When so many bicyclists operating according to best practices are cited for violation of the law, we must conclude that there is something wrong with the law.
Bicyclists across the US, including a number in Florida ((Guy Hackett, Ryan Scofield: “Cyclist fights ticket for using full lane, and wins” )) and California ((David Kramer (6/29/2014), Scott Golper (7/6/2014), Greg Liebert (11/10/2013) )) have recently reported that they were harassed by police and ticketed for riding in the center of travel lanes that are too narrow to share safely side-by-side with cars and trucks. Florida ((316.2065(5)(a) Any person operating a bicycle upon a roadway at less than the normal speed of traffic at the time and place and under the conditions then existing shall ride in the lane marked for bicycle use or, if no lane is marked for bicycle use, as close as practicable to the right-hand curb or edge of the roadway except under any of the following situations:
1. When overtaking and passing another bicycle or vehicle proceeding in the same direction.
2. When preparing for a left turn at an intersection or into a private road or driveway.
3. When reasonably necessary to avoid any condition or potential conflict, including, but not limited to, a fixed or moving object, parked or moving vehicle, bicycle, pedestrian, animal, surface hazard, turn lane, or substandard-width lane, which makes it unsafe to continue along the right-hand curb or edge or within a bicycle lane. For the purposes of this subsection, a “substandard-width lane” is a lane that is too narrow for a bicycle and another vehicle to travel safely side by side within the lane. )) and California ((21202. (a) Any person operating a bicycle upon a roadway at a speed less than the normal speed of traffic moving in the same direction at that time shall ride as close as practicable to the right-hand curb or edge of the roadway except under any of the following situations:
(1) When overtaking and passing another bicycle or vehicle proceeding in the same direction.
(2) When preparing for a left turn at an intersection or into a private road or driveway.
(3) When reasonably necessary to avoid conditions (including, but not limited to, fixed or moving objects, vehicles, bicycles, pedestrians, animals, surface hazards, or substandard width lanes) that make it unsafe to continue along the right-hand curb or edge, subject to the provisions of Section 21656. For purposes of this section, a “substandard width lane” is a lane that is too narrow for a bicycle and a vehicle to travel safely side by side within the lane.
(4) When approaching a place where a right turn is authorized.
(b) Any person operating a bicycle upon a roadway of a highway, which highway carries traffic in one direction only and has two or more marked traffic lanes, may ride as near the left-hand curb or edge of that roadway as practicable. )) have bicycle-specific laws for lane position modeled after Uniform Vehicle Code § 11-1205(a), which requires bicyclists to ride as far right as “practicable” when traveling slower than other traffic. ((UVC 11-1205 Position on roadway
(a) Any person operating a bicycle or a moped upon a roadway at less than the normal speed of traffic at the time and place and under the conditions then existing shall ride as close as practicable to the right-hand curb or edge of the roadway except under any of the following situations:
(b) Any person operating a bicycle or a moped upon a one-way highway with two or more marked traffic lanes may ride as near the left-hand curb or edge of such roadway as practicable. )) Like the UVC version, the Florida and California bicycles-stay-right laws include an exception for lanes that are too narrow for riding side-by-side with a motor vehicle to be safe (in addition to many other exceptions such as on-street parking and surface hazards). Unfortunately, many police ignore the exceptions and use the stay-right requirement to harass or ticket cyclists whenever other traffic must slow for them.
When so many bicyclists operating according to best practices are cited for violation of the law, we must conclude that there is something wrong with the law.
When so many bicyclists operating according to best practices are cited for violation of the law, we must conclude that there is something wrong with the law. One observation is that since most travel lanes are 10 to 12 feet wide – too narrow for safe side-by-side sharing by a typical SUV, much less a truck or bus – the law has the general rule (stay right) and the exception (narrow conditions) completely backward. Police officers assume that the law wouldn’t be written the way it is unless bicyclists should stay to the right edge of the lane most of the time, and so they send lane-controlling bicyclists to court again and again, only to have such cases dismissed. ((“Cyclist fights ticket for using full lane, and wins” )) This poorly conceived and written law generates needless conflict between police departments and the bicycling community. A somewhat better bicycle-specific law would declare bicyclists’ right to a full marked travel lane as a general rule, and define the exceptional circumstances where same-lane passing may be allowed. (Multiple criteria must be met: An especially wide lane allowing abundant passing distance given the vehicle width, a location away from intersections, safe conditions at the right edge of the lane given the bicyclists’ speed, and so forth.) The states of Colorado and Montana have each modified their bicycles-stay-right law with a step in this direction.
But what would happen instead if states did away with the bicycle-specific stay-right law entirely, as the NCUTLO Panel on Bicycle Laws recommended in 1975 ((In 1975, the NCUTLO Panel on Bicycle Laws wrote:
UVC § 11-1205(a) requires bicyclists to ride as close as practicable to the right hand side of the roadway. This provision is very unpopular with bicyclists for a number of reasons. It treats the bicyclist as a second class road user who does not really have the same rights enjoyed by other drivers but who is tolerated as long as he uses a bare minimum of roadway space at the side of the road. The provision is also frequently misunderstood by bicyclists, motorists, policemen and even, unfortunately, judges. The provision requires the bicyclist to be as close to the side of the road as is practicable, which we all understand to mean possible, safe and reasonable. But many people apparently don’t understand the significance of the word practicable, and read the law as requiring a constant position next to the curb. Even where the significance of the word practicable is recognized, the bicyclist is exposed to the danger of policemen and judges who may have a different idea about what is possible, safe and reasonable, and he is exposed to the very real danger of motorists who, because of their misconception of this law, will expect the bicyclist to stay next to the curb and will treat him with hostility if he moves away from that position.
The side of the road is a very dangerous place to ride. The bicyclist is not nearly as visible here as he is out in the center of a lane. Also there is reason to believe that motorists don’t respect a bicycle as a vehicle when it is hugging the side of the road. It is at the side of the road where all the dirt, broken glass, wire, hub caps, rusty mufflers, and other road debris collects, and it is hazardous to try to ride through this mess. Storm sewer grates are generally at the side of the road. The roadway is frequently less well maintained in this position. Also, in urban areas there is frequently a dangerous ridge where the roadway pavement meets the gutter, and the bicyclist must try to ride parallel with this ridge without hitting it. A bicyclist riding near the right edge of the roadway is also in substantially greater danger from vehicles cutting in front of him to turn right than is the bicyclist who rides out in the middle of the right lane.
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B8yYlSlJo3DfbnVRVUhxVExLaDQ/edit ))? Would traffic grind to a halt? No, but it would be harder for police to ticket bicyclists who exercise lane control for their own safety. We know this because six states – Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Pennsylvania – never adopted a bicycle-specific stay-to-the-right law. North Carolina has only a generic slow vehicle law, ((NC § 20-146(b): Upon all highways any vehicle proceeding at less than the legal maximum speed limit shall be driven in the right-hand lane then available for thru traffic, or as close as practicable to the right-hand curb or edge of the highway, except when overtaking and passing another vehicle proceeding in the same direction or when preparing for a left turn. )) similar to UVC 11-301(b):
UVC 11-301 – Drive on right side of roadways – exceptions …
(b) Upon all roadways any vehicle proceeding at less than the normal speed of traffic at the time and place and under the conditions then existing shall be driven in the right-hand lane then available for traffic, or as close as practicable to the right-hand curb or edge of the roadway, except when overtaking and passing another vehicle proceeding in the same direction or when preparing for a left turn at an intersection or into a private road, alley, or driveway. The intent of this subsection is to facilitate the overtaking of slowly moving vehicles by faster moving vehicles. …
The driver of any vehicle traveling slowly can satisfy this law by using the right hand thru lane; only if there are no marked lanes is such a driver compelled to operate “as close as practicable” to the road edge.
Bicyclist advocates in North Carolina are actively engaging local police departments to promote better police relations and improved public safety, including education about best bicycling practices. When discussion of bicyclist positioning on the roadway comes up, we explain the technical issues of why it is often safer to ride in the center of the lane or control it by riding double file. This conversation with police is made much easier by the fact that North Carolina has no bicycle-specific stay right law. Question: “Don’t bicyclists legally need to stay to the right side of the lane?” Answer: “No, state law treats bicyclists the same as the driver of a slow moving tractor; they can occupy a travel lane. Next question?” Our state Driver Handbook underscores this point. “Bicyclists usually ride on the right side of the lane, but are entitled to use the full lane.” ((North Carolina Driver Handbook, Page 77 )) North Carolina’s vehicle code clearly defines bicycles as vehicles and bicyclists as having the rights and duties of drivers of vehicles. Bicyclists don’t need a vehicle-specific law to telling them where to ride in a marked travel lane – or that they are allowed to occupy travel lanes in the first place – any more than motorcyclists do.
Do bicyclists in North Carolina ever control a wide travel lane under conditions where it creates an unreasonable delay for motorists, but with no real safety benefit? Yes, but such situations are very rare, firstly because so few lanes are truly wide enough for this to be safe, secondly because roads that carry substantial traffic will usually have an additional same-direction lane for passing, and thirdly because cyclists will usually move to the right as a courtesy when it will make a significant improvement for others. Contrary to what some people may think, bicyclists are human beings who typically care about other people, and some have written a good deal about this. ((What is a Courteous Cyclist? )) The rare cases where motorists experience significant delays from unnecessary control of wide lanes are too few and far between to warrant adopting a law that invites abuse from police and encourages unsafe edge riding.
Living without laws that punish bicyclists for being slower than motorcyclists and narrower than tractors has worked well in North Carolina. Bicyclist advocates in other states would do well to pursue the same full driver rights.
Julie at the Portland Tweed Ride 2014.
Most of my adult life I worked in the field of exercise. I taught weight training, yoga, aerobic dance, individual exercise programs, and was the Director of Recreation at a Correctional facility. In my spare time I enjoyed racquetball, weight training, cycling, tennis, hiking, dancing and jogging every day.
In 1982 my life changed in ways I could not imagine. I became fully disabled with Chronic Idiopathic Urticaria. I lost the ability to do all of my physical activities. Thirty years of trying to figure out how to live with severe hiving, skin pain and disfigurement was remarkable. I became a sedentary person. I walked, if I did not have hives on my feet or blinding me with eyelids closed from swelling. If I could walk 30-45 minutes two times a week that would be a good week. Also my healthy eating habits went south from depression and chronic pain. I was eating over my feelings of the loss of that gal I once knew.
On July 22, 2014 I went into remission with a new drug that enabled me to do so many activities that I had to put aside for thirty years.
I have a great mountain bike my Dad gave me. He wanted me to have this when my hives left my body. I got on that bike so fast and have been riding it pretty much every day since I went into remission. My eating habits changed dramatically with daily cycling and I am now a healthy gal.
When I started cycling I decorated my bike with 15 yellow flowers and a basket. I wore a neon pink bike skirt, sandals and let my hair flow in the wind. My first day out I could bike fifteen minutes and I would be out of breath. Four months later I biked 17 miles! I am not saying it was easy and I did want to call for a ride four times but I kept going.
I love the freedom cycling gives me. I truly feel just like the person I was before the hives came. I don’t know how long this drug will keep me in remission so I am biking because every single moment counts. I fell in love with cycling and noticed everyone and their bicycles. I had a hard time going to sleep because I was so excited to wake up and bike again. I am not sure if I can write how free cycling makes me feel. I don’t want to walk anymore, but do now and then. I vary rarely use my car and save $50 a month on gas. I love helping the planet!
I was looking for lessons on how to ride safely and I found the best class! The course is CyclingSavvy. I contacted John Brooking and signed up that day. John helped me with questions during the month I was waiting to attend the class.
I have taken over five hundred classes and I must say this course was done so well that I feel confident biking and it also made me a better driver. The class spent nine hours together learning every possible situation that could occur while cycling. It was the most intense training in many years. I like “hands on” training and that I got. A few times during the class I wanted to say I needed to go home but I stuck with it. I “took the road” like a real trooper and it helped knowing John was my cycling partner. I trusted his knowledge and expertise. Other times I “took the road” on my own. Fellow bikers were very supportive. It was one of the best days of my life so far.
I would recommend this course to anyone. I wish it was part of a school curriculum. More important is the need for motorists to learn about the rights of cyclists.
Cycling is the new Black and we are here to stay. I look forward to the day when I can be biking without vehicles blasting their horns at me, respecting that I have the same rights on the road.
I have changed my wardrobe a bit, wearing sneakers rather than sandals and I purchased all my safety equipment for my bike. I am not saying I would not wear my pink skirt again ’cause when one gal has the opportunity to “fly”, pink works! Biking is my freedom… my wings…
Thanks to my CyclingSavvy Instructors John Brooking and Bruce Lierman, I feel free, confident and safe.
– Julie, South Portland, Maine
Not all routes are the same, and that is especially true for cycling. We all like to have relaxing, lightly-travelled routes that do not require constant vigilance and decision-making.
Riding on a quiet street
Unfortunately, not all roads are like that. For those of us who ride for transportation, there is sometimes no avoiding the occasional stretch of big car-centric roads, or if you’re unlucky, more than occasional.
Sometimes planners and engineers don’t appreciate the need for cyclists to use busy roads. I remember one time during a debate about removing parking in order to install bike lanes, someone suggested maybe cyclists could just cut through a local park instead, as if we were all just looking for a nice leisurely ride, not actually going somewhere.
Another instance of this assumption about where bicyclists want or do not want to ride came up in relation to what I consider one of my proudest advocacy achievements to date, getting Bikes May Use Full Lane signs installed along a four-lane arterial, William Clarke Drive, in my small town of Westbrook. During the conversations leading up to their installation, I heard through the grapevine of one official questioning wouldn’t bicyclists rather use Main Street, which parallels William Clarke. Presumably, he thought this because the posted speed there is slower, and in many places, the lanes wider. But the flip side of that comment is questioning why would bicyclists want to use William Clarke, maybe further implying the question of why any accommodation for bicyclists on William Clarke was needed at all.
While there’s no question that roads with slower and less frequent traffic are nicer for everyone (even motorists), over the past several years I have been learning to appreciate “big roads” as well, by which I mean roads with more than one lane in each direction. Why? Because of CyclingSavvy’s teaching about how to ride on such roads. Because the lanes are almost always too narrow to share, and there’s at least one other same-direction lane provided for passing, we advise cyclists to just control the lane all the time, and stop worrying so much about the traffic behind you. There will always be occasional jerks, but on the whole, most people simply change lanes calmly and pass without incident.
(Yes, if it’s very busy and people are having trouble passing you, it’s okay to move off the road temporarily to let the pack pass, “relieve the pressure” as we say. But the point is, if you’re in the lane at all, don’t worry about varying your position in the lane to allow in-lane passing or not, because it’s almost never a good idea. Just set your position near the center and don’t think much more about it.)
Because it’s really so easy, once you get it through your head that you are an equal road user with as much right to the center of narrow lanes as motorists, using these big roads is more and more becoming my choice over two-lane roads with moderate traffic, such as Main Street that parallels William Clarke in Westbrook. Consider the following comparisons of these two streets:
| Main Street | William Clarke Drive | |
| Lane count | Two, one each direction, plus some turn lanes | Four, two each direction, plus some left turn lanes |
| Lane width | Varies widely, sometimes shareable, sometimes not, requiring frequent adjustment of lane position. | Constant narrow width, but passing lane is available, so can just take a constant lane control position. |
| Passing | Safe passing by overtaking motorist requires shareable lane or no oncoming traffic, risks head-on. | Passing lane available for faster traffic. |
| Lane changes required for through travel | Three right turn lanes to be avoided; Cumberland traffic circle at east end. | Zero right turn only lanes; no need to ever change lanes unless turning left. |
| Parallel parking | Frequent, creating door zones that must be avoided. | None. |
| Driveways | Many, accessing local businesses. | Very few, most businesses and residences are accessed from side streets. |
| Surface Conditions | Lots of pavement patches over the years, bumpy in spots. In winter, edges are icy and sandy most of the time. | Much smoother, especially since rebuild a few years ago. In winter, faster and frequent car traffic sweeps the road clean and dry sooner after any storms than on Main Street, and is usually WAY cleaner and smoother than any neighborhood street! |
| Grade | Some gradual hills, including two that coincide with the need to move left to avoid a right turn only lane. | Built on old railroad right of way, has been built-up and graded flatter than Main Street. |
| Sightlines | Some intersections are dangerous to edge riders due to buildings, parking, and “street furniture” near to the corner. Some curves and uphill grades create blind spots. | Good sightlines are created by straight road and further setback of buildings. An overtaking motorist has plenty of time to see and respond to a bicyclist in front of him. |
On every one of these criteria, William Clarke is actually easier. Simply put, Main Street presents many more challenges, and requires more thought, than does William Clarke Drive. Once you accept that you are a regular driver in control of your lane like any other driver, William Clarke and similar roads are practically worry-free in terms of having to think about what you’re doing. Yes, stay alert, but there are so many fewer decisions to make! It’s almost boring. But when it comes to cycling around traffic, boring is good, n’est çe pas?
Here’s another example. Sometimes I go to downtown Portland after work, often via Broadway in South Portland. From my office, this involves getting through the Exit 3 interchange of I-295. This interchange is dreaded by most cyclists I talk to about it, and it is certainly a scary prospect for beginners. It’s confusing enough even when you’re driving a car, the first time or ten that you do it!
Southbound, there are two right turn only lanes in a row, first for the interstate onramp, then for Broadway, with a traffic light in between. Just before Broadway, the left lane branches out to another lane, providing a left turn only lane nearest the center, then a combined left/through lane (map). I need to turn left to go downtown.
I-295 Exit 3, South Portland, Maine, edge path
In the simplified drawing to the left, the pink and red line shows how most inexperienced cyclists would navigate this exchange southbound (bottom to top of drawing), always sticking to the edge as long as possible. The darker red indicates the potential conflict points between the edge cyclist and motor traffic looking to move to the right. (Too often in these situations, elsewhere in the country, bike lanes have been striped using this exact same approach, institutionalizing all that conflict. I’m actually thankful that has not been done here, because it just reinforces the least recommended practice.) First, one has to watch for right hooks past the entrance and exit for the Irving gas station (indicated by the circled letter I), then at the onramp, and again at the Broadway right turn lane. If one is turning left on Broadway, as I do, an edge cyclist would then have to cross any through traffic as well.
I may have done this a time or two myself in my early days of cycling, through I really don’t remember. The first I really remember using this route is after taking Traffic Skills 101. What I would do then, is start out in the right half or right tire track of the right lane, then change lanes as needed, first at the interstate ramp, and again to avoid the right turn onto Broadway. That was a little better than complete edge behavior, since I was at least a little more in control of my lane, but it still involved a lot of sometimes awkward negotiation with traffic that had inevitably stacked up at the traffic lights.
I-295 Exit 3, South Portland, Maine, preferred path
Possibly the best single thing CyclingSavvy did for me was inspire me to how I ride through this intersection now (right, green line). Once I got beyond the belief that my place was on the right for as long as possible, including even the LAB admonition of “rightmost through lane” most of the time, I realized that if I got into the left through lane before the interstate onramp even started developing, at the red light in front of the Irving station, or sometimes even the red light before that (off the bottom of the picture), I could just sail right through in that left lane the whole time, never having to change lanes again to take my left onto Broadway. It’s SO EASY! I don’t have to ever worry about all the traffic getting onto I-295 and turning right on Broadway; all that craziness is happening a whole lane away from me, on my right, where it doesn’t concern me. Furthermore, the left lane contains less traffic to begin with, so I have fewer motorists to contend with, and fewer of them have to contend with me! This strategy has reduced this scary-looking interchange to almost the Sunday-ride-in-the-park level. (And about 80% of the time, it happens without a single honk or yell, even at rush hour!)
“But John,” you may say, “In Maine, the law is that we have to ride as far right as practicable. Is this legal?”
My reply is that this action conforms with the following 4 exceptions to that law, excusing me of having to put myself in danger by following the edge path shown in red:
Now I frequently find myself looking forward to being able to ride on a 4-lane road, if the choice is between that and a moderately busy (or busier!) 2-lane road. Because you know what? I’m lazy! I know how to do control-and-release on two lane roads, and I do it when I have to, but I’d really rather not. It’s just so much thinking! I do enough thinking in my I.T. job. It’s nice to be able to relax a little more on my travels. While small lightly-traveled streets will always be the nicest, big roads that create fewer conflicts and require fewer decisions of me than two busy two-lane roads can be almost as nice, when you know you’re an equal user of them.
The author outbound on Congress Street past I-295.
CyclingSavvy is a program of the American Bicycling Education Association. Our mission is to provide programs and resources for the education of bicyclists as drivers of vehicles, and bicycling-related education for traffic engineers, transportation planners, law enforcement professionals, educators, and the general public.