Maryland Biking Guidlines

At one point during my ride yesterday I was on a two lane road with a double yellow center line, single white side stripe, and no shoulder. I'm cruising along and realize I have a car just to my left pacing me; I look over and it's a cop. He has his window down and tells me that I need to be riding closer to the white line so that the cars can get by. I said "Yes sir" and he went on his way. This really irks me because this was not a very safe manoeuver for me and because I believe that he was wrong. It's my understanding that I'm entitled to take the entire lane if I so desire. I was not about to debate it with him right then ;) I've since looked at what WABA has to say about this:

"Ride with the flow of traffic as closely as practicable to the right side of roadway."

and

"Full lane use allowed when traveling at the normal speed of traffic, passing, preparing for a turn, avoiding hazards, traveling in a lane too narrow to share and avoiding a mandatory turn lane"

I could interpret this to mean that since I was going slower than traffic that I was supposed to be as far right as practical, as the cop was saying. Alternatively, I could probably argue that the lane was too narrow to be shared and that I had the right to the lane. It's not terribly clear to me. Anyone have insight about this?

Thanks!

Doesn't Maryland have a 3 foot rule?

I was on Beach Drive yesterday, and as usual I found that when I rode close to the white line, vehicles passed me without crossing the yellow line and as a result came within a couple of inches of hitting me. Riding a foot or two to the left of the white line, everyone gave me plenty of room when they passed.

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Originally Posted by ny biker

Doesn't Maryland have a 3 foot rule?

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No. :(

There are bills before the legislature. See: Senate Bill 428 and House Bill 496 - Three Foot Bicycle Safety Bill halfway down the page.
I doubt they'll ever get out. I don't have the latest on them.

Nicole - It sounds like you WERE as right as you could safely be.

Some other info may be found here.

I'd say it was too narrow to share (and that's by YOUR interpretation, right?). Err on the side of safety, and take the most liberal advantage of the law.

Karen

Just curious - how much room did the cop give you when he passed? Did he stay inside the yellow line, or did he have to cross it in order to give you a safe distance?

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Originally Posted by ny biker

Just curious - how much room did the cop give you when he passed? Did he stay inside the yellow line, or did he have to cross it in order to give you a safe distance?

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He was a few feet to my left. I doubt he could give me room and stay inside the yellow but I couldn't tell you for sure since I was paying attention to staying on the road myself.

I generally try to stay right but sometimes I'll wander if I'm not paying attention and sometimes I'll deliberately move left when the road is quiet and I'm on the aerobars. I was definitely right when he came up along side of me but I was probably out further earlier. I have no idea how long he might have been behind me.

Nicole.
I saw this posted on the MoBike Yahoo listserv and thought of you.
http://commuteorlando.com/wordpress/...-then-and-now/
Watch the vids.....

I actually found myself frustrated for the cars behind her in that second video, the shoulder looked like it was in good shape and she didn't have to be that far out into the lane.

I tend to stay in the shoulder - but a lot of the shoulders have been in terrible shape lately - crumbling, with pot holes, etc. So then I tend to ride just inside the white line.

If there's no shoulder, I probably tend to stay a foot or so away from the edge of the road. More if there's a curb. More if there's grates (in addition to the parallel ones I found, there's a lot of them that have big potholes or crumbling road around the edges of them lately)

If it's a low traffic road, I might be further into the lane, but move whenever I hear a car coming up - I haven't noticed a couple of them recently, I've been pretending those are hybrids.

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Originally Posted by Catriona

I actually found myself frustrated for the cars behind her in that second video, the shoulder looked like it was in good shape and she didn't have to be that far out into the lane.

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I did, too.
I ride with friends who place themselves fairly out into the travel lane when riding - farther left then I. But an important point is that the vulnerable vehicle -- in this case, the cyclist -- must determine what is "as far right as practicable." Where do you feel safe riding?

Was this near/in rock creek park? I find the park police are pretty clueless about MD bike laws.

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Originally Posted by aicabsolut

Was this near/in rock creek park? I find the park police are pretty clueless about MD bike laws.

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No, this was up north in MontCo near Damascus. I think the guy was a county cop but I didn't get a good look at the car since I was concentrating on staying on the road!!! :mad: