On Monday, July 16, 2012 7:24:05 AM UTC-7, Frank Krygowski wrote:
wrote:
> Pardon me. I assumed that other states had more or less the same laws of California:
>
>
> V C Section 21202 Operation on Roadway
> Operation on Roadway
>
> 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.
>
> Do you see anywhere allowing riding two abreast? Or on sidewalks save when passing?

Most states' laws follow reasonably well the Uniform Vehicle Code,
although admittedly, state legislators get "creative" with bike laws
more than motor vehicle laws.

Anyway, most states specify that bicyclists may ride "no more than two
abreast." Thus, two abreast is allowed.

FWIW, I had to (patiently, carefully) explain that to an Idaho State
Patrolman when he stopped us on the downgrade just west of Lolo Pass.
It helped that he decided to grab his copy of the Idaho traffic code to
show me. I was able to point to the exact wording.

About the rest: Most cyclists are really not very competent, even if
they're capable of great athleticism. It's seems to be rare to find one
who has even wondered about the best position on the road, let alone
read any instructional material on that topic. It's damned rare to find
anyone who's taken a class that teaches such things.

In fact, many cyclists seem to take pride in inviting (by being too far
right) large trucks to pass by brushing their elbows, then being able to
maintain a perfectly straight line despite the danger they invited.

AFAIK, no state requires riding far to the right when a lane is too
narrow to safely share, as does the California law you quoted. The
problem, I think, is that most cylists and many motorists don't
understand that.

There are some cycling advocates who would prefer that _all_
cycling-specific laws be removed; that bicycles be treated exactly the
same, under the law, as any other vehicle. They say the other "slow
moving vehicle" laws are adequate when the bikes are in fact slow, and
that when bikes are as fast as other traffic, or when there is no other
traffic, bikes should be operated like any other vehicle - for example,
with no requirement to keep far to the right.

There's logic in that position, I think.

--
- Frank Krygowski

Frank, I know that you're a very experienced and thoughtful rider. Perhaps it's where you live but around the San Francisco bay area here although you sometimes see HUGE training groups playing racer they are generally very watchful and thoughtful of the traffic. And in return we generally get very polite auto drivers.

Yesterday I went through Oakland along a street with quite busy truck traffic and in every single event of trucks passing they pulled into the middle lane giving the two of us plenty of room. Also they signaled quite far ahead of time when they intended to turn and especially when they intended to turn right.

In almost every case that we've had any problems recently it was from what appeared to be immigrants. Save for one case in a very ritzy hill neighborhood where some jackass in a Cadillac thought that he owned the road. But he was a quite rare exception.

While we were riding in a group on the Bike For Breath Century course we observed a HUGE training group riding two and three abreast in the opposite direction and as a car came up from behind they either pulled into single file or over far enough that an approaching car could pass. And the cars again were very polite.

I don't believe we should treat bikes exactly like cars because we can't accelerate nor maneuver as well as autos. But I do think that it's time for California to update their bicycle code at least to allow two abreast riding where it's safe.