Helmet Head

We both agree that this comes from not using a mirror. Anyway, if he is doing this without a mirror, he should also be checking over his right shoulder, about every other time.


If some numskull is out in the lane, then yeah, go ahead and pass him on his right, with vigilance, of course.


First, note the Freudian slip of using the term "bike path" when we were clearly talking about bike lanes. This may just be a meaningless mistake, but I think there's more to it. There is a certain traffic-free mentality that comes with bike path riding that unfortunately people take with them when they ride in bike lanes, which is the false sense of security problem with bike lanes. It's easy, and dangerous, to forget that bike lanes are not bike paths. In particular, cars are driven into and across bike lanes all the time. Where paths intersect roads is also very dangerous, but that's much less often than the hazard points of bike lanes, which is at every intersection with every street, driveway, alley, and mall entrance, and their approaches, not to mention whereever it is legal (and sometimes illegal) to park in the bike lane.

Anyway, this false sense of security problem of bike lanes only magnifies the significance of how they make you less safe because you are less visible in a bike lane to:

• Traffic potentially pulling out on your right, perhaps out of a driveway, alley or side street? Did you read about what happened to Robert Hurst, author of The Art of Urban Cycling in your other thread? Classic example of why it's dangerous to ride in a "perfectly clear, safe and clean bike lane".
• Traffic potentially pulling out on your left. In one of my VC Puzzlers I shared the story of the cyclists riding through an intersection (that had no traffic signals or stop signs) in a "perfectly clear, safe and clean bike lane" when someone pulled out from the left right in front of them. Another classic example. All I can tell you is you don't realize how often this ***** happens to you until you adjust your lane positioning and it just stops happening...
• Oncoming traffic that might turn left across your path, or into you. Remember the thread a few weeks ago about the cyclist who rammed into the side of a bus as it turned left in front of him?
• Traffic coming from behind, who is not aware of you "off to the side", and inadvertently drifts into you. We've had a number of these examples on this forum, including a CO woman killed on a country road, someone else hit in Canada, and the more recent example near Brian Ratliff. Those are off the top of my head. I'm sure there are more.

To reduce the likelihood of reducing all of the above, I advocate riding outside of "perfectly clear, safe and clean bike lanes", except to allow faster traffic to pass, by pulling aside into the bike lane when they are 5-8 seconds behind you, and are extremely unlikely to be unaware of your presence. In fact, this entire approach is based on the premise that motorists from all sides are significantly more likely to be aware of a cyclist's presence when that cyclist is in the traffic lane, than when he's in the bike lane. This approach also has the advantage of increasing your buffer zone and "escape space", of which there is precious little when you're riding just a few feet from the curb inside a bike lane. Riding outside of the bike lane is about taking control and responsibilty for your own safety while cycling on roads.


Again, if faster traffic is approaching from the rear, including faster traffic that is comprised of one or more cyclists riding in a bike lane, by the time they are 5-8 seconds behind me, I'm back in the bike lane, and they pass me on my left. Remember, besides the faster cyclist(s), there is no other same direction traffic (or I'd be in the bike lane already), so there is no reason why they can't temporarily merge left to pass me.

Does that make sense?