"You're on the wrong side of the road!"

Yelled a roadie at me. Normally I don't road bike but recovering from a dislocated shoulder so I have to keep it to the road for now. I was riding opposing the arrow in the bike lane.

I have had this memory ingrained in my head from my high school days when a runner jogging in this lane was hit and killed by a car behind her. They said had she been running on the other side she could have dodged the car. Ever since then I have always had this mindset of looking at the cars that are coming at you in the event when a car comes at you. Every intersection I cross I always look at the driver in the eyes for my own safety.
My question is, was I in the wrong? :?:

 

Bikes follow the same rules as a car.

You were wrong.

 

I believe the law states you run/bike with traffic not opposed. But I agree with you especially if I'm running. It makes no sense to have your back turned towards incoming vehicles.

 

^^^^ +1

If cyclist want the same rights on the road as cars, they MUST follow the same rules.

 

I drive my son to school past a local middle school, where kids ride their bikes to school. I had a kid on a BMX bike coming at me in the bike lane, I have to say it unnerved me a bit, was strange and came up on me too fast (I was cresting a hill). With him at speed coming at me, literally caused me to flinch a little while driving, my son was in the car in the passenger seat and noticed it too. Like something coming at you that you need to respond too.

This same kid normal rides the sidewalk, which is wrong too, but at least when he's on the sidewalk, he's out of my line of travel. Again, we see this kid almost every morning.

Being a rider, and am very conscious of riders - and the bike lane is on the other side of the 6 lane divided highway. I have to say, I would have not had a feeling one way or another had I not experienced this.

You need to stay in the bike lane, and ride WITH the flow of traffic. If the car swerves, there is really nothing you're going to be able to do to avoid it anyway. And besides it's the law -- kinda no excuse with that.

 

I stumbled on this info years ago, when I started riding on the road.

http://bicyclesafe.com/

 

You were guilty of being what is referred to as a "salmon".:clap: In the future, try to be predictable and ride a bike by the same rules as you would drive a car.:wave:

 

Years ago, I was in traffic school for speeding, and we had a guy who was in attendance because he didn't stop at a stop sign on his bike.

 

Yep, I got lucky and got off with a warning..................Now I stop at ALL stop signs. Seems to not piss off as many drivers as running them too.

 

When I was in Junior High, the notorious CHP Officer Barnes of Hacienda Heights pulled me over for riding on the wrong side of the road and not stopping at stop signs riding my Dyno. The ironic thing is he pulled me over years later for doing the same thing...in a car. I recieved a wreckless driving ticket.#-o

 

Aside from revalimages reaction to an oncoming bicycle which is pretty typical and unnerving, the other reason is that drivers pulling out of Intersections and especially driveways are looking in the direction they expect traffic to be coming from. If you're riding against traffic you are less likely to be seen.

I took a good otb over a car hood once, riding on the sidewalk against the flow of traffic. A car came out of a driveway looking the other way.

 

Ride with traffic. When on the road walking or running, you do it against traffic. BTW: they dont see you, your invisible. Eye contact: YOUR INVISIBLE they look right through you. Watch the left front wheel. You can see the motion from a distance, if it dont stop moving, you better start evading

Note: you ride with traffic because of the closing gap. You are doing 15mph, they are going 40. Math says the gap is closing at 55mph! you lose. Ride with traffic math says its closing @ 25 you win.

Happy trails

 

Riding on the road in high traffic for me means riding where I will be safest. The law isn't designed for every situation, and the sidewalk can be a great alternative for staying safe while not legal. Ooops.

 

I dont care which way you were riding in the road.....you were wrong for riding on the road.

 

I ended up with a biker on my hood once. He was riding against the traffic. I was coming out of a driveway, there was some bushes on the right, it was clear on the left, so I moved. Next thing I know, there is a guy on my hood. He wasn't hurt, but I had a huge dent on my hood. He was lucky I had a sport car with a low hood, If I had an SUV he would have been run over.

I vote for go with the flow. Cars can slow down to your speed and pass you when it's safe, if you come at them, they have no time to react.

 

please dont ride on the sidewalk either. I cant tell you how many times I'm about to pull into a driveway off a street, and a bike shoots out of nowhere without looking. Side-WALK, not side-RIDE

 

I've always biked with traffic, run against. Growing up in Cleveland, I was forced to run in the streets a lot during winters because people wouldn't shovel the sidewalk. It's nice being able to see a car coming at you since you are considerably slower then them. Biking at least your going at a somewhat more comparable clip, so it makes more sense going with traffic

 

Bikes are like cars, you follow the same rules and should flow in the direction of cars. Pedestrians are a different animal, if you're running in the street you're supposed to run opposing traffic. Don't know what the official rule is, but it seems peds on the sidewalk can go either direction....at least I've never heard anything different.

When I'm biking with my kids (who are very young), you better believe I'm gonna be biking on the sidewalk though.

maybe you could get some sideview mirrors in the meantime???? Looks kinna hokey, but at least you could check behind you without turning around.

 

Riding on the sidewalk is usually illegal and dangerous--for you and pedestrians and everyone else (it is legal in rare circumstances / certain locations).

The safest thing you can do is to ride predictably and to be visibly, which means legally.

If you are too scared to ride your bike legally, then don't ride it at all or you will just be contributing to the problem.

 

Really?