1. Motorists will on occasion attempt to intimate, disturb and harass bicyclists who are operating incompliance with state laws by blowing their horn. This is illegal per TCA 55-8-178 which applies to non-motorized vehicles.
(e) No person shall willfully, by noise, gesture or by other means, on or near public roads, disturb or frighten the driver or rider or the animals ridden or drawing vehicles thereon.
This law is confusing because some parts apply to bicycles and other parts do not. TCA 55-8-178 should be amended to explicitly include bicycles and to explicitly make it illegal to attempt to intimate a bicyclist to ride in the far right hand side of the lane when according to the bicyclist’s reasonable interpretation of TCA 55-8-175 they are not required to do so.
2.
TCA 55-8-136 requires drivers to exercise due care. The law uses the term “motor vehicle” when it would be more appropriate to use the term “vehicle”, the protections and duties of the law would then clearly apply to bicycles. Attorneys working for the state believe 55-8-136 does apply to bicycles since TCA 55-8-172 gives bicyclists “all of the rights and is subject to all of the duties applicable to the driver of a vehicle”.
This law should be amended to make this interpretation easier by deleting the word “motor”.
