What does it mean to "Share the Road" - long

[laura*]

DH asked me whether it was okay to have passed them on the right, in that situation. I told him definitely yes - same as he would pass a slower motor vehicle.

What state did this happen in? Or more importantly, is lane splitting allowed in your state?

If lane splitting is not allowed, then, no, the motorcyclist didn't do the correct thing. We can declare that the bicyclists "took the lane" before their bicycle lane ended. At that point, there was no motor vehicle lane available to pass them on the right. It is only once the bicyclists reached the resumption of the bike lane that a lane was available to pass them on the right.

Now that I think about it, it's also a great illustration why the rules need to be the same for everyone.

The image is also a great illustration of why the rules can't be the same for everyone. It also shows that traffic engineers don't have a clue with regard to bicycle riding. You'd never find braided motor vehicle traffic lanes! But current road designs seem to say this is OK if one of the lanes is a bike lane.

I've encountered this same "magically teleporting bike lane" in two locations. In one, the road forks and the right lane peels off to the right. Stoplight cycling pretty much guarantees that a bicyclist will reach the lane crossing just as a pack of very fast moving cars reach the same point. In the other instance, the right lane becomes a freeway on ramp with rapidly accelerating cars.

In the first instance, my solution is to ignore the bike lane and instead lane split for a tenth of a mile with a traffic lane to both my left and right. I get into position during the traffic gaps caused by the preceding traffic signal.

In the second instance, the bike lane teleports between one side and the other of an intersection. Several times I've been able to get into position by lane splitting and moving to the head of the pack while traffic was stopped at a red light. Then I was only without a dedicated lane for 100 feet across the intersection.

[OakLeaf]

What state did this happen in? Or more importantly, is lane splitting allowed in your state?

If lane splitting is not allowed, then, no, the motorcyclist didn't do the correct thing. We can declare that the bicyclists "took the lane" before their bicycle lane ended. At that point, there was no motor vehicle lane available to pass them on the right. It is only once the bicyclists reached the resumption of the bike lane that a lane was available to pass them on the right.

This was Florida and lane splitting is not allowed. (I think California is the only state where it is.) But I disagree. I don't think this is a case where the rules would or should be different for motorcycles and automobiles/trucks, and that wasn't what DH was asking. The cyclists were in the middle lane (the rightmost lane that was continuing straight). Why shouldn't all other traffic continue to use the left and right lanes normally?

If the cyclists had been turning left rather than going straight, would you reach the same conclusion? Would you say that no motor vehicles could pass them in either the curb lane or the middle lane, if they were in the left lane???

[Jo-n-NY]

Excellent post Edan as well as interesting replys.

[laura*]

The cyclists were in the middle lane (the rightmost lane that was continuing straight). Why shouldn't all other traffic continue to use the left and right lanes normally?

If the cyclists had been turning left rather than going straight, would you reach the same conclusion? Would you say that no motor vehicles could pass them in either the curb lane or the middle lane, if they were in the left lane???

Assuming the cyclists moved left before the discontinuance of the bike lane, they shouldn't be passed on the right because there is no motor vehicle lane to their right.

In the interval while the cyclists were between the discontinuance and resumption of the bike lane, they were in the "rightmost" lane. No one should be passing them on the right at that point. It doesn't matter that the "lane" there is 16-20 feet wide, and that a narrow motorcycle wants to pass.

Once the cyclists reached the resumption of the bike lane, then it would be OK to pass them on the right using the (dedicated) right turn lane.

At all times the cyclists could be passed on the left using either of the two straight through motor vehicle lanes.

[OakLeaf]

Seriously? If the cyclists had been in the left lane preparing to turn left at that break in the median, you'd still say no one could pass them on the right?

Sorry, I just totally disagree.



ETA: regardless of which one of us a traffic court judge would agree with, once again, that we're even debating it here illustrates perfectly why the rules NEED to be the same for everyone. No one's getting flattened or roadraged talking about it on the internet, but the same can't be said for real life.

[laura*]

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