California’s messed up bicycle situation

This morning there was a message sent out on a mailing list I am subscribed to about an incident in Southern Calfornia in which a bicyclist who was riding perfectly legally within the area demarcated with the arrow markings along the road was erroneously admonished and given false information by an officer from the local sheriff’s department.

I have written about this occurring to me also. I have been stopped by law enforcement when riding legally along a road and was given false information about the California Vehicle Code, indicating that the officer did not have the correct information and therefore had no business stopping me.

I don’t know if you can view YouTube videos at work. If not, please let me know and I send you a copy directly.

In any case, this video is of LA Sheriff’s deputy [name removed for privacy] advising a bicyclist that a narrow right lane is not his lane:

Quotes from the officer:

Right hand edge of the road way …
You need to ride to the right hand edge, okay. That’s not your lane.
Let me put it to you this way. You cannot hold up traffic in the traffic lane.
If you hold up traffic I will cite you.
You’re holding up traffic though.
You need to ride on the right hand most edge.
It’s not a lane.
The marking that where bicyclist are supposed to ride and that means on the right hand edge.

I’m sending this to you in the hope that you will show it others at the CHP as evidence that CVC 21202 is being used by law enforcement officers in the State to tell bicyclists that they cannot use a full lane even when the lane is that is too narrow for a vehicle and and a bicycle to travel safely side by side, which is an explicit exception (that I helped write in 1975) to CVC 21202.

What this boils down to, and what any person who bicycles on California roadways is certain to experience firsthand, is that in many cases its actually quite unsafe to not take the full lane.

First of all, one cannot bicycle all the way against the right edge of the road next to the curb. There is a lot of debris and other potential hazards there. A roadway cannot be a slolem course of debris and hazards along the path of a bicyclist. Therefore bicycles are several feet over from the actual curb.

Furthermore, a bicyclist always needs to have a little cushion space in which to maneuver in the event that something unexpected does occur. You need the few feet to one side in case something happens. If you are pushed all the way against the cars with only a foot between you and cars to your left, and something happens – maybe a hazard in the road, a tire blowout, whatever, you could be killed if you have no room to maneuver. So a bicycle always needs a little space around them.

Finally, and this is by far the biggest concern and hazard: many motorists attempt to pass a bicyclist with an unsafe distance between their vehicle and the bicycle. This is probably the number one reason why bicyclists end up taking a full lane: it is to protect themselves from idiot drivers who pass too fast and too close, endangering the life of the bicyclist.

But what is law enforcement’s response to an experienced bicyclist taking appropriate and correct action for the sake of safety? It is to harrass the bicyclist.

Anyhow its good to see this issue getting flagged by relevant orginazations with the potential to address the problem and create a solution.