Personally, I would define success as getting safely passed in the no passing zone because the motorist crossed the double yellow. I don't want an impatient motorist waiting behind me.

Actually Bek, all we really need to do is to convince the average American driver that bicycles ARE vehicles used for transportation and are NOT "just" toys used by kids or on the weekends only.

If we can do that, then there is NO need pass or include language in laws aimed specifically at bicycles.

So what? If you're not a cop and you were passed safely, why does it matter to you?

Again.... so what?

Well, its a very common practice. And I've read of how these types of "pass on the double yellow" laws can ease friction, and perceived friction, between motorists and bicyclists. I think that was the rationale given for Wisconsin's law when it was just a bill.

so, if a law like this makes riding two lane highways more 'legit' in the eyes of the motoring public, I'm all for it.

its common behavior, maybe it would be easier for the remaining 30 states without vulnerable user laws or safe passing laws to sell the bill to the legislators. make it explicitly okay to pass bicyclists on a double yellow, so long as its safe and the motorist passes at least x number of feet away.

Ah. Good points, Bek.

How on earth do you guys deal with agricultural equipment on the road? Like tractors, combines and cotton pickers for example? It has been standard practice for some time where I grew up that one could pass slow moving vehicles regardless of the painted line designations if the road was clear and you could see far enough to pass safely. Sometimes the tractor would have dual rear tires and would be pulling a disc harrow or some other equipment that took up more than one lane on a two lane road. The tractor operator would weave in and out of the road to allow traffic to pass and also dodge hitting mail boxes on the side of the road. God forbid other people actually use the public roads.

And, for the record, nobody likes being held up by slow(er) moving traffic, but when you're dealing with a tractor that is larger than your car or truck, you really can't do much about it. Single bicyclists are substantially easier to pass.

They are city folk that have almost never had to pass farmers or Amish buggies.

Bek does not even understand that in parts of PA, motorist are far more likely to encounter a buggy than a cyclist.

That said an Amish buggy is a lot wider than a bicycle and slower than 15mph. A lot of bikes move slower than 15mph, especially up hills.

Exactly, I'd rather motorists did something that may be technically illegal but gets them on their way and doesn't endanger me, than stick rigidly to the letter of the law even when it clearly serves no purpose, especially when it leaves them agitated to get past me sooner rather than later.

I'd still say it makes more sense to refer to slow moving vehicles in general - potentially with some definition of what "slow moving" means, to avoid the nutter who wanted to do 95 through town and found the slightly-less-nutter doing a mere 70 to be a "slow vehicle".

We have a vested interest in bicycles but I still can't see why a provision to explicitly allow slow traffic to be passed despite the presence of a no-passing zone needs to focus exclusively on bikes. As people have said there are also things like Amish buggies, agricultural equipment, Amish agricultural equipment (which can be a bundle of fun on the road), cars with broken gearboxes so they can't get out of first gear, all sorts of things. It makes little sense to say a driver can legally pass a cyclist doing 20mph but not an Amish buggy doing less than half that.

In the 1960-70s, it was often hippies in VW buses driving uphill on mountain roads as well.

Two of my big rules for cycling in traffic:

1. Predict others.

2. Be predictable.

Now that you know that people cross the line, whether it's legal or not, you can expect them to continue to do so. The law is not going to change it. This falls under rule number 1.

And now that crossing the line is predictable, you know that being in someone's way is not a way to prevent them from passing you.

Still got a few of those around... there's one that lives a couple of blocks from me with a bumper sticker that says something like "Slow vehicle, especially uphill" and another that says "You'll probably get there first, but we have beer in the fridge".

Trouble with mountain roads is they tend to be narrow and windy so however slow something is going it's hard to get past it. I remember being stuck behind an Amish buggy going up a very twisty mountain road in PA. That was interesting.