Flagstaff Bike Advocate hits one out of the park
Most of you have probably been following the story of Randy Mason, the Flagstaff cyclist who got grazed by a city bus and then yelled at for it, and then cited for disorderly conduct.
He was riding his bike as far to the right as he reasonably could, given that the bike lane was full of snow. The driver said that since Mason was technically inside the bike lane, a bus could come just as close as it wanted, so long as it didn’t cross that white stripe.
In other words: if you are in the bike lane, you don’t get three feet.
Naturally, the Flagstaff police agreed.
And so did the City Attorney.
Or anyway, they did until they started getting barraged and embarrassed by press reports and public outrage.
In the end, not only did everybody cave, but the disorderly charge was dropped and the bus driver was ticketed for what Ed Beighe over at AZbikelaw.org is saying may be the first-ever Arizona citation for a three-foot rule violation that did not involve an actual collision. And the Flagstaff daily wrote a great editorial about it.
I think the lesson to learn from all this is: don’t go quietly! Contact the press. Talk to me if you need tips on getting video and audio footage. Fight the power! These are bureaucracies we are dealing with here, and a lifetime of fighting bureaucracies has taught me that the only way to make them change is to humiliate them or to sue them. Usually, public humiliation is cheaper, quicker, and more fun.
Anyway, thats what Mason did, and he did it brilliantly. As the Flagstaff paper notes, the outcome of all of this is that both police and bus drivers are getting extra training on bike laws and how they apply. A positive step for all.
–Erik Ryberg
March 23rd, 2010 at 8:34 am
Hell yes! First ever? I wonder if I hold a similar record for Illinois??
http://thecarwhisperer.blogspot.com/2008/09/enforced.html
March 23rd, 2010 at 9:04 am
I am happy to hear about this–even this morning on my commute into the office, which was a bit rainy, a Tucson Metro Bus driver–I believe on purpose–passed me and he was right on the white line of the bike lane. This is the second time a Tucson Bus Driver has done this–the bus was only inches from me. Next time if I can, I will certainly get the number of the bus and file a complaint. If there’s video on the bus; it would clearly show how close he came to hitting me… Cheers! Bruce
March 23rd, 2010 at 1:19 pm
RAD! Tides = turning
March 23rd, 2010 at 1:38 pm
[...] take the recent case in Flagstaff AZ, where a rider was brushed by a city bus. Yet amazingly, the local authorities concluded the driver [...]
March 31st, 2010 at 8:56 am
One day randy is advocating for cyclists the next he is sabotaging MBAA bike races. That seems incongruous to me.
April 11th, 2010 at 10:41 am
by the way, the citations (speeding and 3-foot rule) did actually get issued:
http://azbikelaw.org/blog/an-historic-citation#citation
May 25th, 2010 at 11:21 am
[...] Update: Oh how short my memory is! Of course, just two months ago Flagstaff bicyclist Randy Mason successfully, after a long fight, got this rule enforced against a bus driver who grazed him and then yelled at him and then called th…. [...]