Crossing in Front of Stopped Vehicles

Question

Giles asked: When a bicyclist is traveling from one side of the roadway to another and comes up upon a roadway/driveway when vehicles are stopped waiting to make a turn into on coming traffic, is the bicyclist required to walk the bike across or are they allowed to ride in front of the stopped cars?

Answer

Lacking any traffic control devices and whether on the sidewalk or in the roadway, there is no requirement for a bicyclist to stop and dismount to cross another roadway.

The motorist may be in violation of this statute:

s. 316.1945Stopping, Standing, or Parking Prohibited in Specified Places

(1) Except when necessary to avoid conflict with other traffic, or in compliance with law or the directions of a police officer or official traffic control device, no person shall:

(a) Stop, stand, or park a vehicle:

  1. On a sidewalk.
  2. Within an intersection.
  3. On a crosswalk.

Although there is no prohibition to riding in front of vehicles stopped in a crosswalk or sidewalk waiting to enter the intersection, extreme caution is recommended. Drivers are not necessarily expecting or looking for a bicyclist. That is particularly true if the cyclist is approaching from the right on a sidewalk, a paved shoulder or unlawfully riding against the required flow of traffic in the roadway.

3 Comments on “Crossing in Front of Stopped Vehicles

  1. This is absolutely wrong! So a cyclist can just fly in front of you in blind areas such as obscured and recessed or walled posted stop signs? This is wrong. a cyclist should have a duty to his or her safety just as much if not more so that the driver of a car.
    By that I am saying, that a cyclist should stop just as the driver of a car would have to before crossing a crosswalk.
    Too, too often they don’t and when something happens, blame is unfairly lain on the driver of the vehicle. This needs to be rectified, it is not right.

    This makes me mad because a friend of mine was cited and charged with an accident which was really not his fault, and even the cyclist herself told the narcissist god complex,full of himself Trooper that the man was stopped. this trooper did not want to listen to the cyclist instead moved her far away from the man and had a confab with the woman. after that everything changed,

  2. By the this Trooper s with this man, this man was so dis-trot, so humiliated and so scared because he thought he had killed a human being. After a week, he is just now beginning to calm down. This is wrong. This man is a safe driver, if anything, he is overly cautious…we even joke about how cautious he is in his car, he drives a Porsche. 50 MPH is way too fast as far as he is concerned. But, he is driving a Porsche and is over 50 years old. He did not deserve the charges; but he is the type that the cops rely on, the ones that will not fight and could possibly get them in trouble.

  3. Solution is simple… Make sure your car stops BEFORE you reach the crosswalk line. There should be no question about that. If a cyclist decides to punch it and then crosses… you still need to STOP and look both ways anyhow. 1. you would be in violation of passing or running the stop. 2. You are also violating the Pedestrians right of way. 3. If you don’t stop, you are endangering lives,

    … so does any one else have issue following basic traffic stop rules? Cause this guy doesn’t get how in any case… a stop means stop… Not pause, not creep slow over, and definitely does not mean GO.

    Damn I wish I was cop… Id be making quota the first week!

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