City of Cupertino, CA Safe Routes to School (SR2S) Bicycle Safety/Informational Videos, 19 Jun 2018

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From YouTube: Bicycle Friendly Driver Training 101

Description

This City of Cupertino workshop, aimed at motorists, addresses the topic of sharing the road with bicyclists and pedestrians. It takes the audience through the experience of driving in Cupertino, where motorists become aware of the cyclist experience...and explains how to navigate roads alongside cyclists. Learning objectives include sharing the road, infrastructure, common crashes, taking the lane, legal or not?, and what we teach cyclists. Recorded June 19, 2018.

A

Welcome to the bicycle friendly driver training. I know that you're here, because you really want to learn how to be a safer driver, not because we get any time off for.

A

This so thank you so much for spending your lunch with me.

A

The bicycle friendly driver training is some education developed by the city of fort collins.

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To help motorists have a better sense of how to share the road with cyclists as a measure of safety.

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There's a lot of bicycle education out there for bicyclists,, but.

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Motorist knowledge is a huge part of crashes,, so we help with this educational curriculum, that's starting to be spread throughout the country and different organizations that.

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Every road user will have a better idea of how to share the road safely and.

A

I'm chelsey on the safe routes to school coordinator for the cupertino, and then we have some of our traffic division here.

A

So,, do you guys want to come up to just introduce yourselves?.

A

Awesome so we have deputy o brien.

A

Do you want to say a little bit about what you do for the city.

B

Deputy o brien with the sheriff's office assigned out here at city, cupertino.

B

I've worked through the traffic division specifically for traffic enforcement within the city and also in saratoga in the south of sils.

B

I've been with the department for 20 years and I grew up by here., so this is like a personal place for me.. I love the city.. My family's actually still resides here. so but that's the gist of my.

B

Experience here.. Thank you.

A

So we're gonna go through some different rules of the road traffic laws and infrastructure.

A

So there will probably be some questions that come up about how to navigate certain situations and that's when we'll call on the.

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Deputies for their expertise, also, you each have a quiz., it's more just for fun.

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But you can take it as you go all the questions should be answered through the presentation.

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And if you finish the quiz there are certificates in the back that you can sign your name and your you will be officially a bicycle-friendly driver.

A

All right, we're going to go in.

A

So these are the topics we're going to go through today. Sharing the road infrastructure common crash is taking the lane.

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Whether something is legal or not, and a little bit of what is typically taught to cyclists,, which is really similar.

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And then questions in exam. I'll show you the exam answers at the end.

A

So how many of you, if you drive a car, stand up.

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That counts trucks, count, okay,, raise your right hand if you are sometimes a pedestrian and.

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Raise your left hand if you're, sometimes a bicyclist.

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Raise your right foot if you ride a bus.

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Left foot, if you rollerblade jump up and down so look around, take a look so we're all people right. Cyclists are people to motorists are people, even though we're in big aluminum boxes.

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And we're travelling down the roads, we're all people, we all use different modes of transportation, and a big piece of this presentation is to really show us that.

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Everyone is a person out there and we need to treat everyone with respect.

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So these are some examples of bike riders.

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These are some local examples.. I think you might recognize some of these upstanding citizens as.

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Some of our local cyclists here and then there's some pictures of kids in the city.

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These are from bike to work day and different bike events.

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So there are all types of cyclists out there with all types of abilities and skill levels and.

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They're, all people so we're going to talk about sharing the road first.

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So a bicycle is a vehicle and is required by law to follow all the rules of the road and.

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The cyclists also fare best when they act and are treated as drivers of vehicles and we'll kind of get into what that means.

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So we'll go through some different infrastructure examples.

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So infrastructure is innovative approaches to communicate something.

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And this is some different bike infrastructure, some of which I think all of which we have in cupertino.. So on the left side.

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On the bottom left, if you're a cyclist.

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How would you approach this?

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infrastructure, anyone know?.

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Where would you place yourself in this diagram if you're, before an intersection?.

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In the green, which part of the green.

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A

Yeah, exactly so, this is a bike box.

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That left side with there is a little tiny picture of a bike. Is the box part.

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When you're a cyclist coming up to this, you want to park yourself in the box section in front of all the motor vehicles.

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Which will be behind the white line, so the motor vehicles are supposed to line up behind that white line behind the green.? That's how the bike box works.

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A green bike lane is essentially a bike lane with green paint.

A

So it's it's meant to increase visibility and awareness of the fact that cyclists will be using this road.

A

In a share., oh, does anyone know what a share o means or what it indicates?.

A

Exactly so, cheryl means to share the road with cyclists.. It's kind of extra.

A

Guidance that there could be more cyclists on this street than other streets. you're, always supposed to share the road.

A

But this just gives drivers and cyclists a little more indication that this is a place. where a.

A

Cyclist can take the lane fully and act as a car for safety and then.

A

Does anyone know what a bike signal is or what it does?.

A

Julie, it looks like she knows.

C

So we have one right on the intersection of tori and.

C

Stevens creek boulevard, and there's a dedicated lane that is for bikes.

C

And you have your own signal?

C

green, when you can go in your bike lane and the bike lanes right in the middle of the road.

C

It's not on the side like most of the ones you see.

A

Perfect., so it's a signal just for bikes and we have a few of them around the city, good question.

D

Thank you chelsea. I have a question about the bike box. Is that because there's a bike detector loop over there and the bike needs to be in the bike box, to?.

D

Be detected by the loop,, or is it to facilitate a left turning movement at that intersection?.

D

A

It's actually just to give the cyclists more safety and visibility in this intersection.

A

So this person could be going straight and they could be going left. I believe.

A

But it's really to allow them a space to go in front of motorists to queue up so that they're seen.

A

Does that make sense?.

A

These are some more infrastructure.

A

For bikes, so directional paint in the top left.

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The green paint indicates where bikes can follow those directions.

A

We have separated bike lanes up on the top, right?.

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So this is when a physical barrier is in between the bike lane and the cars.

A

It gives some extra comfort and safety to cyclists and then bottom left.

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We have a buffered bike, lane,, which is very similar to a separated bike lane,, but there is no physical barrier.

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This picture actually has two buffers on the right hand. Side is a buffer for what's called the door zone.

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Which is a three-foot section next to the parked cars.

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So the cyclists can avoid that as well, because that's a dangerous area to ride their bikes and then the bottom right?.

A

We have a roundabout and, in a roundabout, there's a few different ways that a cyclist could navigate.

A

A cyclist could take full control of the roundabout lane and right and drive as a car through the roundabout.

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A cyclist might also get off their bike and act as a pedestrian to cross the roundabout.

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A cyclist could also take the ramps that you see to avoid being in.

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So essentially, this is to show you that there's a lot of ways that a cyclist could navigate.

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Certain intersections and to be aware, as a motorist, that there are different ways that bikes might approach this.

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For whatever,, they feel most comfortable with.

A

A few more infrastructure points.: this is some more directional paint on the bottom left.. So in this picture, actually this.

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Section allows the bicyclist to.

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Take their own lane in the middle to then get over to the left to make a left turn at the intersection.

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The shared use pathways indicate a pathway there where there's going to be multiple modes of transportation, walking and biking.

A

And then there's contraflow lanes and we actually do have one in cupertino a really small one.

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But this is a time when it's actually okay for a cyclist to ride against the flow of traffic.. It's really well indicated.

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So whenever that is okay,, it's gonna be really well marked.. Otherwise a cyclist should always ride the same way as traffic.

A

And these allow these two contraflow lanes allow the cyclists to get.

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To navigate the certain intersection. they're going through to get to a safer point of crossing.

A

So we have some local crash data for our area that has to do with bicyclists and motorists.

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So 5% of all traffic crashes involve bicyclists and motorists.

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43 percent of serious crashes are bicyclists and motorists of which we have one documented fatality in the last from 2014 to 2017.

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37 percent happen at intersections or driveways, so over 1/3 of.

A

Bicycle motorist crashes are happening at intersections.

A

What is that? so? What does that tell us if, if 1/3 of all crashes are happening at intersections as.

A

A motorist.: what does that tell you that you need to do?? What should you do?.

A

Exactly to really watch out for cyclists, when you're at intersections and be aware that there, our cyclists.

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7% involve wrong-way writing, so that is a definitely a behavior that we target for cyclists and.

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57% of bicycle motorists crashes are due to motorists errors.

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So over half are due to motorist errors and nationally about half and half are do to motorists errors.

A

So that's why we have this education.

E

No,, I was just wondering if the the local crash data, is that for like cupertino or santa clara county or.

E

It's either santa clara county or cupertino.

A

E

Okay,, thank you.

A

So a takeaway from this is that in most crashes, both road users could do something different.

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And a lot of crashes are preventable.

A

So I'm gonna take away the mystery of whether this is legal or not,, but why do you think this is not legal.

A

Exactly this person is going the opposite way of traffic.

A

And as we'll see with some diagrams coming up, this behavior can lead to a lot of accidents.

A

So in this is a common crash that happens.

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Called a right angle- and this is actually one of the highest crashes in fort collins, colorado,, which is where this was.

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This curriculum comes from, so the motorist is making a right turn.

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The cyclist is going against the flow of.

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Traffic going straight through the intersection and they crash at the intersection.

A

So, as a motorist,, what could the motorist do differently in order to avoid this crash?.

A

Yeah, wait till the bicycle passes, um,. So how my? How might the motorists even know the bicycle is coming.

A

Yeah, look to the right. We advise people to look right, left right and actually also behind to your right.

A

To look for your blind spot of a cyclist coming up on your right side,.

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This also is a cyclist error as well. This cyclists in this crash could have run a signal.

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Or maybe there was a visibility issue and he was in the shadow.

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So it's really important for a cyclist to obey the laws and the rules of the road.

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Before approaching an intersection and not just blow through which a lot of cyclists do.

A

This is another crash that happened in fort collins,, colorado.

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So the bicyclist is traveling eastbound in the westbound traffic lane.

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And the motor vehicle is making a right turn from a southbound lane into a westbound lane.

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The bicyclist in this case was ejected and slammed into the windshield of a motor vehicle shattering. The windshield.

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This is the picture of the windshield and in this case the bicyclists walked away,. But the windshield was not as great.

A

So these are just some different things that a bicyclists and motorists could do differently. In this case,.

A

Now we're gonna go talk about taking the lane, which is what we tell cyclists to do in order to keep themselves most safe.

A

In a lot of cases, so this is an interesting diagram.

A

This picture is actually legal in colorado.

A

But in california it is not.

A

Does anyone know why it's not legal or?.

A

What's not legal about it?.

A

Correct, yeah, so in california, correct. it's illegal to ride side by side., it's not illegal.. So this is legal.

B

As a cyclist, if you're able to follow the flow of traffic at the speed of the flow of traffic,.

B

Then you can maintain the position in the lane.. There's no laws about two vehicles occupying the same lanes.

B

So in this case, if they're going 25, and that's a 25 mile an hour zone., they would be lawfully.

B

Maintaining their position, if they cannot maintain that flow of traffic, they must yield to the right. There are circumstances.

B

That would change that to where, if they had to yield to the right because of the speed.

B

Then, if there was something wrong with the roadway ahead of them or they'd, have to go around and come into the main part of the roadway.

B

That would be an exception. also, an exception would be to pass other.

B

Bicyclists, but yeah, if they can maintain the flow of traffic they're, fine.

A

Can you speak to what you would advise in the situation of a cyclist approaching a roundabout.

A

Would you advise them to?

A

ride farther to the right, if they're not maintaining the speed, or would you advise them to take the lane for?.

A

Comfort and safety.

B

Which would be to the right and if you've got those.

B

The way that kerb goes up, I would utilize that, as best, I could only because any part of you in the lane of traffic.

B

There's always going to be dangerous, because cars may not see you.

A

A

So this is some points of why bicyclists take the lane, like, in the case of a chereau or on a very narrow street, where there really isn't room for.

A

A car and a bike to be side by side.

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It's often the safest place to be in the middle.. It makes you a lot more visible to the car and.

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Predictable, as opposed to weaving in and out to avoid being in the center of the lane,.

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It helps with being prevent being buzzed or sideswiped by a car. If they're trying to pass you.

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It helps with triggering signals and.

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If you need to prepare for a left-hand turn, so if you're riding on roads.

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Say you're on deanza going north and you need to make a left onto stevens creek.

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As a cyclist, you kind of have to safe options.

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You can either from the bike lane going straight.

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You can either wait till it's clear signal and move over to the left-hand turn lane to make the left turn just as a car would or.

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If you don't feel comfortable crossing that many lanes of traffic or you don't find a safe gap,.

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You can dismount at an intersection and cross as a pedestrian, which is called a box turn.

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To get yourself back into the bike lane traveling stevens, creek westbound,.

A

F

So my question would be that I noticed that most of the bike lanes that we do have are on the side of the road, and I understand that we do have.

F

Some that and in the middle of the road, what the data that you put up there earlier with 50% of accidents being in during.

F

The intersections., what is the benefit of having a bike lane in the intersection when the safe way seems to be on?.

F

The side of the lane, if you would for the simple fact that how many people riding a bike can actually pedal to the speed.

F

Of traffic., I'm just curious about that.

A

That's a good question.. um It really does take an experienced cyclist to cross a lot of lanes of traffic at the speed of traffic.

A

So bike lanes are there to give those cyclists an option,. I think.

A

But really it's always up to the cyclists and their own judgement of whether they can do that safely.

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And I would suggest if you can't or if you're unsure, to really try and use crosswalks.

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To avoid making having across so many lanes from the bike lane.

A

So this is legal,. um Does anyone want to give a guess of why this behavior is legal?.

A

Yeah,, so the law states that a cyclist needs to ride as far to the right as practicable. In this case.

A

There's a lot of debris on the shoulder, so the cyclists are riding as far to the right as practicable. Without going into that debris and putting themselves in an unsafe.

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Situation there also appear to be staggered in this photo, which is.

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Safer and more legal for riding on this highway.

A

So cyclists might take the lane if there's debris, if the lane is too narrow to share to be more visible, to avoid the door zone.

A

What I spoke about earlier.

A

Those are reasons why a cyclist might take the lane so as a motorist look out for that happening, and that does happen in cupertino and around the region.

A

This is another scenario from colorado.

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So this bicyclist was traveling westbound.

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In the westbound traffic lane going with the flow of traffic on the right side, a motor vehicle was traveling westbound.

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As well behind the cyclist.

A

The motor vehicle decided that, instead of waiting for the cyclist.

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He wanted to pass them, and this also, this intersection is actually on a hill, so both of these.

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Users are going up hills., so there's a lack of visibility as to traffic coming from the other direction.

A

The motorist pulled over to cross lanes of traffic to pass the bicyclist and there was another car coming their way.

A

The motorist had two options: the motorist could.

A

Hit the car or hit the bike bicycle., and what do you think the motors did?.

A

Yeah,, so the the car pulled over hit the bike and unfortunately the cyclist was killed.

A

This is a picture from the ghost bike ceremony and.

A

So what each of those users could have done differently? The cyclist could have taken the full lane to make themself?.

A

More visible and to avoid a car trying to pass them and the motorists could have waited for a safe and legal place to pass.

A

This is the concept of door zones, so it is a zone of about three feet: the width of a door when a parked the left side of a parked car.

A

The amount of space it takes to open that car door.. This is a pretty common.

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Accident, sometimes, cyclists have a lot of speed and they're pretty close to the door.. Someone might be sitting in their car waiting.

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They open the door and hit the cyclist.

A

I've heard people that I work with.

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This has happened to them and it can cause a lot of injury,, especially if you're going really fast.

A

This is another incident from from colorado.

A

So you can see the parked cars on the top of the diagram.

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There was a cyclist traveling alongside the parked cars, with a lot of speed, a.

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Woman was in her car, she opened the door, she hit, the cyclist and the cyclist was actually thrown out into the lane and then run over.

A

So and the person died so door zones are a real thing and.

A

There's a few things that we can do to avoid this happening. so as a motorist.

A

Can everyone pretend that they're sitting in their car and then raise your right hand and.

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Then reach over as if you were to open the door across your body.

A

With your right hand, what happens to your body?.

A

Yep, your rotate and you're forced to look behind you to make sure there's nothing coming.

A

This is something that we advise people to do in order to make sure that they're not going to hit a cyclist and as a cyclist, you.

A

Can avoid the door zone by riding and taking the lane when safe?.

A

This is another type of common crash, so.

A

This car is traveling making a left turn.

A

In the intersection, this bicyclist is going straight and they collide.

A

And how do you think this might have happened or why?.

A

Yeah,, it could have been the cyclists, not stopping at the signal. Any other reasons.

A

Yep, yep car could have wanted to make the green.

A

Maybe the car misjudged the bikes, speed and didn't think it would be fast enough.

A

Maybe the car couldn't see the bike because of sun glare or shade.

A

There's a lot of reasons why collision can happen here in this situation,.

A

So, in order to avoid this as a car, you could slow down and stop and wait to turn until all the traffic clears.. So a lot of bringing in patience.

A

This is including bicyclists as well.

A

You can watch for oncoming bicyclists as you don't. You never know how fast they're traveling, especially if there's an incline or a decline in the road and.

A

As a cyclist, this picture is actually taken by a cyclists on her bike and she took the lane. so she's in the center of the lane.

A

To ensure that the cars that are coming from the other side of the intersection can see her and she's, not stuck in the shadow of the car.

A

So that's another visibility, a way to.

A

Avoid the visibility error there.

A

So this is an interesting question that we have for the.

A

Sergeant's, so in fort collins., it is actually legal for this car to cross a double yellow.

A

In order to give the bicyclist at least three feet of passing space,.

A

But as I understand it's not legal in california to cross the double yellow.

A

So my question would be: what would you advise in the case of a car in this situation?.

B

This is kind of a if you want to go by the letter of the law. you'd, never ever supposed to cross over the left.

B

But there are circumstances., I don't know how. Often anybody drives out in the roadways that are.

B

It's just two lanes and it goes on for miles and miles of double, and then you get a bicyclist right out in the middle.

B

And it's not very wide.. I.

B

Would my suggestion I'm not saying to do this, but there are safe ways of doing this to be able to get past it and for both driver and.

B

Bicycles to be safe if you've got a long stretch of.

B

Clear open, roadway ahead of ya., you can see then slowly.

B

Cross and pass and then get back into your lane., but technically it's not legal.. It shouldn't be done.

B

Pretty much if you don't want to you know,, there might be somebody like me out there.

B

I wouldn't pull anybody over for that as long as it was done, safely., that's just, but that's just me.. I can't I can't.

B

Say how any other officer would handle that circumstance?.

B

As far as they can now, I'd have to look into a little bit more, I'm not sure if there, if there is something where it shows that they must yield.

B

Pull off so they can get out of the way. So cars come.

B

Sometimes it's just not practical, either way,, but.

A

Yeah,, it's good.. It's real life, right.

B

A lot of questions come up.

A

So I'll go over kind of safe ways to pass. If you decide to do that.

A

And, depending on what state you're in, if you're, illegally allowed to.

A

So as a car, you can treat a bicyclist as you would any other slow-moving vehicle if.

A

There's oncoming traffic: you want to slow down and wait to pass until it's totally clear and safe.

A

And if you are to pass a good rule of thumb to.

A

Know when to go back into the lane is when you can see the cyclists in your rearview mirror.

A

That gives you a lot of space.

A

Enough space to know that you've cleared the cyclists and hint-hint test question.

A

This is another type of common crash, a right hook, so in this case, the cyclist is in the bike lane trying to go straight through the intersection and.

A

The motorist is trying to turn right?.

A

The motorist goes in front of the bike to try and beat the bike and.

A

Causes an accident.

A

So as to avoid, in order to avoid this or make it less common.

A

A bicyclist that bicyclist could have taken the lane, instead of being in the far right side of the lane. If they're going straight.

A

And as a motorist, you need to check for bicyclists approaching from behind.

A

So that's kind of what I spoke to earlier about at intersections, looking left right, left and then behind you.

A

For any bicyclists that might have been coming in the time that you were looking another direction.

A

As a driver, you could also move into the bike lane to make that right, turn.. So that's often.

A

What I do, if a cyclist is in front of me, I'll, wait for them to make the turn and I'll pull in behind them.

A

Which also is a message to other cyclists that it's it's my turn to go and.

A

Please don't pass me on your right side to try and make that turn.

A

And avoid overtaking a cyclist to make that right turn and be patient.

A

So this picture is both legal and illegal., so.

A

The cyclist is legal because they're riding as far to the right as practical practicable with the debris.

A

But as I understand it's not legal for the driver, because they've not given three feet of space.

A

Is that correct?, okay.

A

So kind of goes back to the last diagram.

A

You know confusing situation, use your best judgment.

A

The driver is passing the cyclists.

B

Yeah,, please we're talking about sharing, making right, turns and and point into the bicycle lane. I.

B

Don't know if people that I've stopped people with for this quite often and is the thing is not pointing to the.

B

Bicycle lane, until you get within 200 feet of the intersection now it is, you are required to pull into the bicycle lane and make right turns.

B

There is a law that says you must pull into the bicycle lane.

B

A lot of people think that they're not supposed to, but it's very important to know that.

B

Exactly for the reasons you stated stay invisible to the bicyclist., so they know that.

B

You're gonna be there if you stay behind it,, depending on what their position is., what's safest for them?.

B

But yeah I just wanted to kind of put that out there cuz a lot of people, don't know that that it is a requirement to pull.

B

Into the bicycle lane to make a right turn at an intersection as long as you're within the 200 feet and the broken line of the bicycle lane is kind of your reference.. It's not always.

B

200 feet, but it's close the city. it's where the cities do get as close as they can to that.

B

A

Thank you., that's good clarification.

A

When passing a group of cyclists is this, if this might happen to you,.

A

Fort collins at least gives the advice to.

A

Tap the horn gently to let the cyclists know that you are behind them.. This is a big pack of bikes.

A

And it's gonna take them a little bit of time to organize themselves into single file so that you can pass.

A

So you're gonna want to avoid tapping the horn very loudly that can really startled a cyclist and cause them to crash.

A

Trying to pass would be a mess and just wait give them a little time to organize themselves. So you can pass safely.

A

Or pull over and just you know, have a sandwich and wait it out.

A

These are some other situations that might come up: distracted, driving, we've all seen that.

A

Sun, glare and fog in this sun picture there's actually a pedestrian.

A

Where that sun glare is, which is totally impossible to see.

A

In the fog, picture, there's actually a truck coming at us,, which is also very hard to see.

A

Children on bikes is kind of a different situation.

A

Children's brains are not developed like ours are, and they don't always have the forward-thinking or the ability to.

A

Judge speed appropriately or the memories, with both ways and they're very unpredictable.

A

So anytime, you're driving around a kid., I would just slow down make yourself very aware that they might do something crazy.

A

And and lowering your speed is also very a good way to.

A

Keep everyone safe, er and avoid parking in the bike lanes,, which is a huge problem here.

A

It really makes navigating streets challenging for cyclists, who need to pull out into the lane to avoid a parked car, and then they might, if they don't look appropriately.

A

Get hit by another car.

A

This happens a lot with kids trying to get to school in cupertino.

A

When parents block the bike lanes by parking there, waiting just makes everything really really sticky.. So it's really.

A

Helpful to not park in bike lanes and.

A

I'll just touch on what is typically taught to cyclists,, which is really similar.

A

Mostly, we teach bicyclists to take the lane when appropriate and safe to be very visible and predictable in your motions.

A

Using your hand, signals very deliberately driving your bike, letting cars know what you're doing not trying to weave in and out and kind of stay away.

A

It's also it's it's almost safer to.

A

To really be confident out there on the road and show drivers very deliberately what you want to do?.

A

I also passed up one thing: illegal courtesies.

A

Which is kind of interesting like an example of this might be if you're at a four-way intersection and a car.

A

Decides to wave a cyclists through, even though it's not their turn, or vice versa.

A

This actually can make the situation a lot, less predictable and more unsafe.. So.

A

When you can avoid illegal courtesies in receiving them,.

A

Right on the right side of the road is what we teach cyclists ride with the flow of traffic.

A

Stop at all stop signs and lights; obey the first-come, first-served rule at intersections.

A

Yield when changing lanes and to choose the correct intersection positioning, which for cyclists is always the rightmost lane of the.

A

Direction, you're traveling.

A

These are the hand signals for cyclists, so left turn.

A

This is a right turn stopping or slowing. This is also a right turn.

A

Kind of a rule of thumb is to just point the direction you're going.

A

So I mostly use this for my right turns, although.

A

Legally, both of these work and people have different opinions over which might be safer.

A

So the key points of this presentation to treat bicyclists as drivers of vehicles.

A

Both road users can take action to avoid crashes.

A

Most crashes are preventable and could have been prevented by someone doing something different.

A

To pay attention at intersections and driveways and understand that there are cyclists out there and you might not see them initially.

A

But they're around, as you start to pay more attention, you'll, see the more and more on the roads,, especially if you are one.

A

Abide by the three-foot rule when passing a cyclist to understand when and why a cyclist might take the lane and.

A

That roadway users are all people., we're all people. We have different modes of transportation.

A

We're still ourselves when we're out there. so to treat everyone else like you, want to be treated.

A

Does anyone have questions.

A

G

For this, but you know,, I often get to the point of an intersection.. I know there's a bicyclist behind me.

G

They often like shoot past you when you're trying to turn so I'm not.

G

Sometimes I'm unsure of whether to I see them behind me.

G

But they're not there yet to get into the you know when at what point do I get into the other lane or just let them go?.

G

Because they are, they can be unpredictable at the intersections., so the cyclist is going straight and you want to make a right turn.

A

A

It's kind of a judgment call. I usually wait for the cyclist to see what they do just because I have so much less visibility in my car than.

A

Someone on their bike and I'd rather hold up a little bit of traffic. To make sure I don't hit someone, but it's a judgment, call.

A

Whatever you feel is most safe and.

A

Does that sound okay as an answer?.

A

A

Mm-Hmm. yeah cyclists are so much more vulnerable.

A

These are your exam answers., so thank you for coming and a one more question. sorry.. This is more for the sheriff.

E

What is it you guys are doing to make sure that the bicyclist they're doing their part in.

E

Following the law.

B

I cycle as well off duty,, so you know,. I get both sides of everything and it's, unfortunately, we don't have a real good relationship.

B

Vehicles and bicyclists.: it's it's not something like in europe. it's. They meld very well out. There.

B

They have it all down here. For some reason, we can't seem to get on the same page and people get upset.

B

And that's where you get your road rate incidents with bicyclists and cars.

B

So I tried to talk to him and I explained to them,. You know what they're doing wrong.

B

You know what,, you know,, the biggest thing I see are were up widened right through stop signs.

B

So you'll get the stop sign where you'll have. it'll be a teen into a t-intersection.

B

And they'll be riding along the side where there's no intersection part.

B

They think that they can just ride right through. So I stopped- and I talked to them quite often.

B

That's something that I try to educate.

B

Yeah, I've been doing this for a long time and sometimes.

B

Talking to people and just giving them information., it's probably the best way to go.

B

Kind of start doing that.

A

Does anyone else have any other questions? I.

E

Was just wondering what the best thing to do would be if I've been in a situation where the.

E

Cyclist is turning left, how to light and since they're the first ones in the line.

E

The signal doesn't trigger and you're just standing there stuck in traffic,. You know with traffic piling up behind you and.

E

Obviously,, you don't want to escalate the situation by yelling at them or honking on them.. So.

B

But I know what just said, but I know cupertino and specifically, everything is set good for bicycles. They they actually.

B

Calibrate those for bicycle tires wheels, so they should cycle and you wouldn't be stuck in there waiting for the light to turn green.

B

Is that what you're out? is that what you're, saying? yeah.

E

Well,, if I mean it probably didn't happen in this city.

E

But I know I've been in that situation, so they just yeah in other cities. That happens all the time where I live. It drives me, nuts.

B

I can't get through intersections on my motorcycle yeah,. I just want what would be the best way to like get through that situation?.

E

Probably the one of the main things is, and I and what I try to do, because people don't want to get close to me.

B

And I understand, but I so when I come to an intersection, I know I'm not going to cycle but there's somebody behind me.

B

I'll pull a little bit forward to kind of take up a little bit more room in the crosswalk. Only because.

B

That way and get people to pull farther forward., it's a cycle and hit the boutique off the sensors.

B

Yeah,, so we can cycle that way., it's it's it's just. However, you feel comfortable doing it.

B

A lot of times, a bicycle is just gonna, go through eventually and just go.

B

Unfortunately, for you, I mean, if you feel comfortable off to say hey,, I need to move forward.

B

Say something it's up to you when, but you know,, I can take it. You want to turn it into a road great incident.

B

That's the thing.. I.

A

Could sort of answer what I might do in that situation?.

A

As a cyclist,, I would like, I would love if the driver just asked me to move up nicely and.

A

As a cyclist I try to, if, if I'm not triggering the light, I try to move up into the crosswalk.

A

Even to allow the car to pull up behind me.

A

That's did you want to say something julia?.

C

Sometimes I'm by myself, there is no car behind me to trip the the light and I had heard in the vehicle code. If you are by yourself.

C

There's no other car behind you. If you go through one cycle and still don't trip it. The second time you can actually turn left on a red. is that correct?.

B

I dunno for vehicles if you're stuck at a light, and it's not cycling., there's a problem mechanically with the signals that.

B

As long as you're doing it, where there's nobody else approaching you do it safely,.

B

Yeah,, that's there is something along that line.

B

Now, as far as the bicyclists, I mean you have other options, you could always just walk your bike to the next corner and then hit this.

B

Button and go across and then just go that way I mean you have other options, you could do what you're saying go through.

B

As long as it's done safely and it's not because the signals aren't cycling for you., I.

B

Don't think anybody would pull you over, for that least I wouldn't, but I wouldn't know how long you were actually sitting there either.

B

So you got to take everything kind of for what it is.

A

Thank you. Anyone else have any last questions.

A

Well,, thank you for coming thanks. Everyone for taking the quiz. there are certificates on the back table.

A

So if you'd like to take one and sign your name,, you are officially a bicycle-friendly driver.

A

This is the first bicycle-friendly driver training in cupertino.

A

So thanks for being the beta test and have a wonderful day and.

A

Thank you to deputy o'brien and sergeant gonzales for coming by.