Prompted by this thread on bicycle riding. On which side of the road do you ride?
Personally, I don’t do much bicycle riding anymore, but when I did I always rode against the flow of traffic. My reasoning is/was, I want to be able to see traffic coming at me, so that I might be able to avoid someone hitting me. What say you, the ‘Teeming Millions’?
With the flow of traffic is the law in my city. If a rider can’t follow the rules of the road then s/he should stay off the road.
I’m pretty sure that it’s the law most everywhere, (sorry, no cite) and I do know that it’s the law here in Houston, Texas.
As long as the rider obeys all of the other ‘rules of the road’, I fail to see how riding against the flow of traffic is grounds for denying a bicyclist access. 
If I obey all the other rule of the road, can I drive a motorcycle the wrong way down the road? If not, why not.
Riding against traffic is at least twice as likely to kill you as riding the legal way. See Table 4 here.
Traffic is coming at you faster so you have less time to react. (Your speed+ their speed)
Same thing for the drivers, they have less time to react to your presence.
Drivers making a left turn on not looking for traffic coming from behind them on the wrong side.
You force me into traffic whether it’s optimal or not.
Exactly.
And when I come up to a right turn, I look left for traffic. If you’re coming at me from the right, you’re going down. Ride with traffic.
Ride with traffic. Bicycle riders are subject to the Highway Code as much as car drivers.
On a bicycle you ARE traffic, so move with it.
(Except in a contraflow bike lane)
Brian
Is this something people do? I’ve seen people go on the pavement, of course, but on the wrong side of the road? You’d be a manace to yourself and others, and probably end up dead or arrested pretty quickly.
With the traffic.
If you’re going against the traffic, and a car is coming toward you, it has to move into the opposite lane to avoid you safely. If there’s a car in that lane, it has nowhere to go.
If you’re going with the traffic, and a car is overtaking you, it still has to move into the other lane. But if there’s a car in that lane, it can simply slow down behind you until things are clear.
As said above, bikes *are *traffic and must ride with the flow.
The three dumbest things you can do on a bike:
- Ride without a helmet
- Ride against traffic in the street for reasons listed above people turning or pulling out of a parking space will never see you as they are looking where traffic is supposed to be coming from.
- Ride on the sidewalk. All the reasons in #2 plus you are camouflaged behind the parked cars so it is even harder to be seen by cars turning in and out of driveways.
Ride with traffic and use a mirror to see traffic behind you.
I ride with a helmet mirror and am always aware of traffic coming up behind me. It allows me to see how far into the lane I can safely ride to prevent being in the door zone of parked cars. Before using a mirror, I got doored from a parked car since I was scared of riding too far out into traffic since I couldn’t judge what the cars behind me were doing. I will never ride without a mirror again.
Also, if I see a bus or big truck coming up behind me, a mirror allows me to prepare for their passing and move closer to the shoulder or get out of the way if I see they can’t pass me safely.
Yes, wearing a helmet mirror is the dorkiest thing in the world.
With traffic. Against is suicide (and against the law here).
With traffic.
What do you do when another bicyclist riding with traffic crosses your path? I certainly hope you’re the one who veers into traffic instead of forcing him to do so since he’s actually following the law.
The ones I’ve run into(not literally), no they don’t. After all, they can see what’s coming.
you can be moving at a fair speed and auto traffic (the ones that can flatten you) can notice and interact with you easily and safer.
in areas without sidewalks you walk against the traffic because then you both can notice each other.