Motorists must give bicyclists breathing room under new state law (LA Times)

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

3. I'm curious how a cyclist that runs a red or a stop sign will be covered under this law

if they are hit by a motor vehicle.

When the new law takes effect next September, a violation will be an infraction punishable by a base fine of $35 plus court fees. For violators who collide with a bicyclist, causing injury, the fine is $220.

I know, as a cyclist who does not run stop signs and waits on the red, that a great many cyclists take their lives in their own hands at times. Within the last week I have seen cyclists run red lights during rush hour, cycling up both sides of the street in tandem, passing other cyclists and entering into the traffic lane without looking, riding the wrong way down a one-way street and flying through crosswalk while pedestrians are trying to use them.

That's just what I have seen in Cambridge and Lexington Massachusetts.


I hope that the law will also address cyclist safety, and require a helmet for all adults as well as teaching them that they have to obey the rules of the road.