Right of way question

K

Kayakguy

Well-Known Member
Recently I was pedaling down a bike lane in Bellingham, when a biker came toward me in my lane (don't know whether it was ebike or acoustic). I yielded by moving out into the auto traffic lane, because otherwise we would have collided. I don't know what the other rider would have done, or planned to do. My afterthought was that I "should" have simply stopped, and let the oncoming rider make a move. My assumption was that the bike lane on my side of the street (right side) would be for riding with traffic, not against it (I realize this topic may have been mentioned in the past). Don't remember whether the street I was on was one-way or two-way. If two-way, there would have been a bike lane on the other side going the other direction, which that other rider could have (should have?) used. So the question I'm posing for the group has to do with this right of way issue. Is it okay to ride against traffic if you don't have a bike lane on your side? Is that, in fact, the preferred way to ride (against traffic)? In case of a right of way conflict, who should yield? Regarding that: for me to move into the car lane safely, I had to rely on my mirror; wouldn't the oncoming rider have been able to do that more safely, seeing as he (or she) had a clear and steady view while facing oncoming traffic?

I should add that we do have a few arterials in town that are one way, and do have a bike lane also going one way. I don't know whether those streets have a bike lane on the left side for riding against traffic. I hope I have presented a sufficiently clear picture of my issue. I'm curious to see others' reaction and input.
 
Last edited:
Gordon71 said:
Sounds simple to me. One rides with traffic not against it. He should have been on the other side of the street.
Click to expand...

Is that the law in your region? I ask because our bike lanes are often shared direction, the start of the lane indicates this but you don't have lines for the entire length. There is seemingly no logical process used by the powers that be when they decide where to put these bike lanes

BTW, you use " he" - I can't se a gender from KG's post . For some reason, I initially had a vision of Karen and my impulse was to stop and block .....then when I looked back at KG's post my visualized biker changed because I'd registered KG choosing to give way . It was a gender obtuse person in lycra stubbornly insisting they were correct.
 
PDoz said:
Is that the law in your region? I ask because our bike lanes are often shared direction, the start of the lane indicates this but you don't have lines for the entire length. There is seemingly no logical process used by the powers that be when they decide where to put these bike lanes
Click to expand...
Good point about the local law. I think the vast majority of bike lanes in the US are on the right and are for going the same direction as auto traffic. There are probably exceptions, but I hope they are clearly signed with instructions that might be contrary to the norm.

Knowing no more than was provided by the OP, I think the bike question would have the same answer as the same question but with a car: You're driving along (in the correct lane) and another car is coming straight at you in the same lane. Who has the right of way?

TT
 
PDoz said:
Is that the law in your region? I ask because our bike lanes are often shared direction, the start of the lane indicates this but you don't have lines for the entire length. There is seemingly no logical process used by the powers that be when they decide where to put these bike lanes

BTW, you use " he" - I can't se a gender from KG's post . For some reason, I initially had a vision of Karen and my impulse was to stop and block .....then when I looked back at KG's post my visualized biker changed because I'd registered KG choosing to give way . It was a gender obtuse person in lycra stubbornly insisting they were correct.
Click to expand...
We do have maybe one or two places where the lane is separate from the auto traffic and is wide enough for lanes in both directions, with arrows indicating such. This was on a normal bike lane. Also, I realize this comes perilously close to being nothing more than a tempest in a teapot.
 
Last edited:
Kayakguy said:
We do have maybe one or two places where the lane is separate from the auto traffic and is wide enough for lanes in both directions, with arrows indicating such. This was on a normal bike lane. Also, I realize this comes perilously close to being nothing more than a tempest in a teapot.
Click to expand...

It's a reasonable question - eg we have " trail etiquette " in the mtb world, with uphill rider yielding to downhill ( gotta admit , I'll always stop when I'm the downhill rider, because it's easier to stop so safer) , and lots of other unspoken rules that'd be difficult to prove in court. Like stop for horse riders - they're stupid / unpredictable and it's usually nicer to chat with the rider before the horse decides humans must die....
 
PDoz said:
Is that the law in your region? I ask because our bike lanes are often shared direction, the start of the lane indicates this but you don't have lines for the entire length. There is seemingly no logical process used by the powers that be when they decide where to put these bike lanes

BTW, you use " he" - I can't se a gender from KG's post . For some reason, I initially had a vision of Karen and my impulse was to stop and block .....then when I looked back at KG's post my visualized biker changed because I'd registered KG choosing to give way . It was a gender obtuse person in lycra stubbornly insisting they were correct.
Click to expand...
There are no bike lanes. In a few places there is an extra 2 or 3 feet of paving in some areas which is used as a bike lane. Traveling with traffic is just common sense as when a car comes up from behind they have to slow down and wait for a safe area to pass which is preferable to coming at you head on.
 
The rider going against traffic should move faster cover for you, but they pronbably don’t know it. After all, they have better vision of the traffic, since they are going toward it. Any how, one rule of the road is to follow indicated directions of travel. I know it’s hard for some to grasp, but it’s dangerous otherwise.
 
The couple times that has happened to me I've just slowed way down to almost a stop because I generally assume the other rider doesn't know what they are doing if they are going against traffic. Depending on how heavy or light the traffic is I would be open to moving a little left into traffic but if it's heavy traffic i would likely just stop and put my foot on the right curb and wait for them to pass me like I'm taking a quick break. In light traffic with a clear line of sight over my left shoulder with no cars coming I would "become a car" or "take the lane" for a bit while the bike goes by. Hope this helps! I saw it happen more with scooter riders after a few drinks than actual bikers in my experience.
 
Generally bike lanes are the same as the other traffic lanes, i.e. they are on both sides and it is expected that traffic stays right and only goes one direction. Occasionally you get (usually separated) bike lanes where both directions are on a single side; they will generally have a dividing line and directional arrows.

I would guess the rider wanted to go a block or two the wrong direction and instead of crossing to the lane on the other side, going down and then recrossing they decided to just go against traffic on the closer lane. Cycle advocates often call this salmoning (because you're riding against the flow). Its not recommended but people do it anyway sometimes because people are people.
 
Here in NV,
the law states that you will ride with the flow of traffic,
or it may be "Press hard, 4 copies."
 
Tars Tarkas said:
Unless it was a one-way street, in which case he shouldn't have been there.

TT
Click to expand...
We have a very busy main corridor street in our town with sidewalks on one side and nothing but 2 narrow lanes on the other. I can see where bike riders would ride "against the grain" on the sidewalk as opposed to risking getting hit going with traffic in the other. With that said, when sharing a sidewalk, stay on the right side if you approach pedestrians or other bikers. Not sure I would yield by going left into the street. I also slow way down when approaching oncoming peds or bikers coming the other way in these situations...
 
I saw someone do it again today, riding against traffic in a bike lane. I wasn't involved, and I don't know how far they were going, nor did I see any riders coming along from upstream (the stream being street traffic--I like the salmon metaphor). But I do sometimes ride in that lane (with traffic), and so could have easily encountered this person. My procedure from now on will be to stop, and let the oncoming rider make whatever move they think is best. I hope that doesn't include clobbering me with a bicycle pump.
 
Sometimes I will ride a distance shorter than a block on the sidewalk on the 'wrong' side of the street. Otherwise it would mean stopping at an intersection, making a left with cars and then making another left across traffic to head into a driveway that is a stone's throw away. When doing this I ride at the speed of someone walking. We have three rules on our MUPS: Stay Right, Be Polite, Don't Obstruct. Many have troubles grasping the rules. These include schizoids, reel leach dog walkers, and those texting or with earbuds. Oh, also large groups that are culturally from Mesoamerica. They tend to walk shoulder to shoulder, taking the entire path, then will split in the middle as you approach, as if they are in a Wild West movie.

1698095778083.jpeg
 
PedalUma said:
Sometimes I will ride a distance shorter than a block on the sidewalk on the 'wrong' side of the street. Otherwise it would mean stopping at an intersection, making a left with cars and then making another left across traffic to head into a driveway that is a stone's throw away. When doing this I ride at the speed of someone walking. We have three rules on our MUPS: Stay Right, Be Polite, Don't Obstruct. Many have troubles grasping the rules. These include schizoids, reel leach dog walkers, and those texting or with earbuds. Oh, also large groups that are culturally from Mesoamerica. They tend to walk shoulder to shoulder, taking the entire path, then will split in the middle as you approach, as if they are in a Wild West movie.

View attachment 165276
Click to expand...
In my experience, pedestrians in groups of 2 or more always walk side-by-side to fill as much of the MUP as they can. Seems to be some kind of instinct. If any of them happens to be talking, everyone's situational awareness drops to zero. Ditto for single pedestrians talking on mobile phones.
 
PedalUma said:
Sometimes I will ride a distance shorter than a block on the sidewalk on the 'wrong' side of the street. Otherwise it would mean stopping at an intersection, making a left with cars and then making another left across traffic to head into a driveway that is a stone's throw away. When doing this I ride at the speed of someone walking. We have three rules on our MUPS: Stay Right, Be Polite, Don't Obstruct. Many have troubles grasping the rules. These include schizoids, reel leach dog walkers, and those texting or with earbuds. Oh, also large groups that are culturally from Mesoamerica. They tend to walk shoulder to shoulder, taking the entire path, then will split in the middle as you approach, as if they are in a Wild West movie.

View attachment 165276
Click to expand...
Sometimes for a very short distance like that, I might dismount and walk the bike. As a ped, I figure I have the right of way, more or less.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Tom@WashDC
Got pulled over by cop.
2
Replies
29
Views
3K
Tony54
T
mschwett
interesting new garmin radar data
2
Replies
36
Views
2K
AvalancheRun
AvalancheRun
W
Air Horns
Replies
9
Views
1K
Neverlost
Neverlost
D
750mi. report, Rize RX
Replies
0
Views
246
DDBB
D
S
Interested in experience of people transitioning to a frontloading cargo bike
Replies
8
Views
368
sammcneill
S
Back