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I was wondering what the laws were concerning riding to the right of cars at red lights and getting in front of them before the light turns green. I pulled up next to a guy in an suv in front of him. The light turned green I went and he drove by me very close cutting me off making me have to stop so I wouldn't get hit. I know that motorist are supposed to give bicyclist three feet when passing. Was I in the wrong for pulling in front (while still off to the right) before the light turned green. I got really mad at this guy. I feel bad because sometimes I retaliate by hitting the side of the car if I pull up to them again, but I have almost gotten run over numerous times by motorist that don't seem to care if they hit me or not. Anyways after I knocked on the side of this guys car he followed me for awhile before I stopped and confronted him. He had somebody in the passenger seat and I motioned for them to roll down the window. The whole time he was following me he was on the phone. When I stopped he didn't roll down his window he was on the phone and was reaching for something out of the compartment next to his seat. At that point I just started riding in the opposite direction. This was really stupid on my part to go out of my way to retaliate. I'm sure this built up any animosity he had already towards cyclists. It just really gets to me when motorist don't seem to appreciate that if you hit a cyclist, you are not hitting a car there is a good chance that you will maim or very quite possibly kill that person.
Anyways, if someone could please tell me the law concerning getting in front of cars stopped at red lights that would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
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He broke the law by not giving you 3 feet. You practiced poor judgment by not waiting your turn behind him. Riding to the right of cars at red lights is not very wise regardless of the legalities. Too many motorists will decide to turn right on red without using turn signals. Likely they don't even see you. Why not pull up behind and wait your turn?
Its not just about the law, its about what keeps you alive. You are alive in spite of the poor judgment you practiced which produced a confrontation and dangerous situation that was 100% avoidable.
If you have "almost gotten run over numerous times by motorist that don't seem to care if they hit me or not," I am not saying the motorists are blameless by any means, but I DO say you need to seriously look at your riding practices.
Don in Austin
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Marked/designated bike lane??
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What about those roads that are wide enough that Texas law technically forbids us from taking the lane? 14-foot lanes, no bike lane, and theoretically wide enough that a driver can pass us without leaving the lane.
Somebody asked me a similar question (but a typically smug driver trying to rhetorically corner me into... no idea what), and I answered similar to Donald, but really... I'm not exactly sure. If the lane is so wide as to accommodate all traffic, should we be getting into line behind the cars, or moving up to the front on the side and leaving room for turning cars?
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If the lane is narrow ( < 14 ft ) then by filtering up the right side, the cyclist is initiating the unsafe pass so the driver is not at fault. The city ordinance contains a provision for cyclists that are riding unlawfully. An attorney may be able to speak more directly to what the provision implies legally.
On wider (>= 14 ft) unmarked lanes approaching the intersection it is a bit more ambiguous but generally unwise to pull up alongside on the right. From a safety standpoint, a lot depends on the circumstances including traffic patterns of the particular intersection, how long the light has been red, types of vehicles in the lane (buses and trucks should not be passed on the right), previous pass of the cyclist by the drivers waiting in the intersection, width of lane across intersection, etc. I tend to err on the side of caution and if I'm going straight through the intersection then I'll queue up in the line of cars in the middle of the lane so I am seen by all and maintain that position through the intersection until it is safe to move over into either a safe bike lane or the right portion of a wide lane.
If I'm at the front of the line at a wide lane and the light sequence is long, I'll look at the driver behind me to determine if they are signaling a right turn. If it is safe for me to move over to allow them to turn, I'll do so.
Marked / designated bike lanes are not to be assumed a safe space in these situations either. For example, the Anderson Lane / Shoal Creek bike box was a failed test location due to the circumstances of the intersection including a high percentage of right turning motor vehicles (something like 85% turn right for access to MoPac -- with my own conjecture that only 25% signaling the turn...) Bike boxes require no turn on reds thus cyclists would get trapped alongside the long line of right turning vehicles when the light turned green. For any bike boxes, a long line of vehicles in the right lane should indicate to a cyclist that the light has been red for quite some time and is likely to be turning green soon, safer to queue up in the line of traffic maintaining that space through the intersection. Understanding this pattern allows a cyclist to make better decisions when navigating the intersection.
Combined straight through and right turn lanes generally only widen at the intersection. Most of the 14 foot lanes are only found on access roads these days with the City moving towards 11 foot lanes in town.
Understanding the minutia of the law is good as long as you know how to apply it in complex situations. I'd have to agree with Donald that if you are having multiple confrontations / situations where you are knocking on someone's car panels, then you are failing to negotiate our shared space with the other drivers and could benefit from some instruction. Austin Cycling Association offers the Traffic Skills 101 class and the Defensive Cycling courses on a regular basis. You'll learn how it "should" work and ways to negotiate with others so that it "does" work.
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What about those roads that are wide enough that Texas law technically forbids us from taking the lane? 14-foot lanes, no bike lane, and theoretically wide enough that a driver can pass us without leaving the lane.
Of course, roads with such lanes are quite rare, and in general they're like that only because the outside part of the lane either should be a shoulder (but doesn't have any paint) or it's a parking lane (and again, no paint.)
But yeah, if you find such a lane that's over 14' wide, just take the right part of it (assuming it's good for travel anyways) as if it was your own lane. Feel free to pass cars (that are on your left) if appropriate, but all the usual caveats apply -- the drivers will think they're in the right lane (just like they will if there's a sidewalk, parking or bike lane to their right) and tend to be bad about checking for traffic before they turn right so you need to be aware of that possibility.
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Put quite simply, you can't pass a car on the right in this situation, regardless of the lane width, unless there's an improved shoulder or, of course, a bike lane. (See: http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/D … TN.545.htm Sec. 545.057 and .058 and for definitions of "improved shoulder" and "shoulder" see: http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/D … N.541.htm)
This is one of the most frustrating areas of laws as they apply to bicycles.
In real life everything goes to gray and depends on many circumstances as Eileen notes. So you just have to use your brain and instinct and do what's safest.
In the legal world, things can get problematic. I've seen two cases where cyclists were hit by cars (one a right hook, the other knocking them into the curb) and the police gave the bicyclists citations for passing on the right. However, in reality, both cyclists were not at fault. I won't go into the details...but trust me that they were not at fault.
This brings up all kinds of issues...e.g. if you are riding the same speed as the car and it suddenly slows dramatically, but you keep going, you are technically passing. I think you could argue in a court of law that often you're forced to be in a de facto lane of your own on many occasions by riding as far right as practicable, and thus aren't passing cars illegally on the right. In other words, state law give you permission to ride on the roadways, but on most occasions as far right as practicable. That to me means law is creating a lane of travel for you, and thus you should be able to pass on the right. I guess one could argue the opposite, that once cars slow to a halt, it isn't practicable to be on the right and therefore you have to merge...I don't know. Could be interesting to argue this stuff legally in another life.
Common sense would tell you that this doesn't mean you can ride up to a long line of stacked cars and try to pass them when there is little to no room on the right. Essentially, you are then in the cars' lane.
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Put quite simply, you can't pass a car on the right in this situation, regardless of the lane width, unless there's an improved shoulder or, of course, a bike lane. (See: http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/D … TN.545.htm Sec. 545.057 and .058 and for definitions of "improved shoulder" and "shoulder" see: http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/D … N.541.htm)
This is one of the most frustrating areas of laws as they apply to bicycles.
Reading the law literally {emphasis mine} --
Sec. 545.001. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
(1) "Pass" or "passing" used in reference to a vehicle means to overtake and proceed past another vehicle moving in the same direction as the passing vehicle or to attempt that maneuver.
...
Sec. 545.057. PASSING TO THE RIGHT. (a) An operator may pass to the right of another vehicle only if conditions permit safely passing to the right and:
(1) the vehicle being passed is making or about to make a left turn; and
(2) the operator is:
(A) on a highway having unobstructed pavement not occupied by parked vehicles and sufficient width for two or more lines of moving vehicles in each direction; or
(B) on a one-way street or on a roadway having traffic restricted to one direction of movement and the roadway is free from obstructions and wide enough for two or more lines of moving vehicles.
(b) An operator may not pass to the right by leaving the main traveled portion of a roadway except as provided by Section 545.058.
Looks like this would even prohibit you being in your own bike lane and passing a car that's going slower than you in a main travel lane. Unless the car you're passing is turning left, of course.
Of course, it would also seem to prohibit the right lane of traffic going faster than the left lane of traffic on any road with two lanes going in the same direction.
Being in your own lane (or on the shoulder if permitted to do so) doesn't seem to make it acceptable either, unless there's another law somewhere that makes it so. (Though I haven't found it.)
Of course, this is absurd -- it can't be what they meant, and it's certainly not how people drive on multi-lane roads, but there it is.
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Cripes Doug, I think you're right. The ways it's set up the car has to be taking a left turn to pass it! Someone really should clean this up so that my rambling logic for allowing some instances of bicycles passing on the right is acceptable!
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I believe their definition of "pass" requires that you merge back into the lane being "passed" afterwards. This is a highway concept, in other words, a la "left lane for passing only".
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I don't know, Mike. The definition of passing doesn't mention that. But if that were the case, it seem like passing on the right as a bike would be even more legitimate, since the intention may not be to merge.
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545.057 does seem overly strict, and it's different from the rules I remember being in the state's Driver's Handbook: http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/driverlice … s/dl-7.pdf
Passing on the Right
In Texas, you can pass on the right only when conditions permit you to do so safely.
1. The road is clear of parked vehicles or other things and is wide enough for two or more lanes in
each direction.
2. You are on a one-way road.
3. You may pass on a paved shoulder when the vehicle you are passing is slowing or stopped on the
main travelled portion of the highway, disabled, or preparing to make a left turn.
Do not pass on the right by driving off the paved portion of the highway.
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Regardless of findings of the laws passing on the right, according the Austin Police dept, if they see a bicycle going between lanes, or on the right of a lane, and getting in front of a car at a red light, the police will stop you, and give you a ticket. I was told a bicycle has to follow the same rules as the other vehicles, and the same way if a car passed on the right and got in front of another car at a stop light would get a ticket, so would you. It's common sense, and safety for all the vehicles on the road. The cars are not allowed to be within 3 ft of a car, and the bicycles should not go within 3 foot of a car, even if the car is stopped at a red light.
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It's also safer to only ride your bike on separated bike facilities.
For the inexperienced rider, I wouldn't advise passing traffic. But I do it safely fairly often. If I didn't, getting around during rush hours would be awfully slow.
Often times its too narrow and I just wait in line.
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