Avid Steamboat Springs cyclist Bill McCoy is confident in this knowledge of the rules of the road for bicycles, so if he feels unsafe on a road with no shoulders on a blind curve or hill, he knows it is legal for him to take up the entire lane.

However, many motorists may not know that.

“There are moments I want to be as visible and as big (as possible) to help prevent someone attempting to pass me and putting me in danger,” said McCoy, who volunteers as an ambassador for nonprofit Routt County Riders. “I’m trying to help by taking more of the lane and signal with my hand that I can’t see over the crest of the hill, and it’s unsafe to pass.”

Last week’s online reader poll offered by the Steamboat Pilot & Today received a high number of responses and a strong answer that 70% of cyclists do not feel safe navigating the roads of Routt County.

McCoy said the crux of the issue is that both cyclists and motorists need to know and understand the rules of the road. More education and consideration are needed by people using each mode of transportation, he said.

“Almost every cyclist is also a motorist, but not every motorist is a cyclist,” McCoy said. “I think both sides maybe think they are entitled to more. Everyone’s goal should be to go home healthy and safe.”

Laraine Martin, executive director of Routt County Riders, said one of the top reasons she believes the poll showed a strong response is many bicyclists have felt their physical safety threatened by certain driver behaviors including drivers breaking the law by passing within three feet of a rider.

That’s one reason that Routt County Riders, in partnership with Routt County Public Health, focuses on teaching sixth-grade riders through the Street Smarts safety campaign taught across Steamboat and Hayden. The program includes on-bike instruction by Routt County Riders board members and staff on such topics as riding single file, proper behavior at intersections, and bicycling safety checks of helmets, brakes, chains and tire pressure.

Hayden social studies teacher John Camponeschi, a Routt County Riders trail ambassador, is one of the educators who spends a full day each year with sixth graders biking the roads together.

“A lot of the time students know the basics of the rules of road, but they don’t know necessarily that they have to abide by similar traffic laws as motor vehicles,” Camponeschi said. “It’s not taught as often as it should be especially given the increasing prevalence of cycles in our community.”

The teacher shows students who has the right of way at stop signs, how to safely operate in traffic, where to safely and legally ride their bikes on roadways, and proper safety awareness in proximity to motor vehicles.

“In high traffic, cyclists need to be aware of vehicles and to be proactive and defensive in use of their bicycles,” the teacher said. “The ultimate goal is by educating the students consistently every single year that we build a community awareness. That trickles up to the parents.”

Martin at the bicycling advocacy nonprofit notes two other key reasons she believes 70% of poll respondents said they do not feel safe cycling across the county.

“Sometimes a chosen or unavoidable route lacks the necessary infrastructure to support safe passage for cyclists, such as narrow or nonexistent shoulders or lack of bike lanes,” Martin explained. “Not all cyclists are trained or comfortable following the rules of the road and are unaware of resources to help them learn more or advocate for their rights as a cyclist.”

Community Service Supervisor Krista Amatuzio with the Steamboat Springs Police Department emphasized that children through age 15 are required by city ordinance to wear a bike helmet.

Martin also noted that a Steamboat city ordinance prohibits wheeled transportation from riding on the sidewalks in the downtown zone from Third to 13th and Oak to Yampa streets.

Helen Beall, Routt County program manager for the nonprofit The Cycle Effect, wanted to emphasize that bicyclists and motorists should make sure to make eye contact at intersections. Beall was in a serious accident about 10 years ago when she was hit on her bike by a turning vehicle on Lincoln Avenue in downtown Steamboat.

“The vehicle just didn’t see me; I never got eye contact with driver,” Beall said. “Now I wait until I’m 100% sure that I have the driver’s attention before I take action at an intersection.”

“As a driver, be aware this is a biking community and expect bikes on the roads,” Beall advised.

Editor’s note: As of April 2022, the Colorado Safety Stop law allows bicyclists age 15 and older the option to treat stop signs as a yield sign and to treat stop lights as stop signs when an intersection is clear and the bicyclists already have the right of way. Full details are available at nonprofit Bicycle Colorado at BicycleColorado.org.