Editor’s Note: Connie Moser brings her neighborhood perspective to Potomac Local News in her debut column. Moser lives in Dale City, is active in several community organizations, and will pen a weekly Sunday column that will appear in this space.
Opinion
How many times have you been at a stoplight, late at night, waiting for the signal to turn from red to green? There’s not another car in sight in any direction, yet your light stubbornly remains red so you cannot proceed straight ahead?
You keep looking at the clock on the dash, checking the time, the digital numbers magically advance through one minute, then two. You begin thinking random, increasingly agitated thoughts: “This thing must be broken!” “I’ve been sitting here forever!” If you sit there long enough you may declare (quite possibly aloud by now) “I’m just going to drive through it, even if it is still red!”
What if you know that a bicyclist, faced with the same dilemma, can legally proceed through the red light? According to Virginia law, listed on the VDOT page for Bicyclists, Bicyclists must obey all traffic signs, signals, lights, and markings, except:
Under certain circumstances bicyclists, motorcycles, and mopeds may proceed through a solid red light at an intersection. A driver or rider may proceed through the intersection on a steady red light only if the driver or rider complies with all five provisions listed below:
1. Comes to a full and complete stop at the intersection for two complete cycles of the traffic light or for two minutes, whichever is shorter
2. Exercises due care as provided by law
3. Otherwise treats the traffic control device as a stop sign
4. Determines that it is safe to proceed
5. Yields the right of way to the driver of any vehicle approaching on such other highway from either direction.
I searched for the same exception for automobiles, but I couldn’t find anything that stated a car could do the same as a bicyclist. § 46.2-833. Traffic lights; penalty from Virginia State Code repeats the bicyclist exception, but states plainly.
Steady red indicates that moving traffic shall stop and remain stopped as long as the red signal is shown, except in the direction indicated by a steady green arrow.
That surprised me! I had been under the impression bikes had to follow the same laws as automobiles. I was prompted to search for information after an inquiry to Neighborhood Services in Prince William County, referencing a motorcycle parked on the front porch of a residence. (There is no HOA in my neighborhood, so the only laws, rules or ordinances followed here are the ones given to the county by the state.
There is no legal requisite to prevent a motorcycle from parking on a porch. In all fairness, I couldn’t find any law prohibiting parking an automobile on a porch, either, so be prepared…Don’t be surprised when driving down Lindendale Road in Dale City, you encounter a Smart Car parked right up there next to the lawn chairs and the wheeled tote from a trash service!
By the way, my answer to the first question is to turn right on red, go to the next intersection and turn left, the right again at “my” corner.
