In TN there is no legal obligation to see a cyclist
It\'s funny I had thoughts about this last night on how our legislatures reacted to the 3\' safe passing bill and the removal of mandatory shoulder use law. One issue seems to be the problem with cyclists appearing out of nowhere as if we are some sort of specter that can be invisible till the last minute leaving motorists no time to react to our presences. Leaving cyclists baffled on the how and why\'s we can\'t be seen even when wearing some of the gaudiest clothing on the planet, well I have a thought about that.Let\'s say I am driving in a car with a friend down a 35mph street so we are doing the acceptable 50mph, the road is fairly straight with good sight lines and then out of nowhere an illegally parked car appears, my freind gasps \"We are going to crash!\" and I say \"Slow down a bit and change lanes when its safe to do so.\" \"But why should I be inconvenienced when they are not doing the speed limit?\" So we crash and tell the officer that we just did not see the parked car so its not our fault, if it is anyone\'s fault it should be the one not doing the speed limit, giving no time for people \"lawfully\" using the roadway time to react.
The problem here is that this story would appear to be a totally bogus to most people but if we replaced parked car with a lawful cyclist the story has suddenly gained believability among a large portion of our society. Why is that? Well this is my theory: Cyclists are admonished to ride to the right of the road to facilitate passing of faster traffic. So by riding to the right we are essentially saying that it is safe to pass within the same lane and don\'t pay me any more heed then a telephone pole on the right side of the road, there is room for you to pass. It is my belief that it is the awareness of not having enough room to pass is what \"suddenly\" appears out of nowhere not the cyclists.
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From the article:
So, taking the facts and applying the law, I have to take the investigator at his word [\"could have seen the bike, but it is not likely that he should have seen the bike.\"] and since, according to him, there is no legal obligation to see a cyclist, one can’t be held responsible for not giving 3 feet of distance for what should not be seen.
<a href="http://commuteorlando.com/wordpress/2009/04/02/in-tn-there-is-no-legal-obligation-to-see-a-cyclist/">http://commuteorlando.com/wordpress/2009/04/02/in-tn-there-is-no-legal-obligation-to-see-a-cyclist/</a>;
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