Of course, there’s more to the proposed Dallas bicycle-passing ordinance than “thou shalt not abuse bikers”, but believe it or not, that’s one of the three main points that the City Council will be considering Wednesday, according to a DMN blog story.
1) Vacate a lane when passing a biker (meaning move to the next adjacent lane rather than see how close you can come to the biker while passing);
2) Don’t turn right in front of a biker unless you’re well ahead of the biker;
3) Don’t throw items at a biker.
The last one seems pretty obvious without the need to be restated in an ordinance; isn’t there already some type of rule on the books about harassing people, whether they’re on bike, in a car or even a skateboard?
Regardless, the DMN blog post also has an interesting video, from what I can tell shot by reporter Steve Thompson as he rides a bike on Downtown streets with the new bike markings, and he explains what bikers (and cars) are supposed to be doing as they’re riding along.
Honestly, the video trip was confusing to watch, and I did get a new appreciation for why it’s taking the City so long to implement bike lanes — watching the video almost made me dizzy trying to figure out where to go and how to follow the lanes.
