ORS 814.410. The statute goes on to say this rule does not apply when motor vehicles are not present. Incidentally, the law still requires motorists to exercise "due caution" while driving, even in places where they are supposed to have the right of way.

This seems to be talking about a cyclist who is riding on the sidewalk, and not a cyclist who is properly in the street alongside traffic.

Granted anyone riding on a sidewalk, legally or otherwise, should exercise caution, but to require a cyclist in traffic, going 10 to 15 mph to slow down to a crawl, while traffic around him is going faster through the green light, or past driveways, would endanger all involved.

Caution is the watch word, of course, but a cyclist is a vehicle driver, and not a pedestrian.

As John Forester writes in his wonderful book Effective Cycling ( required reading for all cyclists! ):

Traffic law has 2 different sets of rules, one for pedestrians, and one for drivers. Pedestrians may cross the roadway, but they must travel along the sidewalk, or shoulder. Drivers travel on the roadway and rarely cross sidewalks.

Cyclists are unique because they are the only highways users who have a choice. They can follow drivers' rules when traveling on the roadway, or pedestrians' rules if they travel on the sidewalk, or crosswalk.

It's nearly always more effective to be a criver than a pedestrian-- being a pedestrian is the cyclist's last resort when nothing else works.

I found this interesting because i am just beginning to start explore the Municipal Code here in Costa Mesa, and plan on checking out those in other Orange County cities as well.

The piece is here.