Originally Posted by
Sol588
I am fairly new to road biking but do know the basic rules of the road. One of those rules are NEVER pass on the right.
Here's an informal summary of the laws of the road:
[h=2]Passing on the Right[/h] The laws in most states prohibit passing on the right, except under the following circumstances:
- The passed vehicle is about to turn left. (You still can't drive onto the unpaved shoulder of the road.)
- The street or road is wide enough to accommodate two lanes of traffic.
Even if passing on the right is allowed under one of the above exceptions, you must do so "under conditions permitting such movement in safety."
Slower traffic should keep to the right when it's safe and practical. That goes for cyclists on paths as well. A slower cyclist who rides left of center on a path is directing overtaking cyclists to pass on the right.
The overtaking cyclist always has a duty for safety.
In your scenario, it sounds like the overtaking cyclist was not riding safely. I'm also not quite picturing how it is that you were stopped at a stop sign, preparing to turn right, but you've left plenty of room for another rider ignoring the stop sign to cut you off to your right. It seems like perhaps you could be more assertive in taking the right "lane" when you're stopped for a right turn.
Likely the overtaking cyclist bore all the responsibility in this situation, but I've certainly seen situations on MUPs where cyclists chit-chatting, etc., at a stop were blocking the center/left leaving the right line as the safest line for other cyclists to proceed on.