Very good blog post on city bicycling

[johnridley]

Via BikeForums, the police chief in Lincoln, Nebraska explains the rules of the road pertaining to bicycles.

http://lpd304.blogspot.com/2008/07/share-road.html

It's worth noting that Lincoln isn't unusual here; the laws in almost all places in the US are pretty much identical to what he describes. Not all places ban riding on sidewalks, some places allow bicycles on certain limited access expressways, etc, but in almost all places in the US this is spot on, and is as good a description as I've seen.

Comments

[madtechie2718.livejournal.com]

Yes, a good post and quite similar to what I'd expect here in many ways.

Of course, if it had been written by a New York cop, the tenor might be a little different:

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

It's legal ride a bike on I-90 in South Dakota. I'm told.

K.

[johnridley.livejournal.com]

Generally it's legal wherever there's no reasonable alternate route. They're pretty much all in very rural areas. I don't know if there's some qualitative test for how much a bicyclist must be inconvenienced.

Honestly, the folks that are in those areas have said it's quite safe, and I'm sure they're right. I'd have no problem riding on 94 here; heck, it's got a 14 foot wide breakdown lane to ride in. Of course, you do have the problem of people texting or putting on makeup or whatever the heck they do, and drifting all over the road going 80 MPH, so that's certainly a factor. But on roads with rumble strips on the left edge of the breakdown lane I bet statistically it'd be safer than riding on a bike lane on a surface street; lots of bike fatalities happen to cyclists in bike lanes due to right hooks (I don't really like bike lanes, I use them but you have to be extremely careful around intersections, taking the lane if necessary).

[erikvolson.livejournal.com]

Almost all the highways in Colorado allow bikes. Indeed, in CO, there was a big kerfuffle when they started carving rumble strips into the side of the road -- in a continous strip. The cyclists said 'We'd like some gaps, please...'

You do not want to hit a rumble strip on 23mm 120psi tires. Of course, I'd argue that you don't want to ride on 23mm 120psi tires, but you can't stop the weight weenies.

[johnridley.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I've seen rumble strips that are formed right into the concrete, all the way across the shoulder. That makes it unrideable, which means bikes ride right in the lane (avoiding a hazard).

[erikvolson.livejournal.com]

What I've learned here is my best way to/from the lake is Belmont. How do I ride in traffic? I just do. Most of the way, I'm in the center of the lane -- because I'm moving just as fast as the cars.

To ride in traffic, *be* traffic.

I'll move over as fast as I can if we hit a run and the cars can wind up, but most of the time, we all start moving, then hit the next light.

The neat thing is you get no grief. You're moving as fast as anyone, you're where you can be seen. You're just traffic.