AG: Aunt Granny's Advice, or How to become an elderly cyclist:

Frank Krygowski wrote:
Good post. Just one quibble:

"... if there is a solid line, a vehicle is expected to stay in that
lane, and a vehicle should not cross a solid line. That's not only a
double yellow line, but a single white line, as well."

In Ohio, the Ohio Bicycle Federation got a law passed specifically
permitting motorists to cross a solid yellow line, when safe to do so,
in order to pass a vehicle (that includes bicycle) moving less than half
the speed limit.

It's a good law. It's what people have always done when needing to pass
a disabled vehicle creeping along the road, a mail truck stopping at
every mailbox, a horse and buggy, and a slow-moving bicycle in a lane
too narrow to share - provided the cyclist is smart enough to stay out
of the gutter.

The yellow lines are painted with the assumption that one car is trying
to pass a slightly slower one. They're unrealistically restrictive for
passing truly slow vehicles.


Good clarification. I had forgotten about scenario of temporary lane
change for overtaking, although I suspect that there's probably a
measure of variance from state to state.

Smith