The first, and only problem you have with your thought process is that it is wrong.

Watch any police show for more than 5 minutes and you realize that it doesn't necessarily matter if you are right or wrong. If the cop says you are wrong, you are wrong.

Your only option at that point is to contest a ticket, arrest or detainment in court. It doesn't matter what we say online. That cop can just as easily assume you re failing to follow his order for safety at that moment and throw you in the clink.


As far as the mirror situation:

I don't shave on a bike, so I don't need to see my face. I don't even want to imagine what it looks like staring aimlessly in the mirror behind me waiting for someone to do anything. Call it ignorance being bliss - but I'm usually worried about keeping over 20 going in the direction I'm going well enough that situationally glancing behind me could be catastrophic. I couldn't imagine the true difficulty of discerning driver's motive from a side-view mirror though, to be honest.

OP, sadly way too many of us have had similar conversations with dumb ass cops.

Cop was only trying to help, all you have todo is tell them something like...

Yes sir, I appreciate this advice and concern for my safety but, i'm not in violation of any traffic laws am I? Ok, well thanks again for your concern... if there is nothing else i'll get going!

The only reason why he made up that stuff about passing on the left was he needed a reason to roll on you, also you probably should have gone around to the left.

Cops who are making up laws are not helping anyone.

Interesting; here in TX, we're just required to either vacate the nearest lane, or slow to the higher of 25 under the limit or 5MPH. The only time I've had to deal with it on a bike was on a 45MPH road, but right at the end of an overpass, so I did move all the way to the left lane rather than give up the extra 3MPH from the downhill.

And yet, who but, in this case, the cyclist /can/ decide what is safe, at least when it comes down to an individual case of a particular stop at a particular place on the road? I submit that the change lane law was written for ordinary full-width vehicles without considering the realities of two wheeled vehicles in general and bicycles in particular. If a two wheeled vehicle is in the leftmost reasonable position in all but the narrowest lanes will still leave room for even a tall cop to be knocked backwards from the edge of the lane and not get hit. To require a slow cyclist to merge into the left lane of two (in particular) same direction lanes, thereby further slowing an artificial bottleneck where there is still perfectly serviceable space well away from the officer, and when drivers are already likely distracted trying to see what is going on just strikes me as wrong, and at least potentially dangerous for all concerned. On a narrow two lane road I doubt many drivers will actually get all the way to the other side of the road, but rather just vacate the outer half of the lane, especially if traffic is light and they can keep moving at a slower pace. A bicycle, or even a motorcycle does just this without even needing to take up any of the next lane over.

Tor

i think it boils down to local situations. i've never been pulled over and have always acted like another vehicle. i stay out of the debris and in the lane, sometimes in the center of the lane. maybe cedar city, utah is picky about cyclists, or maybe someone with political influence is putting pressure on you indirectly, so you may have to stand up for your rights in a mutually respectful way. or maybe you missed opportunities to let shy motorists pass.

at first glance, taking you word-by-word, it sounds like you're not wrong. the policeman's comment about mirrors don't sound accurate, but i don't live in your town. his comments about you staying out of the lane do not fit with what he previously said about staying in the right part of the lane. also, being able to keep up with traffic is not a requirement for a cyclist, because that's usually impossible except in gridlock.

check your local laws, print out the ones that specifically apply to you and keep them with you. if you are stopped again, be ready to politely show them to the officer in a peaceful, but confident manner. still, i don't envy your situation, i've never been hassled that way.

one would expect law enforcement to actually know the laws they are paid to enforce.

Unless this happens again, I'm going to treat it as one grumpy cop who hadn't had his coffee. I pass cops all the time doing traffic stops, and they pass me all the time in traffic, and all they've done is glance at me as I/they go by.

As kjmillig points out, AFAIK the law NEVER requires a cyclist to ride off the roadway. The roadway ends at the fog line. The parking lane and the shoulder are right out, they are not designed or maintained to support vehicular traffic.

If a cyclist CHOOSES to ride on a shoulder (I do in some parts of my regular route) that's fine, but he can't be forced to do so.

It's never come up for me, but if a cop asked me if I wanted a ticket, I guess I'd have to say that if he can state an actual law that he thought I was breaking, and wanted to defend it in court, I'd welcome the opportunity to learn something, because as far as I know, I'm operating within the law.

I rode across Utah last year, mostly on US40. Shoulder/Parking lanes were in really short supply. I would have loved to have had the option to ride in one. Good job with the cop.

:facepalm:

I'd ride the shoulder as long as it's a shoulder, is more than 3 feet wide, isn't all rumble strip, is reasonably clear of debris, and doesn't have too many crossings. When I'm approaching it becoming parking I'd switch over to the lane when it's clear to move over.

AFAIK there is no law requiring mirrors, lights during the day, or riding on the shoulder in any state. I would think that would have come up in Bicycling and the Law, but I don't recall it being in there.

The cop is probably misinformed (or uninformed and he assumes using "common sense").

The cop sounded reasonably sincere about your safety although he was not entirely correct since there are no minimum speed limits on most roads other than highways. Still, if I could I'd stay away from the traffic.

I'd stay out of the traffic lane as much as reasonably possible. I have a mirror and if I see a large vehicle or a buildup of traffic behind me I pull over to the right if it's safe and wave them to pass me. I figure it doesn't cost me that much and people might appreciate that and maybe cut some cyclist a slack later. I don't believe in self-righteous exercising of my right at any cost without regards for my own safety and convenience of other people. If the speed limit is 40mph and the traffic goes at that speed, you will block the traffic, no doubt, and even though you might be within legal limits to ride at 15mph, I'd try to get out of their way. I know the cop wouldn't tell a tractor going at 15mph to get off the road, so they shouldn't say the same to a cyclist. But, unlike the tractor, we do have the ability to move aside from time to time and let the traffic pass.

Like most things in life riding a bike in traffic is about balance and compromise. You need use your judgment when to exercise you rights and when to get out of the way.

Adam

Agreed on the mirrors and lights during daylight hours. But according to bicycledriving.org there are 4 states that do require bicyclists to use the shoulder with certain exceptions:

Mandatory Shoulder Use
Four states require cyclists to use the shoulder, with the exceptions shown in Table 5. New York’s law ties together all of the above rules. Cyclists are required to use a bike lane, if none, then the shoulder, if none, then to keep to the far right “in such a manner as to prevent undue interference with the flow of traffic.”
Table 5. Exceptions to Mandatory Shoulder Use Rule
State Exceptions
Alaska shoulder not “in good condition”

Colorado preparing a left turn, passing, or avoiding road hazards

Maryland shoulder not “smooth,” preparing a left turn, passing, or avoiding
road hazards, or shoulder “overlaid with a right turn lane, merge lane,
or other marking that breaks the continuity of the bike lane”
(same as bike lane exceptions)

New York shoulder not “usable,” preparing a left turn, or avoiding road hazards
(same as bike lane exceptions)

^this!!

+2
Winter muck requires the lane more often than riding our 2.3 weeks of (Minnesota) summer.
Sometimes it just makes sense to pull over, take a few precious seconds and un-jamb.

If I can see a parked car, I don't use a parking lane to ride in. The motorists don't use it, why should I? This might change if there was a lot of traffic, but if it's going to be a big problem to merge when I need to, no deal. I generally take lesser used alternative routes where I figure the motorists have better alternatives. If there is a white line, a parking lane is not part of the roadway, and I can't see any of the states that require riding on the shoulder considering it a shoulder either.

In fact motorists would be ticketed for driving in the parking lane. I have been known to use it, but very sparingly, and only if there were not cars there at all. If you go there, you've legally left the roadway, and if you need to get back into the traffic flow due to coming up to a car or the curb at the end of the block, you're then legally obligated to yield to traffic already in the lane, including stopping if there's no clear entry path. Same is technically true of riding in the shoulder and coming up to an obstruction like roadkill or a pothole.

As I said, I do ride there, but it's important to realize what you're gaining and losing by doing so, and what situations warrant it.

In NC, the driver handbook specifically states that a bicyclist has the right to a full lane, and there is no bicycle specific law requiring cyclists to stay right. However, that didn't stop a local cop from pulling me over for cycling in the center of a narrow lane on a 35mph 4-lane street.

As annoyed as I was, I was careful not to show it. The cop was not being belligerent; he was just uninformed and thought what I was doing was dangerous. I listened to him politely and very gently revealed my credentials as a cycling instructor and safety advocate, my relationship with his superiors, etc. and in less than a minute into our conversation, he realized that I knew more about the subject than he. I left the scene cycling the same way I had started.

Yeah, my #1 rule when dealing with a cop is not to be a d**k, even if they're wrong. If they see you're respecting them they are often willing to listen and are reasonable. This should basically apply to dealing with anyone from a supermarket cashier to a clerk at the DMV. You are a lot more likely to get things done to your satisfaction this way.