On your bike? You've got to follow 'Rules of the Road' just like cars
Q. If a bike rider on the Illinois Prairie Path approaches a road at the same time as a car, who has the right-of-way? Does it matter if there's a painted crosswalk such as where the Prairie Path crosses Main St. in Lombard?
--R. C., Wheaton
A. Illinois statues are a bit misunderstood on this issue.
Section 11-002(a) of the Illinois Vehicle Code states that "when traffic control signals are not in place or not in operation, the driver of a vehicle shall yield the right-of-way, slowing down or stopping if need be to so yield, to a pedestrian crossing the roadway within a crosswalk when the pedestrian is upon the half of the roadway upon which the vehicle is traveling, or when the pedestrian is approaching so closely from the opposite half of the roadway as to be in danger."
Many pedestrians think this rule allows them to step into a crosswalk at any time, and approaching cars have to stop for them. That's actually not the case.
Part (b) of the same statute states "no pedestrians shall suddenly leave a curb or other place of safety and walk or run into a path of a moving vehicle which is so close as to constitute an immediate hazard."
So, pedestrians have some responsibility, too.
All this being said, you're no longer a pedestrian when you're riding your bike: You're on a moving vehicle that has to obey the same rules and laws that cars do.
For that reason, mini-stop signs are on the Prairie Path where it crosses roads to let bicyclists know, as a moving vehicle, they need to stop.
Remember, if you get off your bike to walk it at a crosswalk, you become a pedestrian again.
Deputy Chief Dane Cuny of the Lombard Police Department says the "Pedestrians Must Yield To Traffic" signs were put up on the Prairie Path at Main Street in Lombard because there are four lanes plus a center median for pedestrians to cross.
Large vehicles that would stop in the right lane for pedestrians in the crosswalk would screen the view of the pedestrians from other drivers traveling in the same direction in the second lane.