In my experience, this behavior is more prevalent in urban areas, with geographic location being irrelevant.

As for the legality - this forum has members all over the anglophone world. You need to look up your local laws. In Louisiana, bicycles are considered vehicles, and as such have the same right to the road as other vehicles. This is pretty common across the South.

I'm pretty sure you ride responsibly and obey traffic laws. The problem is that many of our fellow cyclists don't, and this is what gives us a bad reputation. You can only do what you can do, so keep setting the example.