Rules while on right only lane
 

Hi,
i started to bike since today (in bay area). I have a question regarding this rule.
lets say I come to an intersection and I want to go straight. I am currently in right only lane. If the light is red, should I move over and stand on the side where the pedestrians stand to cross the road or can I stay on the right only lane itself until the light turns green ? If I stay on the right only lane, there are cars behind me. That car can go right but he/she never honked.

Also, should I wait just like a car and cross only after the green light or I can use the pedestrian lane and start going straight (seems like i would break the rule if i did that but I saw 2 cyclists do that)

Thanks,
Sunray

I take the whole lane and when the light turns green, I take off fast, then move over so cars can go around.

Don't use the right turn lane if you are not planning to turn right.

Winner for dinner..

I think it makes sense cos I dont want to block the right lane. So I should move to the right , stand where the pedestrians are standing and then cross the lane when the light turns green ?

In this situation (I have many places on my daily commute like this), I move to the right lane that is going straight through the intersection. Take the whole right lane, I don't want to lane split with a car, this is dangerous for me.

You should be on the line between the thru and turn lane, works both sides.
If there is no turn lane, then I usually have my foot on the curb.
If the lane is wide, I filter to the front and let the first car get going while I accelerate.

This is what I do as well. If I'm at an intersection with two lanes, one straight, one right & straight, I shift over into the left lane just so I don't get right hooked by someone going right on red as I'm standing there. Once I get through the intersection I safely get back over to the right side.

When I first started commuting by bike, I was afraid to filter with cars, so I would use pedestrian rules to cross the street (this means walking the bike if there's a pedestrian crossing at the same time).

A lot like driving, just think ahead with safety being your #1 priority, use some common sense and you'll be okay.

About the only place I do lane split is along the left side of a right-turn-only lane when I'm going straight. You can normally safely go straight from there, and you don't block right turning cars.

No right turn lane? Or the right turn lane isn't safe? I won't filter up, but I will get right in the middle of the rightmost lane of straight traffic. Seems to be the safest place to be - every driver who sees you knows where you're going.

Going straight from the middle of the right turn lane isn't going to immediately cause problems, but might cause you some heartburn or worse at the far side of the intersection if you're forced to merge into accelerating traffic - oftentimes with drivers who want to beat you across the intersection.

I do a variation on this: I move ahead of the stop line and position myself in the sort of "triangle" where no car would ever go, the scoot across when the light turns green. This puts me where everybody can see me, but I'm not blocking right-turners. It also gives me a clear view of the intersection so I can be sure that the cars on the cross street have actually stopped, etc.

On the other hand, if I come up on the intersection after there are already several cars there, I'll just take my place in line, but will still scoot out of the way when I get into the intersection.

This.

+1

This is exactly what I do also, and ironically I also call it the "triangle". :)

In Colorado is is legal to occupy the left side of a right turn lane. That being said, I take the right turn lane because cars will try and squeeze by and endanger me. The worst thing one can do is to white line it because one might get caught at a green light with cars turning right and cars on your left. +1 for the "triangle" that is used by many cyclist if there is a cross walk/space in front of the stopline.

It depends on what is on the road ahead. A narrow road ahead of me with no room to share the lane, I take the straight through lane and queue up behind any waiting cars. I don't want to have to wait to get a place in the lane when the intersection narrows back down.

If the road ahead is wide and/or has a bike lane, I will move to the left side of the right turn lane. If you do that, watch out for motorists who are mistakenly in the straight through lane and want to turn right.

I ride up to the intersection on the far left of the right turn lane. That way the traffic coming up behind me on the left has an unobstructed path. The traffic for the right turn can get by me on the right.

This is what the bike lanes do in my area - when there's a right turn lane they take the left portion of that lane. This keeps you moving in a straight line. I find it better than other alternatives. Especially the one that would have you crossing the lane right before the intersection. Some people will say to just stay in the going-straight lane the whole time. I just disagree with that. I find myself a bigger obstruction and that's usually not what I want for safety reasons.

You find yourself a bigger obstruction to whom? The cars sitting queued up in the straight through lane with you? The light is red and you're waiting for it to turn. It isn't like they're going to go anywhere.

+1 ... I do this too.

There's nothing wrong with showing motorists a little good will, as long as your own safety has been taken into account first.

The problem with doing that is late-turning cars. The drivers will not only fail to see you, they won't even be looking for you.

Being in the straight-only lane also avoids a merge into accelerating traffic if the lane on far side of the intersection has no shoulder or bike lane and is too narrow to share.

Referring to approaching the intersection in the left edge of the right turn only lane.

I do it to, mostly to give the through traffic a break or filtering to the front when traffic is stopped. Otherwise it's best IMO to be in the through lane with the regular flow of traffic, as you advise.

There may be local or regional differences here. We have some pretty big right turn only lanes in the suburban areas around Atlanta, room enough to share with a bike. Riding in the left edge, a car could pass on the right. Some will, some don't and choose to follow instead.

The light is not necessarily red. And I'm not necessarily there yet. And there may or may not be cars queued up at the light. I'm following my line in all these cases. To answer your question, as I approach the intersection I'm less of an obstruction to the go-straight traffic (that's typically the fasted moving).

They'll see me (and do) just fine. I'm very visible since I'm not next to the curb, I'm on the opposite side of the right turn lane.

The original question was "If the light is red...," so what do you do if the light is red when you approach an intersection with a RTOL?

Thinking of yourself as an obstruction is completely wrong. You ARE traffic.

At intersections I do the same thing I would do if I were driving a car.

I would never drive my car straight out of a right turn lane and then merge back into traffic, so why would I want to do that on my bike?

My behavior applies whether the light is red or green. So my answer is applicable to the red-light case.