I ride my bike through my neighborhood. The road is a one lane going each way, divided by a double yellow line. When cars pass me, I go as far to the right as possible out of courtesy. However, some passing cars come too close to me, so they can pass me without touching the double yellow line. This is causing a dangerous problem.

When cars pass me like this, they are no more than an inch away. I tense up, trying to ride a straight line. If I were to swerve a little bit, the car would hit me. I think the safest thing to do would be to ride further to the left, making the cars go around me. What do you think?

When cars pass me, I go as far to the right as possible out of courtesy.


Do not do this. They will take all the space you give them, so the solution is....


I think the safest thing to do would be to ride further to the left, making the cars go around me. What do you think?

Don't give them an option. Forget courtesy, protect youself and your space. Move left and give yourself room, they will go around.

I ride my bike through my neighborhood. The road is a one lane going each way, divided by a double yellow line. When cars pass me, I go as far to the right as possible out of courtesy. However, some passing cars come too close to me, so they can pass me without touching the double yellow line. This is causing a dangerous problem.

When cars pass me like this, they are no more than an inch away. I tense up, trying to ride a straight line. If I were to swerve a little bit, the car would hit me. I think the safest thing to do would be to ride further to the left, making the cars go around me. What do you think?

Is there a lot of traffic on this road? I avoid some of the narrower, heavily traveled roads- otherwise, you are correct- take a bit more of the lane. This is one of my pet peeves about "bike lanes"- cars give me less room because I have a 3 ft. wide lane?

Don't give them an option. Forget courtesy, protect youself and your space. Move left and give yourself room, they will go around.

I agree, you have as much right to the road as they do. They can slow down until they can safely pass you.

Thanks for the replies, everyone is right; it's better for some cars to slow down for a few moments behind me than to to get dragged down to the ground.

Yep. Good advice. If you give 'em an inch, they'll take a mile. Move to the left. They'll have to allow you room. What are they going to do, hit you? You'll slkow them down about 5 seconds from the length of their trip. They'll get over it.

On roads like you described I stay close to the right as long as no cars are coming towards me in the opposite lane. When they do, I put my left hand out, give the stay back motion and take up enough room so they cannot pass. As soon as the approaching cars pass I return closer to the edge. I usually give a wave of thanks when they go by hoping this might encourage them to stay back the next time automaticaly. Given a chance 75% of drivers will pass you with the other car coming making it a threesome. You know who loses then, especially with pickup trucks and their "have to have the widest, bad ass, mirrors money can buy" extended all the way out (with no trailer in tow !)

Always ride with at least 3' of pavement to your right. You need this amount of room to avoid accidents. If people honk, turn around and slowly drift left while you glare at them!

If people honk, turn around and slowly drift left while you glare at them!

Do not glare. Wave and smile.

Moving as far to the right as possible is the absolute worst thing to do. As the drivers will try to sneak by you without crossing the yellow line. You have to hold your ground and make them go around you.

Nope. Glaring is good. Especially if you are wearing dark shades. :) Especially if they honk. Once I was riding on a very narrow little road that is barely passable for a car and is bumpy and hilly and you can go just about as fast on a bike as you can in a car. The car kept honking as I was as far right as possible, so I went to the center of the road until it ended. They asked me why I didn't move over. I explained why. Apparantly they were late for CHURCH.

Absolutely !!! Always stay inside the lane, left of the striping....never out of the lane.....as everyone has said "Giving up the lane is giving the vehicle the lane, stripe to stripe"

In the last 10 (??) years, two safety issues have developed;
1) Males driving with cel phones and
2) Females driving with cel phones, but even worse between the hours of 5pm and 6pm, they are chatting on said phone while driving 60mph in a 35 or 40 mph speed zone to get to the baby sitter...."Fur shur" their mind can not be on driving and that little 'bump' they 'thought' they felt, may have been you.....be in control, but be careful.....Black or Navy Blue jerseys may look cool, but brighter colors might make a difference in avoiding an accident)

If you get buzzed too often, 100% Pepsi in a water bottle will definitely ruin a good paint job.

As they say in Italy: "3000# auto isa no contesto"

Whatever you do, don't tense up. Keep your arms and legs relaxed. It may seem hard at first, just pretend you are receiving oral sex but are far from orgasm - it'll start to come naturally after a while. Keep your u-lock in your back pocket, stuffed down the back of your pants, or in an area of your bag (assuming you have one) accessible w/o stopping. If the air polluting **** gets too close, smack the side of their car. If they refuse to back off, smash their ****ing windows with your u-lock. Don't feel bad. They deserve it. I almost feel bad for drivers sometimes because my best friend drives for the most decent "has to" reason I've heard - she unavoidably drives through really bad neighborhoods alone, late at night. I wouldn't want her biking or walking these streets, but most drivers have nothing near this going on. So anyway, back to the point. If the car is a pinto or something, maybe ease up on them, perhaps they are in a rough spot. But if they're in a bmw or a lexus or some ****, even if it's your ****ing grandma, bust their windows up. When they confront you at the next intersection, spin your lock around in your hand and scream like a ****ing madman, "THESE ARE MY ROADS AND I WILL DO WHATEVER THE **** I PLEASE HERE!!!!!" Read up on the dastardly effects cars have on our lives. Try "Breaking Gridlock", "Asphalt Nation", Taken for a Ride: Detroit's Big Three and the Politics of Pollution" (Won't even show up on bn.com), "Divorce Your Car!", "How to Rock 'n' Roll (my favorite book). Read the books from the bibliographies of these books. With this knowledge you can confidently fight back, knowing with all due rightousness that you are undoubtedly in the right. Turn your neighborhood into an area where unnecessary driving is a shameful thing to do. Print up stickers with slogans like, "I love oil wars" or "My excessive consumption killed your children". Perhaps a little abstract, but what the ****. Slap em on cars and walk away laughing. Don't ever back down from the middle of the lane. Steal one of those road signs that says, "Bicycles allowed use of full lane" and tape it to your back. Ride slower than necessary down the middle of the lane screaming, "I'm not blocking traffic -I AM TRAFFIC". If someone manages to get you off your ride and confront you, start salivating excessively and swear you will eat their children. People like their children. That'll get rid of em! Drink coffee (preferably shade grown) and destroy. Lie. Cheat. Steal. Listen to heavy metal music. And always remember a slightly changed and unauthorized quote from Sam Tracy, "Recognize no moral limits to securing our collective safety from auto traffic."

Bare your ****ing teeth.
Grrrrrr!

PS: You forgot about packing a gun in one of your jersey pockets.

drivers will pass you with the other car coming making it a threesome.


Doncha find that on a 10 mile stretch of empty road, some car will pass you JUST as the car coming towrds you meets both of you. It happens all the time and more than once per ride. Is this Murphy's Law?

Doncha find that on a 10 mile stretch of empty road, some car will pass you JUST as the car coming towrds you meets both of you. It happens all the time and more than once per ride. Is this Murphy's Law?

Conversely, on that empty stretch of road, when the driver has all the room in the world to pass, why do some insist on buzzing, or honking, or even more aggressive gestures?

Conversely, on that empty stretch of road, when the driver has all the room in the world to pass, why do some insist on buzzing, or honking, or even more aggressive gestures?


I don't get that stuff where I live. We did once, from a truckdriver. He came by and then cut two of us off, forcing us onto the soft shoulder. We had the ******* charged and he was found guilty of careless driving. Sweet revenge. Don't fluck with The Mikester.

LMAO! Pretty 'friggen funny! nm

What you describe is typical of what I deal with on my daily rides. I live in the foothills and ride a lot of mountain roads. I can not always depend on my ears. Sound travels and you can't always tell from which direction a vehicle is approaching. And you can hear one car, but there might be one or two (or more) behind the one you hear. I started riding with a mirror a couple of years ago and I would not ride without one. Yes, they look sort of dorkie, but 98% of the time I can see what is coming up behind me and anticipate when the vehicle is going to pass me. In some cases there is nothing I can do but hold my ground as there are no shoulders and no place for me to pull over, even if I wanted to. In Ca the law states that a cyclist has to ride as far as possible to the right side of the roadway as possible. The shoulder is not part of the roadway. What I try to do is take up part of the traffic lane and just before they start to pass me I'll swing over onto the shoulder (if I can). Sometimes I have cars go by me so close that I can almost feel them brush me with their sideview mirrors or I can feel the heat from their exhaust (in the summer). Using the mirror takes some getting used to as you are constantly tilting your head. But in a nutshell what you are dealing with goes with riding on the roads. Sometimes people go by so close I wonder how they avoid hitting me. The mirror would help you feel more comfortable, as most of the time you can have a plan, but sometimes you just have to hold your ground, hang on and pray. You have to have steel nerves, riding with dark glasses and glaring is what I do a lot of....I try never to show emotion as sometimes that's what they want and you are playing right into their hand...

Try riding with a group of riders when possible. Drivers tend to be (but not always) a little more cautious when having to go around a group vs a single rider.

I tend to ride about 1' left of the white line, unless of course there is a school bus coming up behind me. The school bus drivers around here are notoriously bad about not moving over to pass you, even when the left lane is W-I-D-E open. When I see a school bus coming up behind me, I simply move to the middle of the lane to make them go around.

Anyway, the drivers that pass me a little too close for comfort get a polite way and smile from me and I always give truckers an acknowledgement wave for going around me and not running me off the road. I tend to do a good bit of waving or giving a "head nod" at passing motorists and I have noticed that many of them are beginning to wave back...my "regulars" so to speak. At stop lights, many are rolling down windows to ask how far I've ridden or "how far ya go-in today?" But, I live in a relatively small town that just reach metropolitan status a couple of years ago.

In Ca the law states that a cyclist has to ride as far as possible to the right side of the roadway as possible. ...

Actually in CA, provided there is no designated bike lane, you are entitled, like any other vehicle, to ride right smack in the middle of the lane until you have more than 3 vehicles piled up behind you. If at this point, you can't maintain the speed limit, you will then have to pull off at the next available opportunity (just like any other slow-moving vehicle!) and let traffic pass.

While I wouldn't recommend doing this on a regular basis (think: road rage) particularly in cases like narrow mountain roads where being "courteous" and riding to the right can encourage irresponsible passing, you should _definitely_ exercise your rights.

While some drivers are just incorrigible a**holes (a large percentage of these drive pickup trucks), 90% of how cars treat you will be based on your "body language". Looking timid and accomodating brings out the worst in _all_ drivers. Act like a scared kid, they'll treat you like one.

When you hear cars coming up on you, and find you're further in the lane than you need to be to have a margin of safety, make a _slow_, smooth transition to the right.
I'll ride right on the white paint on a good road when I know cars are coming and everyone has enough room. Otherwise I'll make them go around me or wait.

If someone honks, revs their engine, or does something else obnoxious, I often sit up, turn around and make eye contact. (Obviously you should only do this if you're confident in your bike handling skills and on an accomodating road surface.)
Like dogs or apes, humans are social animals, and you'd be surprised at how sheepish most people look if you cast them a stern, chastizing glance to let them know they're out of line. This also goes for making good firm eye contact at places like intersections: stare drivers straight in the eye with a look that says "_I'm_ going now."

There's a fine line though between being firm and assertive and being outright rude and agressive yourself. I used to try and communicate with drivers with hand gestures, but found that these are almost _always_ misinterpreted, and if anything, made drivers even angrier and more aggressive. The only one that seems to be of any help is waving hesitant drivers to pass when the time is right.

You'll just need to develop a measure of self confidence and a strategy that's right for your traffic conditions.

Actually in CA, provided there is no designated bike lane, you are entitled, like any other vehicle, to ride right smack in the middle of the lane until you have more than 3 vehicles piled up behind you. If at this point, you can't maintain the speed limit, you will then have to pull off at the next available opportunity (just like any other slow-moving vehicle!) and let traffic pass.

While I wouldn't recommend doing this on a regular basis (think: road rage) particularly in cases like narrow mountain roads where being "courteous" and riding to the right can encourage irresponsible passing, you should _definitely_ exercise your rights.

I don't know where you got that information about a cyclist being able to ride right in the middle of a traffic lane and not having to pull over until 3 or more vehicles are backed up behind him/her. 21202 (A) VC states that a SLOW MOVING bicyclist is required to ride as far as possible to the right hand curb or edge of roadway as practicable. You can occupy a traffic lane as long as you are not impeding traffic. There is 21656 VC that states that a slow moving vehicle must use a designated pull out or safe area with 5 or more vehicles following. 22400 (A) VC Impeding traffic- only applies to vehicles subject to registration. 21202 (a) is pretty much a catch all and specifies exactly where a bicylist is required to ride. If you are going the same speed as traffic and there is no designated bicycle lane a bicyclist can ride right smack in the middle of the lane but if he impedes traffic then 21202 (A) VC kicks in. I might not know bikes, but I know the Ca vehicle code, I spent 27+ years enforcing it as a State Traffic Officer for the California Highway Patrol.

Of course there is rules of the road and rules of the jungle. Sort of like trying to drive 65MPH in the fast lane on the freeway, you are legally right in doing so, but you will be subject to being a victim of road rage in the process.

I ride in the middle of the roadway lot's of times when I am descending, But if I see a vehicle coming up behind me, I'll pull over as far as possible to the right hand side of the roadway. That's where riding with a mirror comes in handy.

Most cycling accidents are caused by cyclists getting hit head-on by them leaving their traffic lane and only about 20% are rear end type collisions. So I guess in essence we should be more aware of what is coming at us then what is behind us, but I'm more worried about getting hit from behind than anything else.

You might have got your information from a local P.D. or Sheriff, and most of them don't know the vehicle code that well. They used to call us all the time asking for information. But we used to call them for information on Penal Code sections. :)

I don't know where you got that information ... :)

Well there's no arguing with someone who can quote chapter and verse!

Come to think of it, it must have been a good 10 years ago that a friend and I called the local police in Santa Barbara to resolve a friendly wager about just how far our road use rights extended.

I'm not sure if it was the 6 pack that I won that has permanently warped my memory, or if the local officer on duty simply steered us wrong, but I guess from this point on I'll leave handing out traffic code advice to the real pros!

What's the problem? As long as they don't hit you or take hostile actions chill out and quit worrying about it. I really pay almost no attention to the traffic and in more than twenty years the only incident I have had was when I blocked traffic as advocated by other posters.

If they can pass you two inches away and not hit you they are likely a good driver who knows where their vehicle begins and ends and you don't need to worry about them. The ones that pass way over in the left lane and honk and shout are the ones that worry me since they are cleary completely incompetent at operating their vehicles. Of course this presupposes that you can ride a straight line; if not get some rollers. Driver's, me included, find competent, predictable cyclists (who follow traffic laws -unlike many of the posters) much easier to deal with.

Doncha find that on a 10 mile stretch of empty road, some car will pass you JUST as the car coming towrds you meets both of you. It happens all the time and more than once per ride. Is this Murphy's Law?


That seems to happen to me on MUTs, too. There can be 3 people on the trail (a pedestrian with a baby jogger and a rollerblader with a dog, for example) and we will invariably converge at the same point. What's with that?

What's with that?


I dunno. It's weird. There was a rider about a ½mile in front of me last week and I observed the same thing happen to him. There's gotta be a scientific reason for it. It's much more than just chance. I ride on fairly quiet roads and the number of times three of us meet at JUST the same spot far outweighs anything else. I'm going to try to come up with a name for it. How about "a triple bi(ke)pass"? Wooo I surprise me at times.

I think you are right. I have found that someone throws something out the window (twice so far this spring) , lays on the horn, or gives me the finger is typically when I'm climbing. Drivers are more likely to challenge or harrass you if you seem timid/tired. Somehow, one must appear more vulnerable in this setting. I think my body language (hence apparent confidence) is directly linked to how fast I am moving. If I am on a flat section with a tailwind or moving dowhill, then I am likely to be at least closer to the speed limit, less likely to be winded, and riding stronger and hence appear more confident and, surprisingly, less likely to have a driver challenge me.

Well there's no arguing with someone who can quote chapter and verse!

Come to think of it, it must have been a good 10 years ago that a friend and I called the local police in Santa Barbara to resolve a friendly wager about just how far our road use rights extended.

I'm not sure if it was the 6 pack that I won that has permanently warped my memory, or if the local officer on duty simply steered us wrong, but I guess from this point on I'll leave handing out traffic code advice to the real pros!

You're a good man Mr. Bergman. Actually before I retired I worked the front desk at our local CHP office and I probably gave out a lot of bad answers the first couple of months. I had to look those sections up, my mind is really rusty. We as cyclists do have the same rights of the roads as motor vehicles, but it gets frustrating out there at times. I'm sure we could sit here all day long and tell stories, but the bottom line is the main thing I worry about is myself. The majority of bicycle accidents are solo t/c's with guys getting over their heads with their descending skills, which was the main cause of my big crash 4 years ago.....

Well there's no arguing with someone who can quote chapter and verse!

Come to think of it, it must have been a good 10 years ago that a friend and I called the local police in Santa Barbara to resolve a friendly wager about just how far our road use rights extended.

I'm not sure if it was the 6 pack that I won that has permanently warped my memory, or if the local officer on duty simply steered us wrong, but I guess from this point on I'll leave handing out traffic code advice to the real pros!

You're not the only one with a warped memory! I thought the same thing. I always was told that "bikes have to follow the same rules are cars" and I assumed that meant we had similar rights too. Good to know the real facts :)

In terms of position on the road, I also try to stay just to the left of the "stripe" or at least a foot out from the edge of the road. Usually cars are good about giving me plenty of room when they pass but some are idiots. Tunnels are the scariest for me because you don't have a good shoulder and drivers have a hard time seeing when going from blinding sun to dingy tunnel lights.