But somewhat compelled as an exercise in communication, and in an attempt to work out here, a way to more easily illustrate this 'style' of riding I'm going to try and set it out.
There are great books out there. Safe Bicycling pamphlete is out there. Usually a nice yellow book, 30-50 pages long or so. I got one or two for free at one point. They are out there and here's a section on one.
So yeah that is a pretty consistent write up, totally in line with my interpretation of the RI laws.
Here's the deal. When there is a wide road, say one lane in each direction, plenty of room on the side of the cars that are stopped to filter forward w/o coming unduly close to the cars, by all means filter forward. Passing you again will generally not be an inconvenience and won't be noted unless you're riding like a dumbass self-endangering moron.
Now say that nice wide road, goes from one lane in each direction to one turn lane and a travel lane in each direction. Same curb width. Now you have three lanes of cars (when traffic is heavy, say like it was that other night). There is no room for you to filter forward on the right. There is no room for a car to safely pass.
That's when you become traffic. You were traffic before but you have the right to protect your space by taking the lane. This becomes nearly not a problem for many because it is easy on most bicycles to keep up with the flow of traffic on this block when it is congested. The lights are well timed to empty the block, even on bike. You never have to wait more than a cycle.
So once through the light I always merge in, take the lane and follow the cars and the majority of them turn left at that intersection but there are always enough going straight to fill the right lane back to the turn lane split. And to filter forward you have to split the lanes and it is tight. Very tight. Possible but tight. And then what? When you get to the front along side the car you might be fine but maybe the driver is so intent on the light that they don't see you. Or You decide you can go faster and then get run over.
It may not be technically illegal but it is super inconsiderate, aka a selfish rage inspiring action, and dangerous to your personal safety. I'm not overstating that qualification. It really pisses motorists off. We don't need anyone, in two wheels or four, inciting anger or rage in people driving cars.
Just
Don't
Need
So for me, having gotten in line with the cars, stuck my left arm out to merge into the turn lane (having taken the lane prevents a car from overtaking me anyway) and while the car behind me is a few feet further from the intersection there is little delay or slowing of their progress. We turn left from one lane into two. I turn left from my lane and merge visibly over to the right lane and again take the full lane down to the start of the bridge and the bike path.
No one passes me more than once, no vehicles are impeded, I have high visibility and a higher degree of safety.
Splitting the lanes and rolling to the front and parking yourself on your bike in the crosswalk in front of the cars turning left? doesn't help. That or running the red light because it is about to change to green? that doesn't help either.
There was nothing illegal about my actions, and my course of proceeding through the intersection. I stayed to the right, as far right as practically possible, which means if I want to turn left i need to be on the right middle of the turn lane. And on narrow roads where it isn't safe to pass I have full legal right in RI to take the lane, again, I'm not a lawyer or a police officer a judge a lawmaker... but i'm aware of it and am actively working personally to follow the laws, to ride in a manner that is not lawless.
Stop Signs?
yeah. If i don't stop for each one, I am prepared to stop at every single one.
Red lights? I stop and wait, even if there is no cross traffic. Why? BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO DO.
The nice thing is now in Providence most all the lights will trigger by your presence, even if you're on a bike. The timer lights (if there are any) well you're stuck. If you ride super low spoke count wheels with carbon rims and a carbon bike you may not be able to trip the induction coils, but if you have a training/commuter wheel even on a plastic bike and you ride over or stop the bike on the induction coils embedded in the pavement, you will trigger the light in your favor.
Like that crazy old dude on the recumbent. He ran all the red lights. I caught up to him every time and I wasn't even going that fast and I was waiting for the lights.
Time gained is never worth the risk.
There's right and there's dead right.
You may feel you are right, but if there's a chance you're gonna be dead? yeah well that ain't right no matter what.
Okay now I made a few lightly annotated photos of these two intersections described above.
Okay here's this one. Blue box is where you have a looong line of stopped cars. plenty of room to pass on the right. Loads of room in fact. Could paint a bike lane in there if you wanted to. There is a light there and the traffic is one way on the cross street. My direction of travel is the green arrow. That Yellow Box So that's where we go from two travel lanes into three. It is narrow as you can see from the satellite shot. Not much room. Jumping in behind the first or second car at the light is usually how I proceed through. Why? well that way I have one car in front acting as a rolling shield, and if I'm riding right behind a car then the car behind me doesn't get the impression that I'm slowing them down at all.
So i'm sitting behind the first car there (a subaru wagon IIRC). A mini-van is in the right lane (where the white van is in this satellite shot). These guys filter through the traffic. It is all cars, parked, end to end all the way back to the intersection pictured above. I want to turn left. Onto the one way.
The guys roll through, and one of them rolls into the red box area in front of the car infront of me.
There was room to be next to or behind me and roll through 'together' w/o any animosity or pissing off the cars. Yes, normally I wouldn't have even said anything and just let everyone else around me judge them for their behavior and hope they could understand that some people are trying.
Was this a worthwhile process? Probably not. But it i what it is. You can't change the past, you have to react and move on, you can't plan the future, but you can deal with what you were given at the time.
I've had plenty of confrontations with motorists when i'm taking a whole lane with the trailer. They ask "is that legal? can you really do that?" well the polite ones do.
some just yell. But, as solobreak used to like to point out, count the number of cars that give you room, that don't yell, that don't try and run you off the road. And I have, it is refreshing.
it is true (and legal), I can take a lane, more so if there are two lanes of travel in the same direction. esp if there isn't room for a car to pass safely without changing into the other lane.
I will put away the soap box, and let the internet get back to more trivial stuff.
heddwch
G
There are great books out there. Safe Bicycling pamphlete is out there. Usually a nice yellow book, 30-50 pages long or so. I got one or two for free at one point. They are out there and here's a section on one.
page 20
http://www.cityofchicago.org/dam/city/depts/cdot/bicycling/publications/bike_chicago_english.pdfTurning Left from a Left-turn
Lane: Follow these steps for making left turns
just like cars do.
From the right side of the street, look behind
you for a gap in traffic. ➊ Start looking a halfblock or more before the intersection.
When traffic allows, signal left and change
lanes. ➋ If you can’t find a gap and you’re
sure of your skills, get a driver to let you in by
making eye contact and pointing. Don’t change
lanes until you’re sure the driver will yield!
Go to the middle of the left-turn lane. ➌ If
there’s more than one turn lane, use the one
farthest to the right—unless you’re making
another left turn immediately.
If there’s a car already waiting to turn left, get
behind it. ➍ (Never put yourself next to a car
in the same turn lane!) Don’t be afraid of
oncoming cars that are stopped facing you, waiting to turn left.
Turn just like a car does. ➎ After the turn,
move into the right lane—unless another
vehicle is there or you’re making another left
turn immediately
So yeah that is a pretty consistent write up, totally in line with my interpretation of the RI laws.
Here's the deal. When there is a wide road, say one lane in each direction, plenty of room on the side of the cars that are stopped to filter forward w/o coming unduly close to the cars, by all means filter forward. Passing you again will generally not be an inconvenience and won't be noted unless you're riding like a dumbass self-endangering moron.
Now say that nice wide road, goes from one lane in each direction to one turn lane and a travel lane in each direction. Same curb width. Now you have three lanes of cars (when traffic is heavy, say like it was that other night). There is no room for you to filter forward on the right. There is no room for a car to safely pass.
That's when you become traffic. You were traffic before but you have the right to protect your space by taking the lane. This becomes nearly not a problem for many because it is easy on most bicycles to keep up with the flow of traffic on this block when it is congested. The lights are well timed to empty the block, even on bike. You never have to wait more than a cycle.
So once through the light I always merge in, take the lane and follow the cars and the majority of them turn left at that intersection but there are always enough going straight to fill the right lane back to the turn lane split. And to filter forward you have to split the lanes and it is tight. Very tight. Possible but tight. And then what? When you get to the front along side the car you might be fine but maybe the driver is so intent on the light that they don't see you. Or You decide you can go faster and then get run over.
It may not be technically illegal but it is super inconsiderate, aka a selfish rage inspiring action, and dangerous to your personal safety. I'm not overstating that qualification. It really pisses motorists off. We don't need anyone, in two wheels or four, inciting anger or rage in people driving cars.
Just
Don't
Need
So for me, having gotten in line with the cars, stuck my left arm out to merge into the turn lane (having taken the lane prevents a car from overtaking me anyway) and while the car behind me is a few feet further from the intersection there is little delay or slowing of their progress. We turn left from one lane into two. I turn left from my lane and merge visibly over to the right lane and again take the full lane down to the start of the bridge and the bike path.
No one passes me more than once, no vehicles are impeded, I have high visibility and a higher degree of safety.
Splitting the lanes and rolling to the front and parking yourself on your bike in the crosswalk in front of the cars turning left? doesn't help. That or running the red light because it is about to change to green? that doesn't help either.
There was nothing illegal about my actions, and my course of proceeding through the intersection. I stayed to the right, as far right as practically possible, which means if I want to turn left i need to be on the right middle of the turn lane. And on narrow roads where it isn't safe to pass I have full legal right in RI to take the lane, again, I'm not a lawyer or a police officer a judge a lawmaker... but i'm aware of it and am actively working personally to follow the laws, to ride in a manner that is not lawless.
Stop Signs?
yeah. If i don't stop for each one, I am prepared to stop at every single one.
Red lights? I stop and wait, even if there is no cross traffic. Why? BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO DO.
The nice thing is now in Providence most all the lights will trigger by your presence, even if you're on a bike. The timer lights (if there are any) well you're stuck. If you ride super low spoke count wheels with carbon rims and a carbon bike you may not be able to trip the induction coils, but if you have a training/commuter wheel even on a plastic bike and you ride over or stop the bike on the induction coils embedded in the pavement, you will trigger the light in your favor.
Like that crazy old dude on the recumbent. He ran all the red lights. I caught up to him every time and I wasn't even going that fast and I was waiting for the lights.
Time gained is never worth the risk.
There's right and there's dead right.
You may feel you are right, but if there's a chance you're gonna be dead? yeah well that ain't right no matter what.
Okay now I made a few lightly annotated photos of these two intersections described above.
Okay here's this one. Blue box is where you have a looong line of stopped cars. plenty of room to pass on the right. Loads of room in fact. Could paint a bike lane in there if you wanted to. There is a light there and the traffic is one way on the cross street. My direction of travel is the green arrow. That Yellow Box So that's where we go from two travel lanes into three. It is narrow as you can see from the satellite shot. Not much room. Jumping in behind the first or second car at the light is usually how I proceed through. Why? well that way I have one car in front acting as a rolling shield, and if I'm riding right behind a car then the car behind me doesn't get the impression that I'm slowing them down at all.
Now the next big intersection and the one where there was the "encounter" is here
The guys roll through, and one of them rolls into the red box area in front of the car infront of me.
There was room to be next to or behind me and roll through 'together' w/o any animosity or pissing off the cars. Yes, normally I wouldn't have even said anything and just let everyone else around me judge them for their behavior and hope they could understand that some people are trying.
Was this a worthwhile process? Probably not. But it i what it is. You can't change the past, you have to react and move on, you can't plan the future, but you can deal with what you were given at the time.
I've had plenty of confrontations with motorists when i'm taking a whole lane with the trailer. They ask "is that legal? can you really do that?" well the polite ones do.
some just yell. But, as solobreak used to like to point out, count the number of cars that give you room, that don't yell, that don't try and run you off the road. And I have, it is refreshing.
it is true (and legal), I can take a lane, more so if there are two lanes of travel in the same direction. esp if there isn't room for a car to pass safely without changing into the other lane.
I will put away the soap box, and let the internet get back to more trivial stuff.
heddwch
G
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