A kid on a BMX bike barreled down the middle of West King Street recently, rolling down the hill against traffic.
An unidentified bicyclist rides among cars along Columbia Avenue, east of Good Drive.
As vehicles approached, he popped his ride up onto the sidewalk and banked around some pedestrians.
Outlaw bicycling is a familiar sight around here.
Some say it has gotten more so this spring as gas has nudged $4 dollars a gallon, inspiring more bike commuting and bike-powered errands.
A lot of cyclists — kids, adult newbies and veteran riders alike — apparently have a wobbly grasp of the vehicle code.
Experts say that the law requires bicyclists to operate in much the same manner as if they were driving a car:
Travel in the direction of traffic. Merge gradually into the left lane to turn left. Obey traffic signs. Signal your intent.
Recognize your right to be on the road, but keep far enough to the right to let faster traffic pass.
Bill Hoffman, an instructor with The Lancaster Bicycle Club, estimates that only 10 to 15 percent of adult cyclists follow such rules.
Some riders admit their relaxed approach to traffic laws.
"I don't blow them off," said an experienced Mount Joy cyclist. "I bend them. Flex them. ... Rolling right turn on red."
Claimed another bicyclist: "Every racing guy I've ever met blows the lights."
Compounding the problem are the narrow, meandering roads that radiate from Lancaster like the spokes of a wheel.
The network is ill-equipped to handle heavy traffic of any sort, said Dorie Weik, who manages safety and public affairs for the Central Pennsylvania Chapter of the AAA.
Every day of the week in the city, she added, you can see kids riding the wrong way on one-way streets and hopscotching their bikes in and out of traffic.
"Drivers don't know what to expect."
But the friction cuts both ways.
When bikes hit cars, Weik said, it's always the rider who gets hurt.
Cyclists don't get enough respect, contends Tom Podlesny, the owner of the Cycle Circle bike shop, 131 N. Plum St.
"I think most bikers are law abiding," said Podlesny, who typically rides nine miles to work from his home in Conestoga. "I find that a lot of drivers, though, aren't compelled to share the road with bicyclists."
Spinning and sinningThis is not to make a mountain out of a moleskin.
Absent some blatant transgression that sparks an accident, Weik said, "No one is really going to prosecute someone on a bicycle."
City police Capt. Pete Anders said he has not observed any recent jump in bike offenses. Nor has there been an increase in complaints about cyclists, he said.
The bike commuting bubble itself is largely anecdotal, and comparatively tiny.
According to Hoffman, it would be gross exaggeration to say that even 5 percent of bike club members pedal to work.
Still,
something's happening.
Bike club membership is at an all-time high, at 550 members, Hoffman said.
Podlesny said his sales surge of about 20 percent over the past two months reflects a national upswing.
He said customers are buying a lot of commuter-related accessories, such as fenders, racks, baskets and lights, required by law for night riding.
Podlesny reported being "overwhelmed" by bike repairs to the point that he has less time for his own gas-free commutes.
Soaring oil prices have indeed altered travel behavior, especially for people already concerned about fitness and environmental impact, said Andy Clarke, president of the League of American Bicyclists in Washington, D.C.
But altruism doesn't necessarily translate to strict legal constructionism on a bike.
Clarke said the commuting trend might be pumping up the ranks of offenders as people with rusty riding skills regain their wheels after a long hiatus.
"They were taught as kids to ride toward traffic," added Clarke, who said that is one of the biggest causes of bike crashes.
The other is riding on the sidewalk, which is allowed in Pennsylvania unless expressly forbidden by business district postings or other signage.
Sidewalks are gray areas, said Clarke, who paused to talk by cell phone recently while on a bike tour of Bentonville, Ark.
"I'm standing with my bike on a sidewalk right now," he said. Riding on sidewalks in some instances is the safest way to negotiate a congested corridor.
But, Clarke said, he knows to go at walking speed, and to be wary of obstacles and yield to pedestrians.
In fact, Hoffman said, the bicycling world is full of gray areas — and old, bad traditions that must be reformed.
One problem in this country is that people generally regard the bike as a "toy" instead of a serious utilitarian machine, he said.
"Many cyclists don't understand that when they're bicycling they're operating a vehicle that conveys rights as well as responsibilities."
The masses apparently are not clamoring to be brought up to speed.
Hoffman said the League of American Bicyclists-approved safety course that he teaches for Manheim Township drew six people last month.
"Sometimes I get as many as a dozen."
A similar curriculum offered through Dream Ride Projects' Cycle Smart program mainly targets kids.
On the bright side, Hoffman said, every adult who drives also knows how to share the road.
It's a matter of transferring that mindset to two wheels. And of drivers giving cyclists room.
Hoffman, at 61, has seen energy crunches come and go.
Now, he said, "The days that you can drive your car for 5 cents a mile are gone."
Dwindling, too, perhaps, are the days when you can ride your bike like a nut and get away with it.
"All this bad stuff has to be unlearned," Hoffman said. "The high cost of gas may bump up that learning curve a little bit."
Jon Rutter is a staff writer for the Sunday News. His e-mail address is jrutter@lnpnews.com.
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