Bicycle vs. Pedestrian

[frazzled]

7. You didn't miss a thing (except your ribs)

I hope you heal quickly. Posterior ribs are ouchier, I think, than anterior (unless you like to sleep fully on your stomach, I guess). Keep breathing, though, even if it hurts: it will help place the ribs.

I, too, am concerned about bicyclists not obeying traffic markers, even though I am a very big advocate of cycling (my husband rides 100 miles a week). Especially in urban environments, it just doesn't work unless everybody—cars, bicycles, pedestrians—obey the laws equally and all at once.

We live a block from a new, experimental protected bike lane route, and let me tell you, it's scary. Visibility of bicycles traveling in your direction is obscured by the cars parked in the outer lanes, so when you make a right turn, there is always the fear of hitting a speeding bicyclist who doesn't stop at the sign (and virtually NONE do). A driver died there a few weeks ago when his car, making a right turn, hit a train track post near the intersection. No one seems to have witnessed it, and there has been no formal explanation. I've wondered whether he swerved to avoid a bicycle coming through and hit the post.

I don't know what to do about any of this except to try to get your local law enforcement agency to agree to post itself near intersections such as the one you crossed to ticket bicyclists who don't stop. Done for a week or so, it could send the message that laws will be enforced. (Check the Rules of the Road for your state: at least in mine, bicycles are required to obey all traffic signals and signs; it just is rarely enforced.)