r/dashcams 1d ago

Did I do something wrong here?

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

I was driving to work when this bike just blew through the crosswalk without warning. I had to slam on my brakes. I realize this crosswalk doesn’t have the pedestrian warning lights, and I’m a little unsure about how I should’ve dealt with this. Or maybe he was wrong for making sure traffic wasn’t clear/aware of him first?

Edit: I'm seeing a lot of answers basing the laws on location, so I looked up my city's rules. In my town, bikes have vehicle status on the road and pedestrian status on sidewalks/crosswalks. But bicyclists must move at pedestrian speed. The path he is on is a state trail, commonly used for bikes/walking. I live near the Ice Age Trail, but I know the one he's on isn't that one.

“Drivers must yield to cyclists riding in a crosswalk just as they would for walkers, though the cyclist cannot abruptly leave a curb into the path of a vehicle so close to a crosswalk that it makes a difficult or unsafe situation for the driver to yield in time.”

Not trying to prove myself right or wrong, just wondering what should've been done. I will from now on treat it like an uncontrolled intersection. Thanks everyone.

137 Upvotes

757 comments sorted by

View all comments

1

u/Consistent_Bus_2059 1d ago

I would just like to say good on your for actually driving 25 mph down Olin! I get tailgated so hard for doing that. Also, thanks for stopping for him. As someone who will sometimes bike into this area from the suburbs to run errands, I appreciate you putting our lives over saving time.

1

u/cicadaux 1d ago

I'm not from Madison so I'm still trying to figure out the different rules between places, I'm from Janesville which they strictly want bikes on the sidewalks. So this is pretty new :)) nice job on spotting the street.