NC law requires using the right hand through lane when traveling under the posted speed limit, and it isn't specific to bicyclists. If travel lanes are not marked, then the as far right as practicable language kicks in. All sworn officers in the city of Raleigh have received computer-based/online training on bicycling issues which include the information that the bicyclist has the right to operate in the center of a marked travel lane, and that bicyclists cannot be cited for impeding traffic in NC. This information was also on the online test that they were required to pass. If any officer in Raleigh hassles you about riding near the center of the lane, politely refer them to the 2011 In Service Training module titled "Bicyclist Safety and Law Enforcement - Raleigh Edition" which they can read on RPDNet.

This month, Cary Police are currently receiving similar training, which I adapted for Cary. Cary PD invited me to give the bicycling training in person, in the form of four one-hour classes with 25 officers at a time. The first class was this past Tuesday and went very well. The officers appear to have have no objection to the idea of cyclists using the full travel lane; most of the questions from the officers centered around sidewalk cycling-related drive-out crashes, which are the most common crash type in Cary, as well as passing on the right. For example, one of the officers had just investigated a crash where a driver stopped behind the stop line, then inched forward across the crosswalk to get a better view of trafffic before pulling out. The bicyclist rode off the sidewalk from the right, and rode out away from the crosswalk into the roadway in front of the motorist, just as the motorist accelerated into a right turn. We decided that since the motorist had stopped and yielded first, he was was probably lawfully in the intersection before the cyclist left the sidewalk and entered the crosswalk. They were also riding contra-flow in the roadway at the moment of collision, but the legal issues for this crash may have more to do with pedestrian law than bicycle law.

I am also currently working with staff in Durham to create a version of the training customized for Durham Police. There has also been interest from Charlotte, and I eventually hope to get to Apex, where police have been pulling over cyclists who where lawfully riding outside the door zone of parked cars.