Bicyclists have to obey the law, too

When I was a kid, I loved to ride my bike. Each nice day in the summer, I would ride to the local swimming pool. In the fall and the spring, I was allowed to ride to and from school or the stores in my small town. But I was always warned that if my parents caught me violating any of the rules of the road, I'd lose my bicycle privileges.

My parents would be aghast if they saw the way that many people in Cedar Rapids ride their bicycles.

You see, Iowa Code section 321.233 specifically provides that a person riding a bicycle has the same rights and duties as the driver of a motor vehicle. This means that bicycles must go with traffic, not against it. They must obey stop signs and traffic lights. Their operators must signal their turns and stops. They may not travel the wrong way down one-way streets. They may not pull alongside stopped cars at an intersection instead of stopping at their place in the line of cars. This has long been the law in Iowa.

Many bicyclists appear to believe they are pedestrians or that there are no rules governing their operation on the streets. If bicyclists want Cedar Rapids and Iowa to be bicycle friendly, they should start by obeying the law.

Chris Bruns

Cedar Rapids