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I just moved here from California, where I was told that it was legal to ride in the space between stopped cars. For example, at an intersection where you want to turn left, you ride between the left turn lane, and the go-straight lane to get to the front of the line, and wait between cars, before you take a wide left turn when you get a green light. Although I found this suspicious, I've never confirmed this, and I trusted my commuting guru-mentor, and started enjoying this nice advantage at lights. Apparently it is okay for motorcycles to do the same in CA.
Now that I live in Austin, I wanted to check if Texas also allowed this "jump ahead of the line" for bikes. Searching on the web I find that the traffic laws are almost word-for-word identical between California and Texas, and there is no mention of passing between stopped traffic, or even to the right of stopped traffic in a single lane road without bike lanes, for the purposes of taking a left turn, or going straight. It does seem to be legal to pass to the right of stopped traffic to take a right turn, in my reading of what I found on the Web.
Can someone please clarify? FYI, I've got a single left-turn light on my commute, and for now, I've been waiting in line. It's not a big deal on my commute.
Thanks!
Arvind Raghavan
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First of all, welcome to Austin... its a great town.
I'd like to get some clarification on this issue as well. I've done this maneuver for many years in a ton of different cities, but I have never really known about the legality... especially here at home here in Texas. I do this really out of safety purposes... I like to be in front of the cars before the light turns green and because I don't quite like sucking on fumes. Sometimes, I'll hang back if it looks a bit tricky to navigate.
The only problem I see with the maneuver, right or wrong, is that it seems to rile up the ire of some motorists when that "scoff-law" "jumps ahead of line".
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Thanks!
The "scoff-law" perception is exactly what prompted me to post. A colleague at work basically "assumed" that I did not do that, and went on to tell me that it pisses him off a lot. Back then, I thought for sure it was legal in CA, and told him that although I don't know for sure, it could be legal in TX. Now I'm not so sure. As doesn't matter now on my commute here, I'm leaning towards waiting in line, in an attempt to improve our collective reputation :-)
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You're not "jumping ahead of the line", you are simply using open road space. Motorists who have issues with this are just jealous of the flexibility of a bike.
That's my opinion, not the law by any means.
Although, I usually wait in line behind cars, if the lane is narrow or it seems safer. Sometimes is safer to go to the front of the line. I do what is safest for me, the law won't magically heal my wounds if there's an accident.
Same goes for stop signs. Often times it is safer to roll through at 10mph when there is no adjacent traffic, so that you don't get rear ended by a motorist who doesn't expect you to come to a complete stop.
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I do this really out of safety purposes... I like to be in front of the cars before the light turns green and because I don't quite like sucking on fumes. Sometimes, I'll hang back if it looks a bit tricky to navigate.
I'm not sure of the legality either, but for safety purposes, I think the best course of action is to stay in the car lane in line with the other cars. What if while you're sliding up between cars to get to the front of a left turn lane, the light turns green? Suddenly you are stuck between two lanes of moving traffic with no room for error.
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I think that if the lane is wide enough, more than 14 feet, and the cyclist is turning left s/he should pass the cars and position for the turn.
Last edited by bizikletari (2010-02-18 10:27:47)
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You do risk getting "doored" by people waiting in line to turn. People open doors to spit, or poor out old coffee; I've even seen people dump their ashtrays out!
Personally, I don't want to piss off drivers by doing this. I usually find routes that do not involve using a car lane to turn left. It's more efficient for me, and more peaceful to everyone involved (in my opinion).
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Lane-splitting for motorcyclists and cyclists is definitely legal in California (subject to several restrictions -- speed of traffic, speed relative to traffic, etc), which is per Wikipedia the only state in which the government has published documents indicating that they interpret it as legal.
I don't know if there's a specific law prohibiting lane splitting in Texas, but my understanding is that it's seen as illegal activity here, such that even if there isn't a specific law prohibiting it, there's doubtless something general which can be made to fit.
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BikeATX wrote:I do this really out of safety purposes... I like to be in front of the cars before the light turns green and because I don't quite like sucking on fumes. Sometimes, I'll hang back if it looks a bit tricky to navigate.
I'm not sure of the legality either, but for safety purposes, I think the best course of action is to stay in the car lane in line with the other cars. What if while you're sliding up between cars to get to the front of a left turn lane, the light turns green? Suddenly you are stuck between two lanes of moving traffic with no room for error.
Yes, this has happened to me quite frequently on my commute in CA. Basically, I would look back at the driver in the left turn lane to make sure he/she noticed me, and then get in front of him, and ride hard so as to not inconvenience him/her too much. Not ideal, but traffic is usually still quite slow, so it is not as bad it seems.
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What if while you're sliding up between cars to get to the front of a left turn lane, the light turns green? Suddenly you are stuck between two lanes of moving traffic with no room for error.
Thats where skill comes into play :)
You are probably right, I may think twice about doing this from now on... plus, I do hate rising the ire of our fellow Austin traveler... even if they are just jealous. :)
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Lane-splitting for motorcyclists and cyclists is definitely legal in California (subject to several restrictions -- speed of traffic, speed relative to traffic, etc), which is per Wikipedia the only state in which the government has published documents indicating that they interpret it as legal.
I don't know if there's a specific law prohibiting lane splitting in Texas, but my understanding is that it's seen as illegal activity here, such that even if there isn't a specific law prohibiting it, there's doubtless something general which can be made to fit.
Thanks, I found the article yesterday thanks to the CA friend who told me it was legal. I agree with what you say-- in TX, they will find something to prove we are on the wrong side of the law. Searching on "lane splitting Texas" shows that the motorcycling community is greatly interested in seeing this legalized.
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If it's legal for a car to share a lane with you as it passes you, then it should be legal for you to share a lane with a car as you pass it ...
Of course, that's common sense, and the law is often different. I'm not sure what Texas law says on the matter.
"545.057. PASSING TO THE RIGHT." does exist, but it doesn't seem to prohibit it (not passing on the right, anyways), not if there's enough room.
Actual lane splitting, traveling between two lanes of traffic, less sure about that. Certainly, I usually don't do it myself -- too easy for traffic to start up again or somebody to open a door. But I'll pass them all on the far right if there's enough room.
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If it's legal for a car to share a lane with you as it passes you, then it should be legal for you to share a lane with a car as you pass it ...
Of course, that's common sense, and the law is often different.
+1
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Austin has its own laws that restrict and permit different bicyclist behaviors: http://www.amlegal.com/austin_nxt/gatew … :austin_tx
From § 12-2-16 RIDING RESTRICTIONS.
(B) A bicyclist may not ride a bicycle between vehicles traveling or standing in the same direction within marked lanes of a roadway.
This seems to explicitly prohibit lane-splitting. However, this does not seem to affect passing on the left or right edges (though other laws may prohibit this).
Note that the way this law is written, it also seems to be illegal for a bicyclist to use a lane to him/herself to pass between vehicles in other adjacent lanes on the roadway. For example, a bicyclist may not go straight in his/her own lane if a vehicle is waiting to make a left turn from the same direction and another vehicle is waiting to make a right turn from the same direction. Also, some bike lanes encourage bicyclists to "ride a bicycle between vehicles traveling or standing in the same direction within marked lanes of a roadway". Another example would be a three-laned road where the bicyclist passes a slower moving vehicle in the right lane.
My hope is that the Austin bicycling community can find its resolve to put its heads to together to fix some of these well-intentioned laws so that they no longer have such glaring unintended consequences.
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