5 rules of bicycling on the road
People in Orange County rarely ride a bike [bicycle for many of you]. Many people in the Bay Area love riding them all the time. Bicycles riders [referred to as bike riders in this article from now on] are supposed to follow a certain set of rules, to make sure they’re not a hazard to other vehicles on the road, and vice versa. Most of the time, however, I see bike riders cycling along the roads without much concern about others. Here’s a short list of 5 things I think every bike rider must keep in mind while on the road.
- Keep in the lane for the bikes, which is the small lane to the right most hand lane. This rule applies to every bike rider unless you’re turning left or if there is no bike/small lane. Bringing a bike into the main lane can cause impatient drivers to try to overtake you, and that may cause accidents. One might even run into you while you come out of your lane. Keep going in a straight lane as much as possible, and away from the bigger lanes whenever possible.
- Please signal with your hands anytime you’re turning. Sometimes many car drivers will assume that you will keep going straight, and thus will try to cut you. If you’re going to turn left somewhere, or even right, and some car assumes that you may be going straight and cut you in order to turn in the same direction, it’s going to be a bad collision.
- Don’t let impatient drivers who break the rules get away without letting them know what they’ve done. This is very important in my view. Whenever I’m driving, if one car cuts a bike rider in an illegal way [like not letting the bike make a turn or overtaking them for no reason and honking at them, some other cars follow suit unless the bike rider showed some sign [not the finger, mind you] to the car that is cutting them that they’ve done something wrong. It’s the same rule that applies to big cars; big cars have no priority over small cars, and cars can’t bully bikes either. It’s polite to just let them go, but it seems that some other car drivers feel the same power to overtake a tiny vehicle in any way they wish in front of them when someone else has already done so.
- Get brake lights and headlights that can be turned on and off. This is a very critical point. At night, I drive back from different places and almost always run into a bike that came out of nowhere. Many intersections allow a right turn only on a green light. If a bike comes creeping with no indication and is on the right hand side of my car, I will start turning, assuming the bike isn’t there and may end up flattening out the bike and the bike owner. A flashing headlight and brake light is even better, as at night this will signal even a stopped car, through the rear view mirrors, that you’re approaching.
- Don’t rest on other cars, no matter what, when you’re waiting at a stop sign or in stopped traffic. This is a rule to make sure you’re polite to others. People don’t like someone touching their cars to rest. If you’re sweating and want to rest, simply rest on one of your legs while balancing the bike without the rest of your body. I’ve had some of my friends tell me that they got out to argue with someone who put their entire elbows and hands on my friends’ brand new car, and even though I was against such a quarrel, I’m sure every person feels different about their cars. Some might feel offended if you touch it, so please keep your hands to yourself. You might even ask the driver, if they’re looking at you, if you can put your hand on their cars. I’ve had that happen and I signaled the person to go ahead.
I hope these points are already known and considered by everyone. I haven’t ridden a bike in a long time, so I’m sure I’ve missed other important points, or may have missed some details from the above points. Soon I will list some points about how to drive a car, as that’s important and applies to everyone on the road, no matter what you drive or ride. Till then, drive and ride safe.
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( September 19th, 2005 at 6:08 pm )
Hehe, those are all sooo true!
( September 20th, 2005 at 9:15 am )
I haven’t ridden in a long time either…
Out here we don’t have bike lanes. In front of my house we’ve got the highway, one lane going each way with a shoulder on each side, that’s it.
We were yelled at by a cop once, right about in front of our house because he told S to get on the shoulder.
Welllll in Missouri, bikes have the same rights as cars and if we want to drive in the lane with the cars, that’s up to us, sure it can be dangerous, but it’s up to us.
Okay that guy just made me mad. He was a punk kid cop.
( September 20th, 2005 at 9:37 am )
I so agree. I live in Davis, which is bike town basically, and so many people are horrible drivers and even worse bikers. Maybe I should print this out and paste it all over town? haha
( September 21st, 2005 at 12:10 am )
Chau –> heh. You must have seen those things more than me, I’m sure, since our area has really bad transportation system.
Valerie –> lol @ punk kid cops. When bikes are given the same rights, the people in cars need to be careful also, instead of not caring and making the people on bikes be extra careful [like the cop].
Julie –> Heh, yes, that would be interesting. :p I wonder if people usually end up getting used to, and improving, both riding and driving in a city such as yours after a long time.
( September 21st, 2005 at 10:12 pm )
We dont have bike lanes in our country but sure hope bikers follow these rules.
( August 1st, 2008 at 2:57 pm )
Cars in the us typically are victim of the “I am more important than you” mentality. They do not consider people in the bikes. My favorite is when I turn left and there is traffic but its basically moving the same rate as me. I signal first, then I make sure there is enough time, then I cut over across the lane and wait in the double yellow area for the opposite side to clear so I can turn. In my state where we have the same rights as cars, I could have theoretically signaled and then just stopped and waited in the middle of the lane. But instead I left both sides enough room to get around me without problem. Without fail the car behind me will either honk or yell obscenities. Its typically a good time.
( December 9th, 2008 at 1:47 am )
cars and bikes should follow the the rules of the road… though cars are generally the “king of the road” bikes should also obey the road rules…
( December 16th, 2008 at 2:35 pm )
I agree with that entirely, and I’m in the UK. I don’t think it matter where you are. In an effort to try to make myself more noticeable I just bought one of these cycling shirts ( the one in the first pic, you can’t miss it! )
( December 16th, 2008 at 4:25 pm )
how about tips on riding during fog and darkness?