A Little-Known Loophole Puts Cyclists at Risk

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.