UK rules are good for this. A bycicle should be considered as a full sized slow moving car by other road users. That means you give bikes as much space as a car, and if the road is one laned. you mustn’t pass a moving bike. Going with this, bicyclists should move over and stop from time to time to allow trafic to pass if passing is otherwise impossible. Also cyclists generally respect the rules of the road far better in UK than USA, they usually stop for Red Lights, and never ride in the opposite direction to the traffic, police will also stop cyclists that don’t have propper lights on when it is dark.
Bike paths here are also no-cars-allowed-ever. As a matter of fact, the one near my house has two lanes in the path itself, so you just don’t have to deal with stupid-ass cars.
Also, Metacom, that is, here anyway, illegal and a sure-fire way to get yourself killed. Are you crazy? Put your bike on the other side of the curb?
It may have felt a bit wierd if you’re used to staying out of traffic, but keep in mind that you’re likely as safe there as you are in the bike lane: there’s no way the driver who passed you (who shouldn’t have, by the way) could have missed you.
Also, if you were so far left the the driver could pass you on the right, you were too far left. You want to be far enough to the left that the driver can turn right, but not far enough that he can pass you. And, of course, as soon as you’re past the spot where he’d make a right turn, get back to the right so he can pass you.
I don’t ride often now (switched to running), but when I did I frequently saw this done by cyclists (the kind that buy a road bike and wear lycra) and the savier commuters. And I was riding in Berkeley, California, which is a very congested urban area (at least until you climb out of the city and get into the hills–then it’s absolutely beautiful and has light traffic).
No, I’m not crazy. It is not a sure-fire way to get yourself killed.
We’re talking about bike lanes not paths. A lane is on the roadway, like any other lane of traffic. A path is like a seperate roadway adjacent (and seperated from) the main road.
It doesn’t really matter though, because riding in a roadway and obeying traffic laws is safer then riding in either!
Here’s a list of references to information on bike path safety. And here is a an overview of potential problems with bike lanes.
Note that we’re talking about “serious” cyclists and commuters, who are going to be moving, say, 12-20mph on flat ground, and not kids on BMX bikes or people putzing around the neighorhood, who’re, if I had to guess, doing maybe half that.
Quick clarification (ick! three posts in a row, sorry): I don’t mean it’s safer to completely ignore the bike lane. I mean it’s safer to get out of it in certain situations (e.g., at intersections) when it is present.
I get into “bike” lanes to turn here when I’m in a car, but considering they are unmarked the last 50 or so before a turn I think they are dual use there.
But the bad thing about being unmarked is that some cars then consider both lanes to be one, big, go-straight lane! They then sit in the exact middle of this at a turn signal and prevent cars from making a right hand turn.
I, myself, don’t use these bike lanes when I am bicycling: I use sidewalks unless there is a wide enough shoulder to prevent close calls, which is not the case with bike lanes. Some state roads and undivided interstates, on the other hand, have wide enough shoulders to bike on. (And some of them are even free enough of random detritus to not plan on getting a flat!)
I think a problem with this is that traffic varies a lot from city to city. Maybe where you were that tactic wouldn’t get you killed, but I just can’t imagine it working in downtown Montreal.
On the other hand, I sure as hell don’t bike AT ALL downtown. Even riding legally is bound to get you killed someday. 4 bikers died last summer in a space of about 3 weeks, and you need to have balls of steel (metaphorically).
I don’t think this is an actual law, but feel free to hock a loogy at any car in the bike lane.
As far as I can tell those are the rules here, too. Problem is that it requires the drivers to treat you like a car, too.
While defending my actions in this thread I looked high and low for the laws as they relate to cars and bikes, and couldn’t find any re: bike lanes. No wonder everyone doesn’t follow the same rules. I try to be as cautious as I can but when you can’t count on drivers to (a) see you (because they often aren’t looking) or (b) do what they’re supposed to do (ie treat you like a car) it’s hard. Like I mentioned above: one car did something unpredictable, so the next time I saw a car about to do that same thing, I took evasive action, and it turned out this car was doing something differently unpredictable, and my evasive action ended up being rather dangerous.
[shocking confession]I’m not a driver. Never took driver’s ed. Can someone who has please tell me, do you learn about rules of the road re: bikes when you learn to drive?
UK rules may be good but it doesn’t mean that cyclists neccesarily follow the bleeding things. I had to scream at someone the other day who took it into their mushroom encapsulated fucking head to drive straight over a pedestrian crossing when they should have been waiting nicely at the red light. And the motorbike who tried to follow them had no fucking excuse.
CYCLISTS - ** The laws of the FUCKING road apply to you to. STOP trying to run me over at pedestrian lights by assuming that you can go whenever you please! I am a pedestrian, the pedestrian lights allow me, a pedestrian, to cross the road. You are not a pedestrian. The pedestrian lights are designed to stop you (non-pedestrian) from running me over when I attempt to cross the road.**
Gah. Rant over.
For the OP - I really don’t see how it could possibly be safer for you to start weaving in and out of traffic trying to get ‘more left’ than to sit happily, and hopefully safely, in your own lane, while wating for the red light. There aint no way I would play chicken with a load of lorries trying to get into the middle of the damn road so some waster who doesn’t bother to check his blind spot can turn right at his pleasure, and ignoring every other user of the road.
Lil