Hi Kevin,
When you say bicyclists must stop for the stop sign is that because of Wis. Stat. 346.803 (1) (b): “every person operating a bicycle upon a bicycle way shall: obey each traffic signal or sign facing a roadway which runs parallel and adjacent to a bicycle way.”? Regarding the above: 1. If a stop sign is on the bike path, wouldn’t the sign be facing the path/person and not the roadway? 2. Does the above refer to signs placed parallel and adjacent to a bicycle way, or parallel and adjacent to a roadway? The word “runs” makes me think it means obey a sign facing an adjacent roadway and not the bicycle way, because a sign doesn’t run but a roadway does. 3. Does this mean if a bicycle way is next to a roadway and the roadway has a sign or signal, that the bicyclist has to obey the same signal that the cars have (the signal would be facing the roadway in that scenario plus since the law refers to signal, it seems more likely it refers to road signals and not path. 4. If the above was meant to apply to bicyclists on the path shouldn’t it read, “obey each traffic signal or sign facing them.” Or similar language to stop law, “every operator of vehicle approaching an official stop sign at an intersection shall cause such vehicle to stop before entering……”? 5. What happens when there is a sign on a path such as described below in the DOT crossing guide but the roadway the cyclist crosses is perpendicular not adjacent? 6. If the above refers to signs and signals on adjacent roadways, do you know of any law or rule that requires bicyclists to obey the stop or yield signs placed on the paths? (I do not believe the car stop law applies on paths because of Wis. Stat. 346.02 (4) (a) stating rules of the road apply to bicycles riding upon a roadway or shoulder of highway. Have a nice weekend. Hope you are doing well. Clay From: Bikies [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Kevin Luecke Sent: Friday, July 10, 2015 4:05 PM To: Harald Kliems; Eric White; Bikies Subject: Re: [Bikies] Cap City Trail rail crossing in Fitchburg Eric: This situation is described on WisDOT's webpage: http://wisconsindot.gov/Documents/safety/education/bike/bike-crossing-guide.pdf Essentially, you follow the traffic controls as you encounter them: - Bicyclists must stop for the stop sign (Harald is correct that stop signs do not apply to pedestrians). - Enter the crosswalk in a manner that is consistent with the safe use of the crosswalk by a pedestrian (you can't jump out in front of approaching traffic). - When (if) a motorist stops or yields for you, proceed across. That said, I rarely rely on motorists to yield to me, and to be honest, once I've stopped, I would almost prefer that they just get through the intersection rather than wait for me to get across. As for some of your questions... - If a car has yielded to a pedestrian, they do not have to stay stopped for an approaching bicyclist if the bicyclist has a stop or yield sign - the bicyclist must obey the sign, and then proceed to the crosswalk. - If there are no traffic controls, the usual rule of the vehicle on the left shall yield to the vehicle on the right applies. As you note, it is often difficult to know if the other traffic has a stop or yield sign, and because we have so over-signed our streets people assume that if they don't have a sign, the cross traffic must. So in summary: - Legally, a bicyclist has the right of way as a bicyclist AFTER they have stopped, and once they move safely into the crosswalk with crossing vehicles having enough time to stop. - Practically, you should assume that the cars are not going to stop. Have a good weekend. Kevin --- Subject: Re: [Bikies] Cap City Trail rail crossing in Fitchburg In my opinion that's definitely one of the unclear cases. The stop sign should not apply to pedestrians, as traffic control devices only apply to vehicles. What the situation for cyclists is I have no idea. Do you not have the right-of-way at all? Do you have to come to a stop, but then you get the right-of-way that a crosswalk confers to you? If a car stopped for a pedestrian, do they have to remain stopped for an approaching cyclist? And how does a person driving know whether there is a stop sign on the bike trail and therefore the normal rules of a crosswalk don't apply? Harald. On Fri, Jul 10, 2015 at 11:33 AM Eric White <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > wrote: Thanks Harald. That's informative. My confusion stems from what happens when there's a stop sign for peds and cyclists at the same location there's a crosswalk. Do I still have the right of way as a ped / cyclist or am I stopped by the sign, and therefore cross traffic can flow by unimpeded? -- Kevin Luecke [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
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