Pima County Deputy Ryan Roher shared the the following email and photos, which were sent to the Sheriff’s office by a motorist who encountered the Tuesday Morning Ride recently.
A motorist snaps a photo of the Tuesday-morning ride taking up the entire lane along Kinney Road.
The following photos were taken on Kinney Rd heading toward Old Tucson Studios. As you can see in the following photos, the bicyclists have taken the whole width of the right hand lane making it impossible to pass. This is an accident just waiting to happen. Per the A.R.S. 28-815 the bike club members should be riding two by two and not five by five or more.
This is an ongoing problem particularly on Tuesday mornings. I am asking if the Pima County Sheriff Department can take action to put a damper on this type of inappropriate bicycle riding which is against the rules of the road.
I know I am not the first person to request your department’s help in resolving this car vs. bicycle sharing of the public roads.
Appreciate any assistance you can do in helping to resolve this road sharing issue.
Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions. I hope you can help me in getting the word about this situation/issue and that the ride will comply with the rules of the road.
Deputy Roher said that he wasn’t entirely sure what the Sheriff’s department response would be. He thought they would give the ride a week or two to police themselves before doing any sort of enforcement.
The argument has been made that a large group like the Tuesday ride are actually making it easier for motorists by bunching up in a pack so that motorists can get by the pack quicker.
Roher said unfortunately the law is clear that cyclists can ride two abreast and allows for a third cyclist to pass the other two and they Sheriff’s office is responsible for enforcing the laws.
He suggested that cyclists be aware of motorists who are behind the group and work to help them get by.
17 thoughts on “Photos: Tuesday Morning Ride frustrates motorists”
If I was driving that car, I’d be making a damn nuisance of myself with all my cheering at the bicyclists. As in, come on! You can make that hill! It’s an easy hill! You can do it! GO!!!
I’ve also been known to wave and grin at a bicycle tourists. Happened the last time a friend and I went to Bisbee. We spotted a couple south of Benson. Which sent Martha into a frenzy. If my friend hadn’t needed to keep going for a business appointment, we would have stopped and chatted them up.
From the photos it looks like a dangerous situation set up by the cyclists. Notice in the second photo that the motorist passes the cyclists in what appears to be a blind curve (even allowing for the telephoto lens effect and the dashed line on the road), that’s dumb. Everybody was wrong, fundamentally the cyclists.
I’m 90% sure that that is the portion of Kinney that widens into a divided road with two lanes of travel each direction (right by Old Tucson Studios). If so, the cyclists and the automobile are each taking up one lane, and neither are moving against the flow of traffic.
Test
The DOUBLE YELLOW LINE is NEVER sup-post to be crossed or driven on. There is a TV comecial
Public Service Announcement that shows traffic driving on/crossing the DOUBLE YELLOW LINE
this is WRONG, and against motor vehicle law. Someone PLEASE get the attention of the ones responsible for this PSA
@Mark
Mark,
I think you’re referring to our safe passing PSA on our website, which has been running on TV lately. People can see it at http://bikeped.pima.gov/Videos.html.
Please note that it is not a double yellow line condition. There is a solid yellow line and skip yellow lines. In the northbound direction on Melpomene, where we filmed this, drivers have the legal right to pass when safe to do so. I can understand if you thought it was a double yellow line because the video goes by fairly quickly and it almost appears as it’s a double yellow.
The good news is that shortly after we filmed that we built bike lanes on Melpomene in that section (Catalina Highway to Ft. Lowell) and now drivers are able to pass more safely.
Thanks.
That section inside the park may not be wide enough to enforce the two-abreast rule. Riding two-abreast and allowing 3 feet would put the car over the double line and would be of no benefit to auto traffic.
Could it be argued that a group this size constitutes a ‘ Bikes May Use Full Lane’ situation? What is better ‘sharing’- a large group in a short space or 50 riders strung out by two over a long distance. There are users who obstruct traffic flow in normal use. Outlaw group rides or declare them normal use? And finally, how much longer do we kick this can down the road?
No. I’m sorry, the ‘finally’ should have been: How does Portland handle this?
Those pictures can be the poster for selfishness and oblivion…no one matters but the cyclists who are hogging the road and making passing impossible and/or very dangerous. If this is what Tucson bicycling is about, then PCSO needs to intervene again!
@zz This ain’t Portland!
I live just outside the park and bike there myself. What is needed in the park is two feet extra pavement on the right side of the white line .. there actually is no pavement on the right of the white line now forcing cyclists to bike in the main lane and forcing cars to go around. No excuse for riding 5 abreast though. I will say that many times I have followed these ‘trains’ and they are at the 35 mph speed limit! Amazing. It hasn’t happened yet and I hope it never does but somebody is going to ‘plow’ into that whole mess of bikers and only then will action be taken .. after people are killed.
tiredofpc No. This is 50 or so road users as opposed to what (we can’t tell0 maybe 2,3 or 4 road users who don’t want anything in their way as they drive through a park. Let’s redefine the selfishness.
sonny1597 Sonny, if they’re going the speed limit, why do cars need to pass them? Normally, I would agree with you, but this is a park. This group has chosen the most unobtrusive route there is as close as it is to town. They are on it for 30-40 minutes a week. I contend that this is simply the entitlement attitude of drivers who feel all roads should be about them at all times. What it that, sharing the road?
Consider this: as Sonny says there is no
pavement to the right of the white line for much of this road. This
means even a single cyclist on this road using two feet near the white
line will require cars to move 5 feet to the left in order to pass. This
means the cars must cross the double yellow line in order to pass. Since
the oncoming traffic lane also has no pavement outside the white line,
this forces the motorist to wait for a gap in traffic to avoid a head to
head collision.
If one cyclist forces motorist into oncoming
traffic, how would cyclists riding two abreast be any different? How is
5 abreast any different? In this scenario, isn’t a group of cyclists 5
wide and 50 feet long better than a group of cyclists two wide and 130
feet long since it forces motorists into oncoming traffic for a shorter
duration?
Couldn’t the question be asked, “Why is that driver using her cell-phone behind the wheel?”
Also, this is 50+ people using the road. Why do conveniences of 1 automobile user matter more than the safety of 50 fellow road users? That’s ridiculous.
If I was driving that car, I’d be making a damn nuisance of myself with all my cheering at the bicyclists. As in, come on! You can make that hill! It’s an easy hill! You can do it! GO!!!
I’ve also been known to wave and grin at a bicycle tourists. Happened the last time a friend and I went to Bisbee. We spotted a couple south of Benson. Which sent Martha into a frenzy. If my friend hadn’t needed to keep going for a business appointment, we would have stopped and chatted them up.
From the photos it looks like a dangerous situation set up by the cyclists. Notice in the second photo that the motorist passes the cyclists in what appears to be a blind curve (even allowing for the telephoto lens effect and the dashed line on the road), that’s dumb. Everybody was wrong, fundamentally the cyclists.
I’m 90% sure that that is the portion of Kinney that widens into a divided road with two lanes of travel each direction (right by Old Tucson Studios). If so, the cyclists and the automobile are each taking up one lane, and neither are moving against the flow of traffic.
Test
The DOUBLE YELLOW LINE is NEVER sup-post to be crossed or driven on. There is a TV comecial
Public Service Announcement that shows traffic driving on/crossing the DOUBLE YELLOW LINE
this is WRONG, and against motor vehicle law. Someone PLEASE get the attention of the ones responsible for this PSA
@Mark
Mark,
I think you’re referring to our safe passing PSA on our website, which has been running on TV lately. People can see it at http://bikeped.pima.gov/Videos.html.
Please note that it is not a double yellow line condition. There is a solid yellow line and skip yellow lines. In the northbound direction on Melpomene, where we filmed this, drivers have the legal right to pass when safe to do so. I can understand if you thought it was a double yellow line because the video goes by fairly quickly and it almost appears as it’s a double yellow.
The good news is that shortly after we filmed that we built bike lanes on Melpomene in that section (Catalina Highway to Ft. Lowell) and now drivers are able to pass more safely.
Thanks.
That section inside the park may not be wide enough to enforce the two-abreast rule. Riding two-abreast and allowing 3 feet would put the car over the double line and would be of no benefit to auto traffic.
Could it be argued that a group this size constitutes a ‘ Bikes May Use Full Lane’ situation? What is better ‘sharing’- a large group in a short space or 50 riders strung out by two over a long distance. There are users who obstruct traffic flow in normal use. Outlaw group rides or declare them normal use? And finally, how much longer do we kick this can down the road?
No. I’m sorry, the ‘finally’ should have been: How does Portland handle this?
Those pictures can be the poster for selfishness and oblivion…no one matters but the cyclists who are hogging the road and making passing impossible and/or very dangerous. If this is what Tucson bicycling is about, then PCSO needs to intervene again!
@zz This ain’t Portland!
I live just outside the park and bike there myself. What is needed in the park is two feet extra pavement on the right side of the white line .. there actually is no pavement on the right of the white line now forcing cyclists to bike in the main lane and forcing cars to go around. No excuse for riding 5 abreast though. I will say that many times I have followed these ‘trains’ and they are at the 35 mph speed limit! Amazing. It hasn’t happened yet and I hope it never does but somebody is going to ‘plow’ into that whole mess of bikers and only then will action be taken .. after people are killed.
tiredofpc No. This is 50 or so road users as opposed to what (we can’t tell0 maybe 2,3 or 4 road users who don’t want anything in their way as they drive through a park. Let’s redefine the selfishness.
sonny1597 Sonny, if they’re going the speed limit, why do cars need to pass them? Normally, I would agree with you, but this is a park. This group has chosen the most unobtrusive route there is as close as it is to town. They are on it for 30-40 minutes a week. I contend that this is simply the entitlement attitude of drivers who feel all roads should be about them at all times. What it that, sharing the road?
Consider this: as Sonny says there is no
pavement to the right of the white line for much of this road. This
means even a single cyclist on this road using two feet near the white
line will require cars to move 5 feet to the left in order to pass. This
means the cars must cross the double yellow line in order to pass. Since
the oncoming traffic lane also has no pavement outside the white line,
this forces the motorist to wait for a gap in traffic to avoid a head to
head collision.
If one cyclist forces motorist into oncoming
traffic, how would cyclists riding two abreast be any different? How is
5 abreast any different? In this scenario, isn’t a group of cyclists 5
wide and 50 feet long better than a group of cyclists two wide and 130
feet long since it forces motorists into oncoming traffic for a shorter
duration?
Couldn’t the question be asked, “Why is that driver using her cell-phone behind the wheel?”
Also, this is 50+ people using the road. Why do conveniences of 1 automobile user matter more than the safety of 50 fellow road users? That’s ridiculous.