Bicyclists are motorists? Since when?

I just heard a public service announcement instructing automobile drivers to share the road with
bicycles. Putting aside the issue of whether or not bikes on roads are a good or bad thing,

(I say bad; lots of people on this NG say good. You're not going to change my mind, and I'm not
going to change yours. Now that that's behind us...)

the announcer said (quoting from memory) "Bicycle riders have the same rights and responsibilites as
other motorists".

Um, waitaminute...to be a motorist, don't you have to be driving something with a motor?

Doug

 

What's that smell - a subtle piquancy mixed with a sharp odor of ........troll?

--

alan

Anyone who believes in a liberal media has never read the "Daily Oklahoman."

"Doug Haxton" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

 

Doug Haxton <[email protected]> writes:

> I just heard a public service announcement instructing automobile drivers to share the road with
> bicycles. Putting aside the issue of whether or not bikes on roads are a good or bad thing,
>
> (I say bad; lots of people on this NG say good. You're not going to change my mind, and I'm not
> going to change yours. Now that that's behind us...)
>
> the announcer said (quoting from memory) "Bicycle riders have the same rights and responsibilites
> as other motorists".

You probably misheard. The laws typically say that bicyclists have the same rights and
responsibilities as the operators of vehicles. Usually drivers of motor vehicles have *additional*
responsibilities
(e.g. registration, licensing, and insurance requirements.).

It's in the vehicle code in California, and also in the driver's handbook the DMV hands out to
prepare for a written test. You are expected to know this stuff.

--
My real name backwards: nemuaZ lliB

 

> the announcer said (quoting from memory) "Bicycle riders have the same rights and responsibilites
> as other motorists".

=v= So some announcer fumbled. Who the f2k cares? Ditto for pointless flames about whether bicycles
are vehicles. Life's too short for this kind of blather. <_Jym_

 

On 22 Jun 2003 10:19:51 -0700, Jym Dyer <[email protected]> wrote:

>> the announcer said (quoting from memory) "Bicycle riders have the same rights and responsibilites
>> as other motorists".
>
>=v= So some announcer fumbled. Who the f2k cares? Ditto for pointless flames about whether bicycles
>are vehicles. Life's too short for this kind of blather.

Well, they're certainly vehicles...heck, a skateboard is a vehicle. I don't think you could
charactarize it as a fumble, though, given that it was pre-recorded; he was obviously reading
from a script.

I just thought it strange to charactarize a bike rider as a motorist, that's all.

Doug

 

On Sun, 22 Jun 2003 05:43:49 GMT, [email protected] (Bill Z.) wrote:

>Doug Haxton <[email protected]> writes:
>
>> I just heard a public service announcement instructing automobile drivers to share the road with
>> bicycles. Putting aside the issue of whether or not bikes on roads are a good or bad thing,
>>
>> (I say bad; lots of people on this NG say good. You're not going to change my mind, and I'm not
>> going to change yours. Now that that's behind us...)
>>
>> the announcer said (quoting from memory) "Bicycle riders have the same rights and responsibilites
>> as other motorists".
>
>You probably misheard. The laws typically say that bicyclists have the same rights and
>responsibilities as the operators of vehicles. Usually drivers of motor vehicles have *additional*
>responsibilities
>(e.g. registration, licensing, and insurance requirements.).

I'm pretty sure I didn't mishear; it was the hearing the term, "motorist" that made me think,
"Waitaminute..."
>
>It's in the vehicle code in California, and also in the driver's handbook the DMV hands out to
>prepare for a written test. You are expected to know this stuff.

I just looked at the Colorado driver's handbook; it says that a "Share the Road" attitude is the
best policy, but doesn't go into much detail, other than to "expect sudden and unexpected moves from
them" (cyclists).

Doug

 

Doug Haxton <[email protected]> writes:

> On 22 Jun 2003 10:19:51 -0700, Jym Dyer <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> >> the announcer said (quoting from memory) "Bicycle riders have the same rights and
> >> responsibilites as other motorists".
> >
> >=v= So some announcer fumbled. Who the f2k cares? Ditto for pointless flames about whether
> >bicycles are vehicles. Life's too short for this kind of blather.
>
> Well, they're certainly vehicles...heck, a skateboard is a vehicle. I don't think you could
> charactarize it as a fumble, though, given that it was pre-recorded; he was obviously reading from
> a script.

Not in California: a vehicle is by definition some contraption that is not human powered A horse
being ridden also qualifies as a vehicle. A skateboard or bicycle does not. The difference, BTW, is
a technical one due to the rule giving bicyclists the same rights and responsibilities as drivers,

You can look it up in the CVC, which is available on a web page.

--
My real name backwards: nemuaZ lliB

 

>Um, waitaminute...to be a motorist, don't you have to be driving something with a motor?
>

Do my two legs count as a motor...? <G>

Diana B., LPN Diva Nurse

The JerZ Fox

Money doesn't buy happiness. Poverty doesn't buy anything.

 

On Sun, 22 Jun 2003 01:36:35 +0000, Doug Haxton wrote:

> I just heard a public service announcement instructing automobile drivers to share the road with
> bicycles. Putting aside the issue of whether or not bikes on roads are a good or bad thing,
>
> (I say bad; lots of people on this NG say good. You're not going to change my mind, and I'm not
> going to change yours. Now that that's behind us...)
>
> the announcer said (quoting from memory) "Bicycle riders have the same rights and responsibilites
> as other motorists".
>
> Um, waitaminute...to be a motorist, don't you have to be driving something with a motor?
>
> Doug
In many states bicycles are classifies as vehicles. In most states diving a motor vehicle on public
roads is a privilege, while riding a bicycle is a right. Best thing is to check your State's DOT
website for clarification of the law. Motorists get touchy when they are told they don't have the
"right" to operate a motor vehicle on public roads but the "privilege".

 

In article <[email protected]>, Doug Haxton <[email protected]> wrote:
>I just looked at the Colorado driver's handbook; it says that a "Share the Road" attitude is the
>best policy, but doesn't go into much detail, other than to "expect sudden and unexpected moves
>from them" (cyclists).

According to the Colorado legislature's web page, Colorado statute 42-4-1412(1) says:

(1) Every person riding a bicycle shall have all of the rights and duties applicable to the driver
of any other vehicle under this article, except as to special regulations in this article and
except as to those provisions which by their nature can have no application. Said riders shall
comply with the rules set forth in this section and section 42-4-221, and, when using streets
and highways within incorporated cities and towns, shall be subject to local ordinances
regulating the operation of bicycles as provided in section 42-4-111.

--
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