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Show Iqd SrfeCy Rules Listed for Everyone the Utah Safety Council's endorsement en-dorsement of a particular product pro-duct or idea. In keeping with our Council's general operating policies, the Council cannot endorse any commercial product or enterprise. enter-prise. However, in keeping with our mission of accident prevention preven-tion mitigation, the Council encourages the use of devices which can reasonably be shown to improve the identification of the cyclist in the traffic stream during daylight hours or during dur-ing times of reduced visibility, providing the use of such devices de-vices does not entail legal conflicts con-flicts or hazards inconsistent with its professed safety advantages. ad-vantages. The Utah Safety Council also encourages research re-search to substantiate the effectiveness ef-fectiveness of such devices. Meanwhile, recognizing that there is no single panacea, the Council encourages a balanced attack on the problem with appropriate ap-propriate efforts being made in the areas of education, engineering en-gineering and enforcement. jured in bike related accidents. As a result of this growing popularity of the bicycle, a new and authoritative set of bicycle safety rules was developed devel-oped by the National Safety Council in cooperation with the Bicycle Institution of America to provide a uniform safety guide for bicyclists. If every bike driver would follow these rules to the letter, the appalling appall-ing toll of bicycle related accidents ac-cidents and fatalities could be greatly reduced. The new Safety Safe-ty Bike Driving Rules are: 1. Obey all applicable traffic traf-fic regulations, signs, signals, and markings. Bicycles should be driven as safely as any road vehicle and subject to the same rules of vehicular traffic where ever they apply. A good rule of thumb is to avoid congested and use bikeways, lanes or pass where possible. 2. Observe all local ordinances ordin-ances pertaining to bicycles. Registration, licensing, inspections, inspect-ions, driving on sidewalks, etc. may all be covered by local laws. It is your resposibility to know and abide by them. 3. Keep right. Drive with traffic, not against it. Drive single file. Keep as close to the curb as practical. Most states require you to drive single sin-gle file for when driving two abreast a minor swerve could force you into traffic lanes.. 4. Watch out for drain grates, grat-es, soft shoulders, other road surface hazards. Be careful of loose sand or gravel, particularly particul-arly at corners and watch our for potholes. 5. Watch out for car doors opening or for cars pulling into in-to traffic. 6. Don't carry passengers or packages that interefere with your vision. A good rule is one person, one bike, unless it's a tandem. Use baskets or luggage carriers for packages. 7. Never hitchhike a ride on a truck or other vehicle. 8. Be extremely careful at intersections; especially when making a left turn. Most accidents acci-dents happen at intersections. If traffic is heavy, get off and walk your bike with pedestrian traffic. 9. Use hand signals to indi cate turning or stopping. Let the motorist know what you plan to do by giving the appropriate appro-priate hand signals for turning left or right or for stopping. 10. Prt-ect yourself at night with the required red reflectors re-flectors and lights. Again state laws vary. Most require a headlight, head-light, tailight or red rear reflectors re-flectors for night cycling. Others Oth-ers require reflective pedals, additional side reflectors or other reflective material. If you aredirving at night, use maximum maxi-mum protection. 11. Drive a safe bike. Have it inspected to ensure good mechanical condition. Make sure your bike fits you. See to it that the brakes, pedals, reflectors, re-flectors, lights, shifting mechanisms, mech-anisms, sound devices, tires, spokes, saddle, handle bars, & all nuts and bolts are checked regularly. 12. Drive your bike defensively. defen-sively. Watch out for the other guy. Observe the car in front of you and also the one in front of him. Leave yourself time and room to take defensive action. ; A significant positive factor 5 in collisions between motorists j and cyclists (both bicycles and ; motorcycles) is a failure of the '; motorist to see the cyclist. The relatively small size of the bi-i' bi-i' cycle or motorcycle makes it easy to be obscured from the motorist's view by a blind spot, pillar, tree, shrub, sign and other oth-er vehicles. Morover, psychology tells us that perception is a function of familiarity we perceive what we want to expect to see. Although motorcyclists and bicyclists bi-cyclists are appearing on our streets and highways in evergrowing ever-growing numbers, they still constitute a very small proportion pro-portion of our roadway users. In short, not only is the motorist mo-torist not used to seeing bicycles bi-cycles and motorcycles in the traffic system, they are difficult diffi-cult to see even when the motorist mot-orist is watching for them. In recognition of this problem prob-lem a wide variety of devices designed to improve the identification iden-tification of the cyclist has been advanced. Headlights, re-flectorized re-flectorized and or fluorescent tires, pedals, tape, paint, vests, hats, belts, armbands, wind-activated wind-activated fluorescent spinners, blinking lights, verticle and horizontal poles with flags and similar devices have been advanced ad-vanced as a means to resolve the problem. Frequently, enthusiastic enthu-siastic proponents have sought 12 Safe Bicycle Rules m Now that bicycling is on the Ja increase throughout the nation k1 as an exercise behicle, a method meth-od of travel, and for recreational recreation-al purpose, it brings with it new safety hazards if not used properly, according to the National Na-tional Safety Council. Just last year alone there were an estimated es-timated 1,100 persons killed and approximately 50,000 in- |