The two pronged attack had been successful. June 1982 Commentary. The new law explicitly recognizes bicycles as vehicles and acknowledges that bicycles have a right to a place on the road. While the satisfaction of that victory is still warm, I want to suggest that we remember the responsibilities incurred when our rights were confirmed by the legislature. Traffic is a hectic situation, with potential conflicts literally at every turn.
Traffic laws sort out the problem of who has rights to which space, at what time.
By operating within the traffic code, moving with the flow of traffic, signaling turns, and stopping at traffic signals, you communicate to other vehicle operators what you're going to do and where you're going to be. It's important to recognize that the obligation to ride predictably affects each individual cyclist. Ten bicyclists can not be defined as one vehicle just because they are on the way to the same bakery. In a group, traffic skills tend to be forgotten in the glow of the social occasion or the hurry to keep pace. A stop sign is still an obligation for each rider to stop and yield.