Advocacy & Safety - Wrong Way cyclists

What is the deal with wrong way cyclists. Why do they ride against traffic? That has got to be the dumbest idea since doctors drained blood from sick patients thinking the disease would leak from the body.

Road systems are designed for cars and a half mile diversion to achieve a smooth traffic flow at an intersction is nothing to a car driver. When a cyclist can avoid this diversion by going against the traffic for 50 yards, the risks are worth taking. You have to watch for cars coming into the street from the side who are not looking in your direction etc. The important thing is keep looking to see what all the traffic around you is doing.

Road systems are designed for cars and a half mile diversion to achieve a smooth traffic flow at an intersction is nothing to a car driver. When a cyclist can avoid this diversion by going against the traffic for 50 yards, the risks are worth taking. You have to watch for cars coming into the street from the side who are not looking in your direction etc. The important thing is keep looking to see what all the traffic around you is doing.

On very rare occasions, I resort to wrong-way and/or sidewalk cycling for precisely the reason AndrewP states. If I am on the sidewalk, I ride very slowly and give full right-of-way and courtesy to pedestrians, as I am invading their space. If I am on the road, I give full right-of-way and courtesy to right-way cyclists, to the point of slowing and cowering against the curb, if necessary.

I stress however, that wrong-way cycling and other nonvehicular maneuvers should be the rare exceptions, not general procedure.

Explain please. I dont understand. 1/2 mile diversion? What does that mean?

Road systems are designed for cars and a half mile diversion to achieve a smooth traffic flow at an intersction is nothing to a car driver. When a cyclist can avoid this diversion by going against the traffic for 50 yards, the risks are worth taking. You have to watch for cars coming into the street from the side who are not looking in your direction etc. The important thing is keep looking to see what all the traffic around you is doing.

I'm with you on the 50yd diversion, but most of the wrong way cyclists ALWAYS ride the wrong way.

I live in a downtown area, where all of the streets around me are one-ways. Every morning, I take teh sidewalk for 20 feet, then I turn the wrong way onto a one way street for about 50 feet. It's more of an alley than a street, but it's still a one way, and I'm still going the wrong way. Yeah, I know.... it's bad, but it's the ONLY time I take the sidewalk or ride the wrong way. Still not smart, and nothing I could say concerning my justifications for doing it would stand up in court.

Most don't know any better. The vast majority of wrong way riders here do it on the sidewalk and ride very slow, still just as bad, but not as crazy as on the street wrong way.

I do have to ride 1/2mi wrong way on my commute home - on a sidewalk offset 5-15ft from the road. The road is actually a freeway overpass/access road. If I didn't ride the wrong way I'd need to ride an extra 4mi detour and cross thru two very busy mulilane freeway intersections. The city has recognized the problem and are building (and have been for the past year) a cyclist/pedestrian freeway overpass, but its not going to be open until January if the schedule doesn't slip again. I can't wait. At least this 1/2mi stretch of wrong way has no side street entrances and about 1-ped on it every 3 days or so.

Al

I'm with you on the 50yd diversion, but most of the wrong way cyclists ALWAYS ride the wrong way.

These are also the cyclists who ride at night in dark clothes with no lights or reflectors. I am amazed that the fatality rate for cyclists is so low.

i ride against traffic on a very short piece of road because my lights haven't came in the mail yet and the off road part of that area is dangerous.


i only do it when it's TOTALLY clear.

oh **** this is my biggest hatred. when people ride on the wrong side of the road. i have only been hit by a car twice in my long carreer and it was because i took a shortcut on the wrong side of the road. to put things simply, at intersections, auto drivers DO NOT LOOK TO THE RIGHT AT ALL, which is right where you will be. hate hate hate
love, rymodee

We just had this discussion like a week ago.

We just had this discussion like a week ago.
...and the week before that, and the week before that, ad infinitum

If i remember right, weren't we taught as kids in the 70's & 80's to ride against traffic on a bike? Not saying it's right.

If i remember right, weren't we taught as kids in the 70's & 80's to ride against traffic on a bike? Not saying it's right.

I was born in '70 in the New England area and learned to ride quite young. I clearly remember being taught (not just by my parents) to ride a bike the same direction as traffic and walk against traffic. Where I grew up there were no sidewalks, all riding, some on a busy road, was done in the traffic lane/shoulder.

Al

I do it but only when needed

If i remember right, weren't we taught as kids in the 70's & 80's to ride against traffic on a bike? Not saying it's right.

Back in the 80's I was taught to ride with traffic, not against it.

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=11006&highlight=Werris+Creek

However, that seems to go against conventional "wisdom" these days. For "conventional", read: someone who has never ridden further than their driveway in their life. Sadly, "bicycle safety classes" these days are rarely taught by people who actually know anything about bicycle safety.

Road systems are designed for cars and a half mile diversion to achieve a smooth traffic flow at an intersction is nothing to a car driver. When a cyclist can avoid this diversion by going against the traffic for 50 yards, the risks are worth taking. You have to watch for cars coming into the street from the side who are not looking in your direction etc. The important thing is keep looking to see what all the traffic around you is doing.

The worst crash I have ever had in 21 years of cycling came on a Sunday morning with no motor traffic. I was hit head-on by a wrong-way cyclist who flew out from behind a van, swerved around the cyclist in front of me, and then slammed into me. My teeth are still broken from this incident.

When people tell me about how victimized are cyclists by motorists, I think about this incident. I've had crashes with automobiles, but it was never this bad.

The important thing is that people who do what you do are taken off the road. Either ride right, or ride on the sidewalk.

Yeah, every crash I've bad was no where near cars or the road exept one when I ewas getting used to my clipless pedals.

like most of you i refrain to riding the wrong way only for short periods of time when trying to avoid stuff. although my brother in law feels more comfortable riding against traffic and does feel that this is the correct way to ride. why i still have no idea lol. maybe it is a lefty thing. but i must say i usually hate seeing cyclist going the wrong way. cause here i am going down the road the right way with traffic passing next to me with some idiot riding straight for me. not my favortie situation.

With rear view mirros you can see behind you just as well as in front.

These are also the cyclists who ride at night in dark clothes with no lights or reflectors. I am amazed that the fatality rate for cyclists is so low.

and guess what? The vast majority of cycling fatalities are caused by just these things but then somehow, people end up saying it's bicycles (and not what people do on them) are dangerous so they stay off them.

eh... in grade school phys ed they taught us to ride on the wrong side of the road... I think that's where it gets started

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What is the deal with wrong way cyclists. Why do they ride against traffic? That has got to be the dumbest idea since doctors drained blood from sick patients thinking the disease would leak from the body.
THEY ARE STEWPID!! I think they ususally are taking a short cut and riding on the left side just before a left turn into a new street (super dangerous) thinking that that is the shortest route. I ride fast and they usually have no idea I'm coming up on them at 17mph and they are doing 10mph so it's a 25mph aproach. I make then swerve into the street and I yell "WRONG WAY" or HEADS UP. Most ride old clunky bikes and seem to have no clue that there are rules to the road.

Most don't know any better. The vast majority of wrong way riders here do it on the sidewalk and ride very slow, still just as bad, but not as crazy as on the street wrong way.

I do have to ride 1/2mi wrong way on my commute home - on a sidewalk offset 5-15ft from the road. The road is actually a freeway overpass/access road. If I didn't ride the wrong way I'd need to ride an extra 4mi detour and cross thru two very busy mulilane freeway intersections. The city has recognized the problem and are building (and have been for the past year) a cyclist/pedestrian freeway overpass, but its not going to be open until January if the schedule doesn't slip again. I can't wait. At least this 1/2mi stretch of wrong way has no side street entrances and about 1-ped on it every 3 days or so.

Al

There is no "wrong way" riding on a sidewalk that's separated from the street. As long as you stop at any crosswalks and walk across, that's perfectly okay.

It still doesn't feel right.

There is no "wrong way" riding on a sidewalk that's separated from the street. As long as you stop at any crosswalks and walk across, that's perfectly okay.

--As long as you cycle at average walking speed (<4MPH), and include stoping & walking at EVERY curb cut (driveways etc) as you would for crosswalks.

IMO sidewalk cycling is second only to wrongway cycling as the easiest way to get hit by a car.

i no longer ride against traffic now. that did not prevent my accident on saturday :cry:

--As long as you cycle at average walking speed (<4MPH), and include stoping & walking at EVERY curb cut (driveways etc) as you would for crosswalks.

IMO sidewalk cycling is second only to wrongway cycling as the easiest way to get hit by a car.

I agree, but as sub-thread started with my comment I did want to point out that this 'sidewalk' is quite wide, separated from the road, does not have a single side road entrance the 1/2mi I ride it and I have ridden on it perhaps 300 times and passed a pedestrian perhaps twice. I still can not wait until the city finishes the ped/cyclist freeway overpass so I don't have to ride on this sidewalk which parallels the one way overpass for cars.

Al

What is the deal with wrong way cyclists. Why do they ride against traffic? That has got to be the dumbest idea since doctors drained blood from sick patients thinking the disease would leak from the body.


Kick them into oncoming traffic, that'll get rid of them.

I hate them too. In NYC it's always the ******** restaurant food delivery *******s. I wish they would all get run over and die miserably because they are the #1 reason drivers in NYC hate bicyclists.

The worst crash I have ever had in 21 years of cycling came on a Sunday morning with no motor traffic. I was hit head-on by a wrong-way cyclist who flew out from behind a van, swerved around the cyclist in front of me, and then slammed into me. My teeth are still broken from this incident.

When people tell me about how victimized are cyclists by motorists, I think about this incident. I've had crashes with automobiles, but it was never this bad.

The important thing is that people who do what you do are taken off the road. Either ride right, or ride on the sidewalk.


If you have a witness you can sue that jerkoff for his home, his savings, his car and whatever else you can get. You'll win.

two riders last night should have been thankful i wasnt in a car...they would have prolly lost their lives. Wrong way with no lights, nothing. they were going the wrong way, then made a turn going the wrong way into a one way street.

Of course these guys gave me lip when I told them "wrong way". Makes me wish I had my mountain bike and just made sure to ram them instead.

my opinion is ride it right, or dont ride it at all. Either way, i'm pretty sure a VTA bus (considering how aggressive they are) will mow one of these guys down eventually.

In elementary school, here in Texas, I was taught to oppose traffic.

No, I don't do it now. ;)

I agree that delivery guys are really the worst. I was actually in a small accident around this time last year because of one. He came out through a red light towards me, I anticipated, went around him, and got clipped by a car going back in to the bus lane.

Thanks, *******!

There was a really good poster campaign for a little while that had information about cycling and suggestions for delivery people (helmets, lights, shirts or uniforms with restaraunt logo etc) printed in several languages.

Doesn't seem to have had much impact though unfortunately.

Wow, the propaganda campaign seems like a good idea. Too bad it didn't work.

If I had money to blow, I would do a ninja lighting campaign, and just mount basic light kits to any bike without mounts I would find during my daily routine. Given that's a quick way to get my butt kicked though.

so I'm driving my cargo van on a narrow road at about 60km and a bike rider comes over the hill head on in my lane at maybe 20km and he's smiling!
Nowhere for me to go as is opposing traffic and he just misses clipping my mirror on the way by and he's smiling.

Head on accident at combined 80km per hour because he is on the wrong side of the road-if he was on correct side of road WITH the traffic (We are traffic)-any accident is easier to avoid and would be at a combined speed of 40km.

So why is the goof smiling?

I ride. I ride with the traffic (I am traffic).

Some people are just. . .dumb.

so I'm driving my cargo van on a narrow road at about 60km and a bike rider comes over the hill head on in my lane at maybe 20km and he's smiling!
Nowhere for me to go as is opposing traffic and he just misses clipping my mirror on the way by and he's smiling.

Head on accident at combined 80km per hour because he is on the wrong side of the road-if he was on correct side of road WITH the traffic (We are traffic)-any accident is easier to avoid and would be at a combined speed of 40km.

So why is the goof smiling?

I ride. I ride with the traffic (I am traffic).
Darwin at work

I'm not a Darwinist or evolutionist. However, I do wonder if some people should be removed from the gene pool.

I remember as a kid thinking I felt safer riding into traffice bacause I could see what was coming. At that time it seemed to make sense but I never rode in real traffic either.

I think it is usually caused my what I call "entrenched misinformation". This comes from mommies, (You ride on the sidewalk!!!) and other well-meaning, but misinformed people, such as youth leaders. (Boy scouts, girl scouts, etc. I say that because I once saw a group of about twelve girl scouts
out for a ride on a fall afternoon. They were dutifully following their leader, a woman of about 30. A second leader brought up the rear. All had on their helmets, and various items of girl scout clothing. All good and fine, except they were all riding on the wrong side of the road. Both of the adult women gave me a death look as I passed, as though I was the one in the wrong. I said nothing, but I felt like asking both women if they had read chapter 85, section 11B of the general laws of MA.)

This attitude has prevailed since the 50's I think, and undoing it is not going to be easy.
Question: As a cyclist, have you ever been told by anyone that "when you're riding a bike, you're a pedestrian."?

sometimes folks need to learn basic english. ped comes form the latin word for foot (pedi-soemthing...I suck at latin..I dont speak it ever so I have an excuse :p ), foot being the key word...if your on a skateboard, well that is not being a pedestrian...if your rollerskate, that is not being a pedestrian. Cycling is not being a pedestrian. However....bicycles are fast enough that they should be on the street and never the sidewalk. Same goes for any rollerskaters that are fast enough to keep up with the average "cruising" cyclist...and there are some out there. Skateboarders are more worried about tricks...to me those guys fit in a grey area...too slow for hte road, too fast for the sidewalk...At least to me, it may be transit...but it's not well suited for either places for it...I'd hate to say take it to the park...but that's about the only place you can skateboard and not annoy drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians at once.

I remember as a kid thinking I felt safer riding into traffice bacause I could see what was coming.

I remember that as a kid also. But why did it never cross my mind to just put some rearview mirrors on just like a car. Must be from thinking of a bicycle as a toy instead of a vehicle.

they have mirrors that clip to your eyeglasses now. I use those osmetimes and like them.

I still need to buy a new one after my last wipe, where I broke it.

Question: As a cyclist, have you ever been told by anyone that "when you're riding a bike, you're a pedestrian."?

No...? Where I live, by law, you explicitly are NOT (unless you are walking your bike, presumably): http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/d01/vc467.htm

IN The book "Tips and tricks for the Urban cyclist" and on some web sights I can not remember the name of right now, riding on the wrong side is claimed to be statistically the biggest cause of car/cyclist collisions and THE most dangerous thing to do. The cars, and as pointed out, proper side traveling cyclists do not expect you to be there. the car looks to his left before going out in to the traffic and you come up on his right...pow...

Any time you do something traffic does not expect.............they don't expect it! ...... Is that surprising?

Traveling on the sidewalk can be different and safer if handled correctly, BUT, the same thing about coming up on a car in a driveway that crosses the sidewalk applies too. They do not expect you to come from their right. Also dangerous if the cyclist does not stop for the cars crossing the sidewalk.

At night with a bike light on, if you go on the wrong side (even on the sidewalk)cars think a motorcycle or something is coming at them, yet I see this happen too. Even after explaining it.!!

Try to put yourself in the drivers point of view.

No...? Where I live, by law, you explicitly are NOT (unless you are walking your bike, presumably): http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/d01/vc467.htm

That's a good point..... it brings up another one.

The laws about cycling on the sidewalk or even bike paths will vary from state to state and even from town to town sometimes. I finally looked up mine on the internet, but still no one believed me until I showed them the actual law. These days many towns and states have the laws available on the web.
I found some laws pertaining to bikes that I could not believe. It’s against the law here to have a whistle or a siren on a bicycle too!

In my state when you ride to the neighboring state on the bike path things change!

Anyway, In my state and home town I am a pedestrian when cycling on the sidewalk and have all the duties and privileges of a pedestrian. But when on the road I am a vehicle and have all the duties and privileges of a vehicle.

Bottom line unless you read the law don't assume about the sidewalk.

...This attitude has prevailed since the 50's I think, and undoing it is not going to be easy.
Question: As a cyclist, have you ever been told by anyone that "when you're riding a bike, you're a pedestrian."?

I've been honked by uneducated motorists angrily point at the sidewalk trying to indicate to me that that's where I should be.
My intrepretation of Florida Traffic laws (which could be worth poopy) is that a bicycle operated on a public roadway is a vehicle and should obey common traffic AND bicycle laws. Operated anywhere else (sidewalks/bikepaths/etc) they are pedestrians and should obey pedestrian AND bicycle laws.

The Florida traffic law says a bicycle has a right to be on the roadway. It says that a cyclist is "allowed" to ride on a sidewalk when there is no local ordinances prohibiting it.

tippy