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If you ride your bicycle on Boise roads against the flow of traffic or run through a stop sign or light without yielding to oncoming cars, you could find yourself $46.50 poorer. To try to prevent bike-vehicle accidents, Police Chief Mike Masterson is asking officers to pay more attention to cyclists and possibly give tickets to scofflaw riders for basic violations:
• Going through a stop sign without slowing for traffic. Though cyclists can go through stop signs without completely stopping, they are required to stop for traffic close enough to be an "immediate hazard." For a red light, a cyclist must first stop, yield to all other traffic, before proceeding through a steady red light with caution. If you don't slow at all for a stop sign or light, you could be stopped by police.
• Riding against traffic. State laws and Boise rules prohibit bikers from riding on the wrong side of the road.
• Riding at night with no headlight or rear reflector. Headlights aren't so the cyclist can see, but so that the cyclist can be seen by others.
• Riding through "don't walk" signals. When riding on sidewalks and in crosswalks, cyclists have the same rights and responsibilities as pedestrians. A cyclist on a sidewalk is a pedestrian. A bike on the road is a vehicle.
Patrick Orr: 373-6619
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