Saturday, July 7, 2012

Burlington road signs: cars and bikes must share the road

From WCAX

Watch VIDEO HERE


BURLINGTON, Vt. -
Burlington is considered a bike-friendly town, but things are not always smooth out there on the road. Now signs are popping up reminding drivers and bikers that both have a right to the road.
New signs going up across Burlington have drivers and bikers -- taking notice. Not just share the road, but bikes may use the full lane.

Steve Goodkind with the Dept. Public Works says, "The road is for all vehicles. Bikes are vehicles, cars are vehicles."

Goodkind is in charge of putting the signs up for the city. But having survived being hit by a car -- for him its also personal.

Goodkind points out, "It's a good healthy reminder to everybody."

Road signs referring to bicycles is not only to clarify the rights a cyclist has on the road, butalso to bring awareness to drivers.
According to Officer Mike Hedmond, the legal system with biking is fairly simple to follow. He says that cars need to be aware that there are all kinds of vehicles around. And that bicycles specifically are sharing the same driving space as a car.
Cyclist advocates say that both cars and biles should be held to a higher standard when sharing a lane.
Jason Van Driesche from Local Motion advised, "Be courteous and thoughtful about how we use the streets and see if we can make it work better for everybody."

VanDriesche says that sharing the road may be legal, but that doesn't excuse not being accountable for the same illegal actions a car can commit.

You see a pedestrian who's trying to cross and you pointedly ignore them and cut them off and practically run them over because ou want to make your turn. A car who does that should get a ticket, so should a bike.

So, the roads remain shared ...and so do the rules.

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