sidebike

Circuit Jerks, 04/01/07, Synthetic at the Press Club

A handful of co-workers recently complained about bicyclists that ride on the sidewalk in Midtown.

Fair enough--bikes belong on the road, and there's nothing more potentially dangerous than a biker going like a bat out of hell on J Street when pedestrians abound.

That said, I started off my Sunday morning biking down M Street toward downtown. Safe enough, yeah? All of the sudden, at about M and 46th streets, a door swings open about 4 yards in front of me. I veer left and just nick the side of this Volvo. The driver, startled, yells an apology as I kept on biking. Could have been a nasty crash ... and how surprising were my maneuvers! I hadn't even had a cup of coffee yet.

Here's what the County has to say about riding bikes on the sidewalk:

10.12.010 Persons Riding Bicycles or Animals.
a. Every person riding a bicycle, or riding or driving an animal upon a highway shall be granted all of the rights and shall be subject to all of the duties applicable to the driver of a vehicle by this title, except those provisions which by their very nature can have no application.
b. Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision (a) of this section, any person may ride a bicycle on a sidewalk which is designated by the director as a part of the County bike route system and which is identified for such use by appropriate signs giving notice thereof. A bicyclist using a sidewalk as authorized by this subdivision shall yield the right-of-way to any pedestrian using the sidewalk. (SCC 139 § 1, 1973; Ord. 703 § 31, 1960.)

Basically, no sidebiking unless there's a sign. Meh.

Me and like two other people saw Circuit Jerks last night at Synthetic. Some breakbeat dude--actually, he's called Dapayk--from Berlin, Germany, will be there next Easter Sunday. Check check.