[Re: BIKE: Cycle commuting race]

[Mike Librik or Amy Babich]

Jeff Thorne wrote:

> [Regarding the reported Auckland traffic race dealio]
> Patrick Goetz <pgoetz> wrote:
>      '. . .  A bicyclist, on the other hand, can almost
> always scoot to the front of the line  . . .  it is not necessarily the case
> that a bicyclist must break traffic laws in order to beat a motor vehicle in
> an urban environment.'
>
> Point taken, of course, but I'd add that scooting one's bike to the front of
> the line is very likely breaking a traffic law, or at least is not likely a
> safe riding habit.

Specifically this traffic law:

Sec. 551.103. Operation on Roadway

     (a) Except as provided by Subsection (b), a person operating
a bicycle on a roadway who is moving slower than the other traffic
on the roadway shall ride as near as practicable to the right curb
or edge of the roadway, unless:

     (1) the person is passing another vehicle moving in the same
direction;

Of course this is rather vague, like many laws detailing the behavior of bikes and pedestrians.

It does not specify queuing, nor does it even imply changing lanes. It might just be suggesting that the
biker pass the queued traffic on the inside, not the outside. However this does begin to bump up against
this rule:

Sec. 545.060. Driving on Roadway Laned for Traffic

     (a) An operator on a roadway divided into two or more clearly
marked lanes for traffic:

     (1) shall drive as nearly as practical entirely within a
single lane;

meaning the gap between queues centered on the lane line should not be used.

I recall there used to be some wording to the effect that cyclists moving at the same speed as
surrounding traffic should queue, though I do not see it in the driver's manual nowadays. While that
rule is usually pictured as describing a bike whose speed increases to the travel speed of the motor
vehicles, it could just as well apply to when the cars slow to the bike's speed, meaning the cyclist
must adjust their lane position not to their own actions (bike speeding up) but to the actions of others
(cars slowing down).

I know that some experienced cyclists have personal rules guiding how and when they pass stopped cars
and move up to the front of a queue. I suspect that the viability of a bike in the described race
depends on just how much the cyclist is willing to do this.

I wrote off to Auckland looking for details as to how the cyclist was expected to behave in this race,
but have not heard anything back yet.

--
Mike Librik
Easy Street Recumbents
512-453-0438
45th and Red River St.
Central Austin
info
www.easystreetrecumbents.com
www.urbancycling.com

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