Driving
Grand Rapids has adopted a complete streets policy, automobile drivers must share the streets with all other users. The purpose of streets is transportation, not providing right-of-way for automobiles; you as a driver are just one user of a shared public space.
See Parking for information on parking facilities and the DASH parking circulator.
You need to know...
- Drivers MUST STOP for pedestrians at all non-controlled crosswalks. Non-controlled crosswalks are those without traffic signals.
- Parking in or blocking a bike lane is a ticketable offense in Grand Rapids.
- Driving in a Bus Only lane during posted hours is a ticketable offence in Grand Rapids.
- You may use the lane to facilitate right turns.
- Texting while driving in the state of Michigan is a ticketable offense.
- Driving while intoxicated is a ticketable offense as well as being morally reprehensible.
- If you drink and drive you are a disgusting excuse for a human being.
- Motorists must keep at least five feet between the right side of their vehicle and a bicycle they are passing.
- If the street provides insufficient space for the motorist to comply with this rule they cannot pass and must wait; like any civilized user of a shared space.
- Automobiles are very dangerous - see "The Truth" below. Merely being used to something, to having it all around us, does not change the fact that whatever that thing is, it is still dangerous. Per-passenger-mile automobiles are 8x - that's 800% - more deadly than being in a transit vehicle. Deadly as in kills people. Homicide-by-automobile is one of the leading causes of death in America. If you are worried about violent crime, shootings, etc... but yet you feel safe behind the wheel of a car - by the numbers - you are mentally ill; that is how incredibly untethered from reality such an attitude is.
Resources
- How to navigate a roundabout, MDOT
- Ordinance change requires drivers to STOP at crosswalks for pedestrians, 2018-02-06
- New safe passing law in Grand Rapids means cars are 'going to have to wait' for bicycles, MLIVE, 2015-09
Raising Speed Limits Is Irresponsible, But States Keep Doing It Anyway, Wired, 2016-05
A 2009 study published in the American Journal of Public Health estimates speed limit increases were responsible for 12,545 deaths and 36,583 injuries between 1995 and 2005. The number of rural interstate fatalities we can blame on higher speed limits jumped 9.1 percent during that time. ... In 2014, researchers working with Michigan’s DOT found that upping rural interstate speed limits from 70 to 80 mph would save 15.4 million passenger vehicle hours a year, but would also cost $163.88 million annually for the design’s estimated 25-year lifespan. ... None of that counts the economic and societal costs of crashes themselves—$836 billion in 2010, according to the feds.
News
- Downtown street could be removed in $27M road package, MLIVE, 2016-04
- Michigan gas prices hit year's highest mark, may go higher, MLIVE, 2016-05
- I-196 bridge in Grand Rapids to be widened next year, MLIVE, 2017-02
- Partners open parking lot downtown, GRBJ, 2017-12
- New ordinance requires drivers to stop at crosswalks for pedestrians, 2018-02-06
- State using new technology to curb wrong-way driving on West Michigan freeway, FOX2 2023-11-28
- Downtown Grand Rapids will see major traffic interruptions in 2024, MLIVE 2024-01-14
The Truth
Automobiles kill, injure, and maim people every single day.
- U.S. Traffic Deaths Rise for a Second Straight Year, 2017-02
- Crisis Team at Kenowa High after student killed in crash, 2016-10-10
- After rolling car, hitting mailboxes and a tree, 19-year-old woman in serious condition, 2016-10-09
- 16-year-old killed, several others injured in Alpine Township crash, 2016-10-09
- Speed a factor in fatal Oshtemo Township crash, 2016-10-08
- One person reported dead in rollover crash in northern Kent County, 2016-11-12
- Woman seriously injured in head-on crash, 2016-11-12
- Wrong-way U.S. 131 driver went 2.5 miles on freeway before double-fatal crash, 2017-03
- 79-year-old driver plows into Jet's Pizza after sandal gets stuck on gas pedal
- Hit-and-run collision causes car to strike house
The construction & ceaseless expansion of the interstate system is extremely unjust and racially biased.