A Little-Known Loophole Puts Cyclists at Risk

Crosswalk laws in most U.S. states don’t offer legal protections to people on bikes, scooters, or mobility devices.

1 minute read

November 23, 2023, 5:00 AM PST

By Diana Ionescu @aworkoffiction


Person on bike riding across zebra crosswalk in city.

Marco Richter / Adobe Stock

According to a piece by Cara Hamann in the Des Moines Register, “There is a glaring gap in crosswalk laws in the United States, but this loophole is often unknown, so little is being done to fix it.”

Hamann is referring to the fact that many crosswalk laws only explicitly protect pedestrians—people on foot—excluding people on bikes or using wheelchairs, scooters, or other mobility devices. This matters because, in cases where a driver fatally struck a person on a bike or other device, the driver can walk away with no criminal charges. 

For Hamann, an injury epidemiologist, “Bicycles, wheelchairs, scooters, and other devices move humans whose lives matter and they should be legally protected in crosswalks just like people on foot.”

The solution, Hamann writes, is simple: “change the word ‘pedestrian’ to ‘persons’” and eliminate the loophole in state laws.

Monday, November 20, 2023 in Des Moines Register

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