Tag Archive for 'law'

Question: Is It Legal For Delivery Trucks To Block Bicycle Lanes?

Published by Jason Moore on January 9, 2012 in Opinion. 0 Comments Tags: , , .
This morning on my way to school a UPS truck was blocking the southbound L st bicycle lane while delivering packages to Screaming Squeegee. I found it particularly unsafe practice for the bicyclists’ sake. It forces one into a typically 45 mph roadway (or onto the sidewalk). I stopped and told the driver that I thought it made it unsafe for me and other bicyclists and asked him to park elsewhere. He blew me off saying that he had no other options.
I then saw some police officers in Central park and asked them about the law. They said that delivery trucks are exempt from parking laws when delivering a package, including parking in a bicycle lane. They said that their lobby groups are strong and get the exemptions passed.
I haven’t found any answers with Google yet. Does anyone know what the law is? And if not, where do I look for the law?

An example of a delivery truck in the bicycle lane.

California and the Idaho Stop Sign Law

Published by twotired on March 1, 2010 in Opinion. 5 Comments Tags: , , .

I wrote the following in late January in response to a Handlebar post asking if Davis Bicycles! should consider lending its support to any state legislation that would, if passed, allow cyclists to treat “Stop” signs as “Yield” signs as is currently the law in Idaho. State Senator Lowenthal was reportedly thinking of authoring such a bill. Although the deadline for introducing new bills this session has since passed, such a provision could be amended later into an existing bill.

At the time I wrote this post, I was not aware that Sen. Lowenthal was not considering including the other major provision of the Idaho law that allows cyclists to treat red lights as stop signs. I have left my critique of this law in my comments below because someone would likely ask about it, and there’s certainly the possibility that any attempt to enact similar legislation in California might include both provisions. To read the complete text of the Idaho law, visit

http://legislature.idaho.gov/idstat/Title49/T49CH7SECT49-720.htm Continue reading ‘California and the Idaho Stop Sign Law’

Earbud Citation: Is it necessary?

Published by Jason Moore on January 12, 2010 in Opinion. 11 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

On my way to school this morning I passed Officer Ralph Nuno (bicycle campus police officer) stopping folks on bicycle at the north side of the Outdoor Adventures traffic circle. He was primarily looking for people who were listening to there mp3 players while riding their bicycle. I found this a bit outrageous, so I stopped to talk with him about what was going on. It turns out that he is the only bicycle cop on campus and is fairly new. He was very nice and gave me lots of great information on the situation. Continue reading ‘Earbud Citation: Is it necessary?’