3 ms·

Yeah, an awful lot of drivers seem to forget that¹ I have the right to the entire lane, even as a cyclist. If you don't like it, you can use the other lane, if

Yeah, an awful lot of drivers seem to forget that¹ I have the right to the entire lane, even as a cyclist. If you don't like it, you can use the other lane, if there is one, to go around me. If there isn't — tough! Am if I am occupying the entire lane, there is almost certainly a reason for it — like an upcoming left or because there isn't sufficient room for you to pass. Because if there weren't, fighting with a car is not high on my list of priorities: I'd much rather scootch over, give you room to get by so you can speed of into the sunset and I can have an empty road to myself. ¹IANAL; in the jurisdiction I'm in, but my understanding is that this is common

nicoburns 5y ago
That's definitely the law here in the UK, although FWIW most of the time I don't feel the need to occupy the whole lane. Cars generally pass reasonably safely here, plus there generally isn't another lane on the kind of road I'd be cycling on.
- deathanatos 5y ago
  > although FWIW most of the time I don't feel the need to occupy the whole lane. Yeah, I perhaps should have made it clear that occupying a full lane is something I do probably <2% of the time. Not very often, and for similar reasons to the rest of the comment: I don't really want to have to deal with cars, and if I can stay right and let them by, I will. I'm in America, so it depends on the road; where we have unprotected bike lanes, then I'm in that & there's passing room, but too often there are "sharrows" where there really isn't a good deal of room for passing. Then it's very situational. (Usually the car taking up part of an oncoming lane as they pass.)
- aix1 5y ago
  In the UK you're not only allowed to take the whole lane, the Department for Transport (through Bikeability) calls this the primary road position for cyclists. The guidance is that this should be the default, with the secondary position (~1m to the left) only used when the road is wide and the rider is certain that keeping to the left wouldn't compromise their safety. https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/cycletraining/article/ct20110110-cycletraining-Bitesize-Bikeability--Part-4--On-Road-Positioning-0 https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/cycletraining/article/ct20...
- steerablesafe 5y ago
  I go into roundabouts while occupying a full lane, unless I use the first exit/turn left.
mikepurvis 5y ago
Yeah. I was on my eskate on a 4-lane road recently, riding 1m out from the curb due to gravel and debris (killer for those tiny wheels), and I had a car honking at me to get out of the way even when there was a whole other lane to change into! He eventually did a half lane change, buzzing me as he went by, then got stuck at the next red light while I caught up. Ridiculous.

nicoburns 5y ago

That's definitely the law here in the UK, although FWIW most of the time I don't feel the need to occupy the whole lane. Cars generally pass reasonably safely here, plus there generally isn't another lane on the kind of road I'd be cycling on.

deathanatos 5y ago
> although FWIW most of the time I don't feel the need to occupy the whole lane. Yeah, I perhaps should have made it clear that occupying a full lane is something I do probably <2% of the time. Not very often, and for similar reasons to the rest of the comment: I don't really want to have to deal with cars, and if I can stay right and let them by, I will. I'm in America, so it depends on the road; where we have unprotected bike lanes, then I'm in that & there's passing room, but too often there are "sharrows" where there really isn't a good deal of room for passing. Then it's very situational. (Usually the car taking up part of an oncoming lane as they pass.)
aix1 5y ago
In the UK you're not only allowed to take the whole lane, the Department for Transport (through Bikeability) calls this the primary road position for cyclists. The guidance is that this should be the default, with the secondary position (~1m to the left) only used when the road is wide and the rider is certain that keeping to the left wouldn't compromise their safety. https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/cycletraining/article/ct20110110-cycletraining-Bitesize-Bikeability--Part-4--On-Road-Positioning-0 https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/cycletraining/article/ct20...
steerablesafe 5y ago
I go into roundabouts while occupying a full lane, unless I use the first exit/turn left.

mikepurvis 5y ago

Yeah. I was on my eskate on a 4-lane road recently, riding 1m out from the curb due to gravel and debris (killer for those tiny wheels), and I had a car honking at me to get out of the way even when there was a whole other lane to change into! He eventually did a half lane change, buzzing me as he went by, then got stuck at the next red light while I caught up. Ridiculous.