{"id":243264129,"date":"2012-09-16T13:22:09","date_gmt":"2012-09-16T13:22:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/?p=243264129"},"modified":"2012-09-16T13:22:09","modified_gmt":"2012-09-16T13:22:09","slug":"what-drivers-should-know-about-sharing-the-road-with-bicyclists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/?p=243264129","title":{"rendered":"What drivers should know about sharing the road with bicyclists"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Ashley Halsey III, Washington Post<br \/>\n&#8230;<br \/>\n10 things every driver should know about sharing the road with cyclists:<br \/>\n\u25cfYou look for pedestrians when you\u2019re making a turn, right? Why not take a couple of seconds longer to look for a cyclist? The rider has the right of way if he\u2019s going straight and you\u2019re turning right.<br \/>\n\u25cfThe bike lane serves a purpose, and it isn\u2019t for you to park in, even for \u201cjust a couple of seconds.\u201d When you do that, cyclists have to swerve into traffic lanes \u2014 lanes in which drivers don\u2019t expect them because there is, after all, a bike lane.<br \/>\n\u25cfYou may never feel more powerful than when your foot\u2019s on the gas pedal, but if you are at fault in a collision with a cyclist \u2014 even if you just \u201cbrush\u201d against the biker \u2014 you might lose your driver\u2019s license for a while and your private auto insurance forever. You could be looking at criminal charges, too.<br \/>\n\u25cfRiders go through stop signs. It\u2019s illegal, and it can be annoying if they do it cavalierly. Other cyclists slow down, look both ways and then roll through. Usually it\u2019s because their shoes are mechanically attached to the pedal. Yes, they can clip out, but they opt not to.<br \/>\n\u25cfDon\u2019t count on a cyclist to hear your car coming from behind. A rider is hearing a lot more noise than you are inside the car with the windows rolled up. And some foolishly listen to music while they ride. But don\u2019t lean on the horn.<br \/>\n\u25cfWonder why that bike rider stays five feet away from the row of parked cars as you\u2019re trying to navigate a narrow street? Cyclists call it being \u201cdoored.\u201d If someone swings open the door of a parked car, the cyclist who is too close goes down. With many drivers pausing to check text messages or finish phone calls before they get out of a car, there\u2019s no telling when a door will pop open.<br \/>\n\u25cfIt would be great if every street had a bike lane and every road had a wide shoulder, but they don\u2019t. Even when they do, there are things that you might not notice that push cyclists into the traffic lane. It\u2019s stuff you roll over \u2014 potholes, sewer grates, pavement cracks, branches, broken glass, junk that falls off cars or out of trucks and the McDonald\u2019s bag somebody tossed out the window.<br \/>\n&#8230;<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/local\/trafficandcommuting\/what-drivers-should-know-about-sharing-the-road-with-bicyclists-and-vice-versa\/2012\/09\/15\/4b8c9426-fe72-11e1-8adc-499661afe377_story.html\">https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/local\/trafficandcommuting\/what-drivers-should-know-about-sharing-the-road-with-bicyclists-and-vice-versa\/2012\/09\/15\/4b8c9426-fe72-11e1-8adc-499661afe377_story.html<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Ashley Halsey III, Washington Post &#8230; 10 things every driver should know about sharing the road with cyclists: \u25cfYou look for pedestrians when you\u2019re making a turn, right? Why not take a couple of seconds longer to look for a cyclist? The rider has the right of way if he\u2019s going straight and you\u2019re &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/?p=243264129\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;What drivers should know about sharing the road with bicyclists&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"1","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-243264129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biking-in-maryland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243264129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=243264129"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243264129\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=243264129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=243264129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=243264129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}