Stopping for Bikes is Like Teaching a Pig to Whistle

By Sutton R. Stokes, 9-12-08

	Caption: As clear as the law is concerning cars and bikes, relatively little guidance is offered concerning when camel riders have the right of way. Photo by Flickr user borkur.net. Some rights reserved.

It wastes your time and annoys the pig biker.

You don’t have to bike in Missoula for very long before you start to notice confusing and contradictory reactions from drivers. It might happen at a four-way stop, where some drivers will wave you ahead out of turn, or at a busy cross-street, where some drivers will come to a stop to let you cross, even when you have a stop sign and they do not.

As a result, it’s easy to start thinking that bicycles have right of way over cars, like pedestrians do. Bikes don’t have engines, after all, so they’re powered the same way pedestrians are. Bikes sure aren’t as fast as cars. And if a car strikes someone on a bike, the car wins. So it’s not surprising that so many Missoulians think drivers are supposed to stop for bikers, just like they’re supposed to stop for pedestrians.

The only problem is that this is wrong. (Mostly.)

Montana state law, also known as the Montana Code Annotated, is searchable here.

I performed a search for the word “bicycle” and combed through the 28 results, finding no provision requiring drivers to yield to bikers at intersections, except — here’s why I said “mostly” above — when a bicyclist is riding across the street in a cross walk.

So let’s get crosswalks out of the way first: unless there’s a sign prohibiting it, and notwithstanding sniffy letters to the Independent, it is legal to ride a bike on the sidewalk in Montana and, therefore, through a crosswalk.

When you do, the law says that you have “all the rights and duties applicable to a pedestrian under the same circumstances.” As most Missoulians seem to know quite well, one of those rights is that cars must give way to pedestrians in crosswalks, so apparently cars need to give way to bikes there, too.

But that’s it. In all other circumstances, the annotated code goes on to say, “every person operating a bicycle shall be granted all of the rights and shall be subject to all of the duties applicable to the driver of any other vehicle.”

This means that, when waiting at a two-way stop to cross a busy street, you — whether driving a car or riding a bike — must yield to through traffic.

This means that, at a four-way stop, you — whether driving a car or riding a bike — must yield to the vehicle that got there first.*

And this means that, when driving a car, you should not be making special allowances for bikes that you would not make for other vehicles, such as randomly stopping for them when you don’t have a stop sign.

For one thing, it’s dangerous. Most other cars aren’t going to stop, so drivers who do stop run the risk of being rear-ended by other vehicles whose drivers don’t understand what’s happening. And what if traffic going the other way doesn’t stop? You could be tempting an unwary biker out into a dangerous situation.

For another thing, it’s annoying. I thought that my brother, a devoted urban bicyclist long before I started dabbling this summer, was just being a purist when he told me years ago that bikers actually don’t like it when cars stop for them, but it’s true.

It just feels weird.

There you are, pedaling along, minding your own business, perfectly capable of getting from point A to point B on your bike without any assistance. Obeying the law, you come to a stop at a busy intersection and wait for traffic to clear. You see a gap coming up, and, while you are waiting for it, you are thinking about the things you have to do today and whether you turned the oven off.

Then, suddenly, traffic is stopping unexpectedly. All eyes are on you, and — if you decide to proceed — you have to heave your bike into motion from a dead stop and hope that these well-meaning drivers don’t change their minds while you make your wobbly way across the intersection.

It’s not the end of the world, but it is, as I said, annoying.

Here are some other laws that you might have wondered about concerning bikes on roads. (Warning: I’m a good reader, but I’m not a lawyer, so don’t depend on my interpretations to protect you in court if it comes to that.)

• Unless you are making a left turn, or unless you can ride as fast as traffic, you’re required to ride as far to the right as is possible and safe: you’re still allowed to avoid hazards, including poor road surfaces, and — as I read it — the possibility of suddenly-opened car doors. (Reference here.)


• If the road is so narrow that there isn’t room for cars to pass you safely, you may legally take over the lane and force cars to wait behind you until it is safe for them to get past. Of course, by doing so, you risk making drivers angry and impatient, which could also put you at risk. It’s a balancing act. (Reference same as above.)


• You can’t ride two or more abreast except in a bike or parking lane, or on a paved shoulder. One exception is “when you are riding within a single lane on a laned roadway with at least two lanes in each direction, in which case the persons may ride two abreast if they do not impede the normal and reasonable movement of traffic more than they would otherwise impede traffic by riding single file.” Translation: you may do so when the street is not so busy that a car coming up behind you can’t just swing into the next lane, at will, to get around you. (Reference same as above.)


• At night, in addition to the reflectors that come standard on most bikes, you need a white light visible to the front. (It seems to me that one of those lights you strap to your head is a safer option than one you attach to your handlebars; it’s not clear whether this technically meets the requirement, but I’d have to say that any cop who dinged you on this would have to be a bit of a martinet.) A red rear-facing light is optional but a fantastic idea. (Reference here.)


• You must signal your turns. It is legal to just point, i.e., you don’t have to do that stupid crooked-left-arm gesture when turning right. (Reference here.)


• Finally, as in all things, don’t be an idiot. (Reference here.)

If you’d like to know more about area bike laws and safety recommendations, the Missoulian has a good article here. The city of Missoula publishes a bike rules/safety brochure, which you can pick up at City Hall in the Bike Pedestrian program office. (While you’re down there, why not register your bike, as required by city ordinance; you can also do it on campus at The Source in the UC atrium.) Bike rules/safety brochures, as well as free safety classes, are also available at Freecycles, that place where you can use bike tools for free and even build your own bike, also for, um, free.
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* Interestingly, state law doesn’t explicitly require you to give way at four-way stops to the vehicle that got there first, advising only that, as a general rule, “when two or more vehicles enter or approach an intersection from different highways, the driver of the vehicle on the left shall yield the right-of-way to all vehicles approaching from the right that are close enough to constitute an immediate hazard.” I know it sounds like this is referring only to those asinine stop-sign-free intersections that plague Missoula (wonder if we could get some stats on accidents at those), but there is nothing else I can find that would tell drivers what to do at a four-way stop. However, in addition to being generally accepted in practice, the order-of-arrival rule is endorsed by the Montana Driver’s Manual. (Download a PDF of the relevant chapter here.)

For more like this, read the rest of the Missoula Notebook.

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