I don’t think this could have come at a better time. Misinterpretations of bike laws are the basis of many false arguments. Now that ODOT has finally published a summary of all the bike laws pertaining to bikes in the Oregon Revised Statutes this shouldn’t be as much of a problem.
You can download the PDF here.
It would be much more useful to also have it posted as a web page, so if they don’t have plans to do that soon I might reformat it and do it myself.
Thanks goes to local cyclist Brian Scrivner for squeeking his wheel about this and to Sheila Lyons at ODOT for making it happen. This is, according to Michael Ronkin (ODOT’s Bike guy), “a good example of advocates and public agency staff working together.” Way to go!
One discalimer, if you will, the list of ORS’s is NOT comprehensive. I tried to list all the ORS’s that refer to bicyclists and pedestrians. The bicycle is a legal vehicle in Oregon, and as such must obey all the rules of the road that pertain to vehicles. These statutes are not listed in this summary, even though they apply to bicyclists.
166.025 Disorderly conduct.
A person commits the misdemeanor of disorderly conduct when the person obstructs vehicle or pedestrian traffic on a public way.
This is particularly important to Randy.
I also recommend everyone keep a printed copy of this (preferably in a waterproof bag) and place under the wiper of a car that parks across the sidewalk. THIS IS ILLEGAL.
Note that bikes *are* considered vehicles and as such they *must* obey all the rulesautos are subject to. For instance, yielding to pedestrians in cross walks, obstructing vehicular traffic, etc. My impression is that many bike riders want to pick and choose which laws they obey and which ones they ignore.
Don’t fall into the trap of thinking these are the *only* laws that pertain to bikes – to really understand what they mean and don’t mean, you have to be aware of the entire ORS as it pertains to vehicle laws.