This is the sixth in a series of articles that will increase your familiarity with your rights as a bicyclist and what they mean when you’re on the road.
Reminder: Anything in the 300s is a Missouri Model Vehicle Code, meaning that cities can decide to adopt it or not and change it or not. Anything that has a 304 and 307 is a state statute. Anything with a 14- means it’s a Columbia City Ordinance. If you haven’t figured out by now that I’m not a lawyer and these are summaries of the laws, then I would be glad to represent you in your next legal case. My fee is reasonable but payable only in cash.
Now that we’ve established our legal right to be in a safe place in traffic via the Holy Grail of Bike Laws, it’s time to move on to Overtaking, Harassment, and Bad Conduct. As promised, I’m not going to talk about Tuesday Night Worlds—during which all sorts of laws and basic rules of courtesy are broken—but instead will focus on how the local PO-PO defines these things.
Overtaking is a fancy traffic-engineer word for getting passed by a car. Statute 304.678 says that a driver overtaking a bicycle proceeding in the same direction shall leave a safe distance and shall maintain clearance until safely past the bicycle. It also imposes a penalty for violating it. Unfortunately, Missouri is soft here. In twenty other states it is mandated that a car HAS to give three feet of space. In Pennsylvania, the law says four feet. MoBikeFed is working on it, but you know how it goes.
(Photo credit: 3feetplease.com)
Statute 304.012 does decree that the operator of any motor vehicle shall drive in a careful and prudent manner and at a rate of speed so as not to endanger the property of another or the life or limb of any person and shall exercise the highest degree of care, but again, you know how it goes.
There is also a law that describes when a vehicle is allowed to pass another vehicle. Statute 304.016.4 is quite lengthy and specifies that vehicles must give ample room and pass on the left. It is permissible to pass on the right in the following circumstances:
- the other vehicle is making a left turn
- two lanes of traffic going in the same direction with sufficient width
- on a one-way street
As for driving on the left side of the road, that is only permitted when there are a sufficient number of lanes or when the left side of the road is clearly visible and free of traffic to leave room to pass. It is never ok to drive on the left side when approaching a crest or curve, or within 100 feet of a bridge, tunnel, train tracks, or an intersection.
That leaves bad conduct.
Thankfully, we’re not talking about him again.
(Photo credit: Paddy Power Blog)
Columbia was the first city to pass a Harassment Ordinance in the state of Missouri, but it’s catching on in other places. 16.145 is not limited to bicyclists, however. That’s why it’s numbered in the 16s. The ordinance says that a person commits a Class C misdemeanor of harassment against a bicyclist, pedestrian, or person in a wheelchair if the offending person does the following for the purpose of frightening or disturbing:
- throws an object
- sounds a horn, shouts, or directs a sound
- places a person in danger of immediate physical injury
- knowingly engages in conduct that creates a risk of death
Revenge is sweet, but cyclists can get in trouble too.
I have talked to rooms full of police officers about this law. Some like it because it gives them another tool to curb road rage; some hate it because they say it’s unenforceable. Either way, I have been riding bicycles in Columbia for twenty-three years and it is much more civil out there since the passage of this ordinance. As I was once told by a police officer, the law is there to teach, and people now have the message that threatening people is not OK just because you’re in a car.
Next time: The Wrap Up: A Few More Laws and a Pop Quiz
Michelle Windmoeller is the owner of Blue Cypress Solutions. Check out her bio for more information. If you have any questions about the article, feel free to contact Michelle.
Ok – I’m giving you a pop quiz first:
True story. I’m riding north on Forum toward the Stadium intersection. As I approach the intersection going straight, I stay within the designated green bike lane and check over my left shoulder and see no car close to me – so conintue on. Suddenly, a rapidly accelerating black SUV comes up from behind and on the left and screams across the two lanes, thus overtaking me. I slam on my brakes and it narrowly misses me as it cuts right in front of me to jump over into the right turn lane, laying on the horn the whole time. They could have easily slowed down and gone behind me safely at a reasonable speed – and without the blaring horn.
There was no contact, if you exclude the turd that hit my chamois.
I got their license plate and called the cops thinking this was reckless driving at least, and possibly harrasment.
The question. What did the cops elect to do? What could they have done?
Ummm…I think I broke this ordinance today. A junior high student did not look both ways while doing a mid-block cross and stepped right into the bike lane as I was passing her. I slammed on the brakes and came within inches of hitting her. I cursed (not at her, just in general) and growled, “Watch what you are doing!” She meekly said “Sorry” so I’m pretty sure I was intimidating. I also threw her a dirty look. Shame on me. I’ve felt bad ever since.
Why should I feel bad since she was clearly in the wrong? Because we all make mistakes and when I make a mistake as a cyclist I don’t want to be yelled at by a car driver. I wasn’t really mad, I was just freaked out that we both almost got injured. If I could find her and apologize I would.
Sorry! I forgot to answer your original questions. I’m still distracted by my yelling at the teenage girls.
I have had a few rounds of reporting harassment to the police and can tell you how it worked for me. This is NOT a legal opinion, just what I have experienced or been told off the record.
In my cases, and those I’ve heard from others, the police are very nice about taking the report but they will tell you right off that unless the license plate and your description of the car match they can’t do anything. (It’s very hard to remember a license number or a car model when you are quaking in your boots from almost being run down)
If the info does match, they can call the person listed on the registration. If that person says “Wasn’t me!” then again, there is nothing they can do.
If the drive admits they were in the situation (“That cyclist shouldn’t have been on the road!”) the officer can inform them of the law, but not really press any charges because there is no proof.
It is my understanding that in order for someone to receive a fine there has to be proof. How that proof is obtained, I don’t know.
So why have the ordinance? As I stated above, the law is there to teach. If a police officer were to call me on the phone and tell me that a young girl complained about my yelling at her and that I could have been in violation of an ordinance, I would certainly think twice before I did it again. That is what we, as cyclists, should hope will happen to the car drivers that receive a phone call.
As I understand it, no one in Columbia has been fined because of this ordinance. However, it is certainly more pleasant out there since its passage.
I think I know a teenage girl today that would beg to differ.
Michelle, are you sure about the 16 vs 14 statement? Chapter 14 of the city’s code deals with all traffic….not just bicyclists.
In looking at the initial definition of the ordinances in the 14s Chapter “14 MOTOR VEHICLES AND TRAFFIC*” and at the 16s “Chapter 16 OFFENSES AND MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS*” I took it to mean traffic as in vehicles. I did not see, until further examination, that there is a PEDESTRIANS section in Chapter 14. So perhaps a statement would be that the harassment ordinance is in chapter 16 because it considered more of an “OFFENSE” than a “TRAFFIC” issue. What do you think?
Yes. Chapter 14 is all traffic laws and the harassment ordinance isn’t really a traffic law. That’s why it’s not in Chapter 14.