Its MY lane!

[Shimpie]

Mary, I'm proud of you. It takes a whole lot of courage to take the lane. You had every legal right to take the lane if you felt you needed too. Engineers never make bridges wide enough so bike lanes and side walks often disappear on bridges. It's also a tough decision to make when the speed limit is 45 mph. That's right on the cusp of too fast for a bike to take the lane. Once you take the lane, you're committed. You wouldn't want cars to pass you, because there's no room to share the lane and that was the reason you took the lane in the first place!

In California, if there are more than 5 cars following, a slow moving vehicle is required to safely pull over for other cars to pass. Meaning, if the safest place to pull over is when you get to the other side of the bridge, then that's where you pull over.

[plantluvver]

Don't know how old. But now that I think of it, that road was closed for a while, so why the #@#@ no improvements for bikes other than the coat of paint? No the off road path was probably put in then, so can't complain. NO SURE I CAN! If feminists stopped with the vote we'd all be on crummy second rate bikes

Actually another gripe, the bike path is closed for a sewer project for six months! About a mile of it is closed, and the actual construction area is perhaps half a block long. To rub salt into it, construction vehicles are parked in the shoulder on the OPPOSITE side of the street .

WE all know that if we were massive enough to do MAJOR DAMAGE, more thought would have been put into traffic planning for cyclists during construction!!! GRRRRRRR!

[donnambr]

Ok, now I have to know - which bridge? When you mentioned sewer work, I was thinking perhaps the bridge over Johnson Creek as a detour around the closed part of the Springwater Corridor Trail.

BTW, the 5 car slow moving vehicle thing is not the law in Oregon. You are not required to pull over, although if you are out cycling in the rural areas with only a 2 lane road, it is courteous to pull over to let back-ups of cars pass.

[plantluvver]

The bridge was the North end of town.

Along Portland Road, there is a bike trail running alongside, some is paved shoulder, some is off road. There are two small bridges, I haven't paid much attention, but one is over water (Columbia Slough?). THe other I am not sure. THe northernmost one has no bike lane, and one single lane for traffic in each direction.

I was going to send individual reply, but wanted to share this update: Yesterday, I attended the Multnomah County Bike Fair, and got a book about bicycling and Oregon Laws. Picking up the book made me feel really empowered. Then I read about the laws governing harassment. This driver did not try swerve or take any physical action against me. I WOULD have liked him over further. But I will keep in mind what it says about reporting such actions. Because I know that sooner or later, someone will have a little "fun" with me.

I am also wondering, "How many non-cyclists really know why I am crossing to move over to the middle lane, just when the road narrows?" I can see how this could look like an obnoxious move on my part.

Are there any public safety spots on this aspect of cycling traffic, (or any other for that matter) directed at car drivers?

Maybe the fact that only one guy jeered at me was actually a POSITIVE experience.

Another incident on the same trip, I wasn't sure how to cross the I-5 bridge returning from Jantzen Beach to Oregon. I pulled into a gas station for directions, waited for the guy at the pump to be freed up. He was filling the tank of an SUV. The driver was outside the behemoth, preaching about Gore's movie, (meno mem- (Menopausal memory). I wanted to interupt, so I could get on my way, and shout "tha'ts why I'm using just TWO wheels!" But perhaps he'll get the connection, eventually. He did have a cane,( but a wooden one, so he must not be too bad.), but hey, biking in some ways is easier than walking. The whole incident just seemed so ABSURD to me. I was waiting in a gas station being delayed by an SUV, for environmental reasons. ( And I didn't want to talk to him,cuz you could tell he's the kind to just KEEP talking(OOPS, guess I do too )

BACK ON TOPIC: Information is such a HUGE asset for me, in general. Everytime I want to feel empowered, I look for a book. Knowing what is in the law, instead of vaguely knowing what I think the law is, was a great releif. When I learn it better, I think it will be an enormous boost to my confidence.

The booklet is written by a cycling attorney, and he talks about cases he has pursued. So it a good reminder of how a car driver may be thinking while driving. (Because more than being RIGHT, I want to be WHOLE. )

It would be interesting to conduct a survey of attitudes toward bikes by car drivers. Has it been done?
BTW, I should have looked for the book but was too lazy just now. If anyone wants to know, just ask, I'll dig it out.

Mary

[donnambr]

Ah, Ray's book. Ray Thomas puts on a bicycle legal clinic every month or so at the Bicycle Transportation Alliance in Portland. I hear he also sometimes travels throughout Oregon to have the legal clinic in other areas. I went to one and it was very helpful. You can thank Ray for a great many cool changes in the last 20 years to the Oregon statutes relating to cyclists. Mary, you've certainly hit the nail on the head when you wonder if motorists need more education about cyclist's rights and how traffic law pertains to them. Unfortunately, the OR DMV doesn't seem to think it important and then nearly all if not all of the state legislature are motorists and not cyclists. What do they care? I'm sure that's the same in all US states to varying degrees.

I got out my North Portland bikeway map and I think I see the bridge you are referring to. Just southeast of Smith and Bybee Lakes? The map even marks it as a "difficult connection". I don't get out in that direction much, but I've found that whenever the city maps refer to a place as a "difficult connection", I need to be prepared to ride in a pretty agressive, vehicular cycling manner. Gives me flashbacks of riding in the metro Detroit area... Anyway, you'll get better at dealing with these places with time and practice. It's kind of like the TE members who have physical training regimes - we need to have urban cycling psychological training regimes. I highly recommend attending one of the legal clinics as part of that training regime.

P.S. I went to Jantzen Beach last week for something I could only get at Toys 'R Toxic, and it took me a freakin' hour of riding around dodging the drunk drivers coming out of Hooters before I found the bike entrance to the I-5 bridge. I talked to someone in the city DOT, and they say the new bike signage is being made right now.

[plantluvver]

P.S. I went to Jantzen Beach last week for something I could only get at Toys 'R Toxic, and it took me a freakin' hour of riding around dodging the drunk drivers coming out of Hooters before I found the bike entrance to the I-5 bridge. I talked to someone in the city DOT, and they say the new bike signage is being made right now.

I can imagine! I was across the street from Safeway, and saw cyclists coming off the bridge. I couldn't remeber if there were two lanes while I was on the bridge. I asked for directions at the gas station across the street, which seemed wrong, because then I would be following a Northbound entrance ramp. Entering at Safeway didn't seem right cuz then I would be riding in the wrong direction in the cycling lane, which HAD to be wrong.

Luckily for me, a mechanic/cyclist from Community Cycling Center happened by, and walked me across the street . You may even know him, cuz I ran into him on Saturday, too. Vlad, who wears a vest labelled "powered with potatoes.", curly hair Didn't recognize him on Saturday, I kept thinking I would remember those curls, DUH, he had a helmet while biking .

All in all though, most of my miles on this route are pleasant ones, but the psychological factor will take some training. Sometimes, even when driving a car, I think of how I am only inches away from death, separated by a thin skin of metal .

BTW: It is just a kick to pass an entire stream of cars waiting to get onto I-5 from Marine Drive My sailing races start at 6:00 PM, so I get to ride while they are parked .

Mary

[Susan Otcenas]

Plantluvver,

See page 48 of Ray's book. ORS (Oregon Revised Statutes) 814.430 basically says it's OK for a cyclist to take the lane when "..other conditions that make continued operation along the right curb or edge unsafe or to avoid unsafe operation in a lane on the roadway that is too narrow for a bicycle and vehicle to travel safely side by side." <my emphasis added>

It's not uncommon for motorists to think we have to ride all the way over to the right regardless of the conditions, but that's incorrect. We CLEARLY have the right to ride in the lane in such a way that vehicles CAN'T pass if WE think that it's unsafe or too narrow.

This knowledge is power. I'd bet half the police officers around here aren't even aware of it.

Of course, you can be right and still be dead (ie. dead right) so you must always be careful. Nonetheless, I ALWAYS take the lane when crossing narrow bridges, which I do every day on my way to and from TE's warehouse. And I take it early enough that I don't find myself squeezed off the road with no place to go. My intentions are clear.

This kind of confidence riding in traffic takes time. I should also mention that I wear an eyeglass mirror so I always know precisely who is coming up on me, and how close they are behind me, so I'm never surprised.

Hope this helps.

Stay safe!

Susan