That bike lane in front of campus is probably the most dangerous place to ride in town, always full of buses and disappearing as it does. Not to mention the highly distracted(or self absorbed) drivers and peds around UT.

Yeah I live in South Austin and go to St. Edward's. This happened at about S. 1st and Ben White. S. 1st. is a really hard road to ride on. I think I will definitely start claiming the lane on that one b/c there is definitely not enough room for a car to pass me in my lane. Good advice.

I really should stop flipping people off, I know, but I am relatively new to biking and I am not used to people honking and yelling at me all the time. Hopefully I will learn the zen art of ignoring the haters.

Zen Art=Headphones

Here at Rutgers U., I almost always take the lane for myself unless its a clear road. Downtown the lanes are too small and I can easily keep up with the cars, and on the main campus both sides of the roads are filled with parked cars, and I'd rather take the lane and ride quickly than risk getting doored by a freshman juggling a coffee and their iPhone while getting out of their car into traffic.

safe.

There's a "movement" of sorts that revolves the idea of "vehicular cycling." People vary in how aggressively and consistently they apply the idea, but basically, you're a vehicle, so you should ride accordingly. Hugging the curb puts you in danger, and your safety trumps the law even if there's some "ride within X feet of the curb" ordinance. By claiming a lane, you assert your place on the road and encourage drivers to treat you as a vehicle instead of a slalom gate. Passing on the left (like a car) and never on the right keeps you visible and saves you from getting cutoff/crushed -- even a well-intentioned driver won't expect you on the right and may not see you there.

As others mentioned, you'll get honked and cursed at by a few knuckleheads. But frankly, that happens even when you're hugging the curb. And it's surprising how many drivers really do treat you respectfully when your riding demands it from them.

One thing I'd add to riding vehicularly: don't split lanes if you've got nowhere to go. I'll split lanes if it's a light with no cross traffic where I can get ahead, but passing to the front of a column of traffic when you're going to wait at the light anyway just slows everybody down and is going to piss them all right off. It's a have your cake and eat it to kind of situation.

And I'm not talking about NYC avenues where the stopped traffic goes for miles, I mean normal intersections where there's a couple cars at a light.

This is a good point and something that ticks me off as a cyclist. Just as drivers would (and should) be pissed if another car went around them just to jockey for a spot at a light, they're bound not to appreciate this sort of maneuver from a cyclist. I'm not at all a purist about this, since I think it's fine to split lanes in many circumstances (as zacked mentions), but definitely avoid anything that's basically just cutting in line.

I usually take the lane, especially when people are trying to pass me too closely.

Today I was riding east on North avenue in Chicago taking the lane. I did a trackstand at a stoplight at like Kedzie. So a delivery truck pulls into the left lane. The light turned green, and i took off. 50 or so yards later the truck caaught up and slowly passed me, running paralel. So this Mexican chick with like 6 kids packed into a beige Malibu with a red door and no muffler. Roars up behind the truck and pulls up behind me trying to pass, she didn't see me at first and almost hit me.

I flipped her off, an older woman in the passenger seat started doing her little catholic rosary thing. The driver yells get on the sidewalk *****!

I caught up with them at the next light. I flew past her knocking on her doors and windows as i passed. They all started yelling at me in spanish, and followed me for like three blocks "Stupid Gringo!!!" I'm just like wtf! it was funnny though.

I'm trying to chill lately and not call people filthy filthy insults from my bike after a dude who was sitting in (a divided by bricks from the street) bike lane tried to kill me and my girlfriend for me rolling past his open window and telling him, "You're in the bike lane dude." He stomped on his gas pedal and drove fully out of control after us. We got over onto a side street and saw that he stopped waiting for us. Had to hightail it out of there. Wonder what he would have done if I had called him something.
So if this psycho wants to kill two people, how am I gonna stop him? I can't fight a speeding truck. In Tucson you can get away with it most of the time, but in Oakland, you better get ready to knuckle up if you wanna flip off somebody.

i was passing out while you were passing out the rules. 1, 2, 3, 4, who's punk, what's the score?

i have too many cop stories. both positive & negative. mostly negative.

i kind of hate when cops are nice to me; the 15 year old crust punk side of me still wants to be able to blindly loathe them as a whole, and being treated well is a definite obstacle to this.

Well I just had my first bad encounter with cops.

Doing trackstands in the square where the "no bikes/skateboarding/etc" law is very loosely enforced and usually only enforced when its packed. It wasn't packed at all, and there were a few people watching me. I was sitting in a confined area working on trackstands and etc, and the cop straight up told me no bikes in the square. So I pedal with one foot to my bag to ride away (going the same speed as walking, if not slower) and he's like that means GET OFF THE BIKE with the awesome cop attitude. So I let it go, I mean I technically was breaking the "law." But then I come back when its packed to the absolute brim and theres a group of people fencing, a dude spitting fire, 2 dudes juggling darts and torches and some other ****. So apparently trackstands are more dangerous than tossing around sharpened axes, swordfighting, or torches.

Sweet.

Exactly. I probably break a dozen traffic laws a day, and the cops just wave and smile.

i was riding across 42nd street and a cop car rolled up next to me. we were neck and neck for a few seconds until the cop looked at his speedometer, then looked at me and emotionlessly said "you're going 20 miles per hour..." i said "uuh, word" and he just drove off. - of all my encounters with the police, that was probably the most random and, in retrospect, funniest.

we're all alone, you're all alone, we're all alone, your all alone......

I'm not sure if its every state, but most states have legislation for bikes to take the lane if no bike lane is available or if it is obstructed/unridable. A lot of cops will try to contradict this so i've heard of people printing out the law and keeping it in their bags.

Worlds largest organized gang. The cops, not fixie hipsters.

Never thought of that, good idea. Maybe I'll print a bunch and pass them out to all the folks that honk at me. I must admit, some of my record commute times have been based on trying to chase some crazy driver down in hopes of catching them at a light and getting some payback...

In regards to splitting lanes, I do so, but only if I'm trying to get over to the left turn lane. I feel like if I'm at the line when the light turns green I'll be accelerating with the cars, rather than hit the intersection at 15 or 20 miles per hour, and trying to dodge traffic while staying in between lanes or trying to keep up with traffic. Better to get out of their way as soon as possible. Granted, I'm not in any sort of intense urban environment, but I feel like this is the safest way to do things.

does anyone know what the case is for pennsylvania?

as far left as you need to be, brah.

yeah, my 'you mother f-er' sprints are usually way faster than my normal sprints.