City of Albuquerque implements new bike law

A NEW BIKE LAW HAS JUST BEEN PASSED IN ALBUQUERQUE. IT'S DESIGNED TO KEEP DRIVERS AND BICYCLIS...  More »

A NEW BIKE LAW HAS JUST BEEN PASSED IN ALBUQUERQUE. IT'S DESIGNED TO KEEP DRIVERS AND BICYCLISTS AWAY FROM EACH OTHER - - AND THEY BOTH HAVE TO FOLLOW SOME NEW RULES. BUT SOME DRIVERS SAY THOSE RULES WILL NOT PREVENT BICYCLISTS FROM GETTING HIT. JEFF MAHER IS LIVE NEAR CENTRAL AND GIRARD WITH THE STORY. JEFF? THIS INTERSECTION IS A POPULAR PLACE FOR BOTH BICYCLISTS AND DRIVERS. MANY OF THE BICYCLISTS ARE HEADING TO THE U- N-M CAMPUS IN THE MORNING. MOST OF THE DRIVERS ARE HEADING DOWN CENTRAL TO GET TO WORK. THE QUESTION REMAINS - ?CAN BOTH SIDES GET ALONG - AND FOLLOW SOME NEW RULES? FOR BICYCLISTS, RIDING DOWN CENTRAL CAN OFTEN BE LIKE PLAYING DODGEBALL AGAINST 2,000 POUNDS OF METAL TODD KALLIO HAS BEEN HIT TWICE BY CARS. 'i've actually seen people swerve in their cars at people on bicycles, and that's scary'ALBUQUERQUE'S BIKE LAW WAS ABOUT 35 YEARS OLD. SO - THE CITY COUNCIL PASSED A NEW ONE, AND MADE A FEW CHANGES. WITH BIKE LANES, DRIVERS NEED TO GIVE BICYCLISTS FIVE FEET OF SPACE. WHEN THERE'S NOT A BIKE LANE, BICYCLISTS NEED TO STAY FAR ENOUGH TO THE RIGHT SO THAT VEHICLES CAN PASS BY. AND BICYCLISTS CAN'T RIDE ON SIDEWALKS IF THERE'S A BIKE LANE NEARBY 'you treat him as a vehicle, however the stop light is a place where if a bicyclist has been holding up traffic behind him, that's his opportunity to let traffic go by' SEE THIS GUY RIDING HIS BIKE DOWN GIRARD WITH NO HANDS - - UNDER THE OLD LAW HE COULD HAVE BEEN CITED FOR THAT. IT WAS CONSIDERED TO BE A TRICK. WITH THE NEW LAW, BICYCLISTS ARE ALLOWED TO DO 'TRICKS'BUT THEY STILL HAVE TO FOLLOW THE SAME RULES OF THE ROAD. WE SPOTTED A BUNCH OF BICYCLISTS CROSSING CENTRAL ILLEGALLY. MANY DRIVERS DO NOT SUPPORT THE NEW LAW, SAYING BICYCLISTS ARE ALREADY CREATING A DANGEROUS SITUATION FOR THEMSELVES BY SIMPLY RIDING ALONG WITH TRAFFIC. 'absolutely ridiculous, I mean I think we need to be a green friendly city, we need to promote more bike riding, but we need a more extensive trail network and we're just not set up for that' UNDER THE OLD LAW, BICYCLES WERE REQUIRED TO HAVE LICENSE PLATES TO HELP POLICE TRACK DOWN THIEVES. THAT'S ANOTHER THING THAT THE CITY COUNCIL DID AWAY WITH. LIVE IN SOUTHEAST ALBUQUERQUE. JEFF MAHER. EYEWITNESS  « Less