Giving roadies a bad rep

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Originally Posted by Eden

Absolutely - check your own state. The code I posted is for Washington. In Oregon you can get a ticket for not using bike lanes or paths when they are available. In Idaho you are allowed to only slow for stop signs (and I think even red lights) without stopping or putting a foot down. It can be significantly different depending on your area.

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True, we Idahoans can slow for stop signs, but I don't. I stop. I figure if I am to be treated as the slow moving vehicle I am, obeying traffic laws, I am not going to just slow for a stop sign. I don't want to confuse the cars around me and appear to be just another ignorant cyclist with not a care for traffic laws. Besides, I just don't feel safe NOT stopping. Overly cautious? Perhaps, but I would rather live to ride another day.

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Originally Posted by Tater

True, we Idahoans can slow for stop signs, but I don't. I stop. I figure if I am to be treated as the slow moving vehicle I am, obeying traffic laws, I am not going to just slow for a stop sign. I don't want to confuse the cars around me and appear to be just another ignorant cyclist with not a care for traffic laws. Besides, I just don't feel safe NOT stopping. Overly cautious? Perhaps, but I would rather live to ride another day.

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I don't think anyone will bother you for that :D

This a.m. I slowed-and-rolled through a stop sign *because* there was a car coming. It's one of our ubiquitous four-way stops, and I was clearly the first one there, and stopping completely would have slowed everybody down (waiting fo rme to stop and then get going again) as well as confused them. Spirit of the law was entirely followed.

I think it all comes down to responding to particular situations, including local laws. Whether I take a lane or not depends on a lot of things, such as how fast the cars may be going, the type of neighborhood I am in (do I anticipate motorists to be aware of bike traffic,lighting conditions, even trees, that I think I may blend in with along the side of the road. the condition of the pavement. If there is junk, I will move over a little to the left so I can get some wiggle room, if it is a wide enough for me to do so. If I need to swerve to miss something, Idon't want to turn to the left INTO traffic. At some point, a car cannot safely pass anyway, so then I will move to the center for visibility. I continually think of what a car coming of from behind may be seeing, or rather NOT seeing.:D

In my mind these all factor into what is a practical right side position, including being in the leftmost lane when executing a left hand turn! I wish to know the law better, so I can follow it better.

But I know that there will be situations where I break the law, such as stopping at every stop sign in a city residential area, when I can see that no cars are approaching. By the time I got going again, a car would be coming, and I'd be in the middle of crossing when he got to the intersection! But this is on roads with a speed limit of 20 mph, with stop signs every two blocks.

Mary