It's a law!!!

Minnesota Statute 169.18 

(3) the operator of a motor vehicle overtaking a bicycle or individual proceeding in the
same direction on the roadway shall leave a safe distance, but in no case less than three feet
clearance, when passing the bicycle or individual and shall maintain clearance until safely past
the overtaken bicycle or individual.

Just a warning I am going to get on my soapbox now.....

 In Waseca there in not a whole lot of bike trails so if we want to put any miles on we have to bike on the roads. That is why we bought road bikes. The road are there for motor vehicle AND bikes and people need to learn this. There are some drivers that act like we have no right to be on the road and will purposely try to run you off the road. Just the other day we were within the city limits biking in the bike lane when a car passed us and was within inches of our bikes. There was not any other cars on the road so this driver could have moved over as the law above states!

 I get tired of people saying that bikers should not be on the road. And I really get tired of people telling me stories of a bad biker that they have encountered and then grouping all bikers together. Just because you have seen a bad biker does not mean we are all that way. If you see someone driving a vehicle that runs a red light does that give you the right to run them off the road? The same goes for bikers, just because you see one biker break the law it does not give you the right to run the next biker you see off the road or become aggressive with them. 

 A study by Monash University in Australia that looked at diver-cyclist collisions found that nearly 90% of cyclist had been traveling in a safe and legal manner just before crashes, while vehicle drivers were at fault for more than 80% of the collisions. 

This blog is something that everyone should take a look at. The man who writes the blog bikes over 100 miles a week and keeps cameras mounted on his helmet and handlebars of his bike so he has visual evidence of his encounters with aggressive drivers. He then uploads the videos to his blogs. It is pretty interesting to see the risks drivers take while passing bikes with a second thought of the biker.

As a biker I try to follow the laws of the road  just like EVERYONE driving a vehicle should too. 

Okay I am done....
Later Sharon