Legality of taking the lane
I just stumbled across this today at work and thought it would provoke some thoughtful discussion, given its ambiguities:
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Wis. Stat. sec. 346.80(2)(a):
"Any person operating a bicycle or elecric personal assistive mobility device upon a roadway at less than the normal speed of traffic at the time and place and under the conditions then existing shall ride as close as practicable to the right-hand edge or curb of the unobstructed travelled roadway . . . ."
Interstingly, the statute goes on to make an exception for when "reasonably necessary to avoid unsafe conditions including . . . parked or moving vehicles . . . , surface hazards or substandard width lanes that make it unsafe to ride along the right-hand edge or curb."
A "substandard width lane" means "a lane that is too narrow for a bicycle . . . and a motor vehcile to travel safely side by side within the lane."
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Given the number of Hummers and SUVs on the roads, I wonder if one could argue that any road without a bike lane or wide shoulder is of "substandard width lane" and thus unsafe? Speaking hypothetically, a road might be of succifient width to allow one to safely ride alongside a geo metro but the same road would be unsafe to ride alongside a H3. Seeing as one doesn't know whether a vehicle behind is small or large until it attempts to pass, one must assume it is large and that it is unsafe to ride along the right hand edge