Biking etiquette – passing stopped cars? Going through stop signs?

[hoppy]

I’ve been biking to work now exclusively since September, have joined WABA, and have a couple of questions about traffic safety/etiquette, etc. I don’t want to be “one of THOSE bikers” who give bikers a bad name, but I’m wondering just how far you can push it without going over the line.

1. There is a T-shaped intersection that I bike through, see image below. Where you see the white crosswalk in the middle, there’s a stop sign where cars go left or right. With normal traffic patterns, around 98% of the cars turn left at this intersection (represented by the blue arrow). The road they’re turning onto is a 2-way road with no stop sign. Normally there’s a long line of cars waiting for their turn to go left when they have an opening. See image:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]1962[/ATTACH]

Rather than sit behind the cars lining up to go left, I zip up to the stop sign and just take a wide left turn as shown by the red arrow when I have an opening, after giving a hand signal. I don’t get in the way of the cars who are also going left but I will acknowledge that I could be a distraction. I have found that some of the cars that go left with me hold back a little, probably because they think I might just ride right in front of them.

Is doing this safe/legal/proper/acceptable?

2. Also on my commute, I take the service roads that go around the Tysons Corner Mall perimeter. There are some 3-way stops with stop signs on all 3 “corners” of the intersection. Is it OK to blow through the stop signs if there are no cars coming from the road at 90 degrees, but there are other cars going in my direction? Similar to #1, I’m trying to avoid sitting behind a row of cars if I can zip up the shoulder and pass; if I do this, I do slow down don’t get too close to the other cars and try to keep some space. See image. I’m going in the direction of the red arrow. The three dashed blue lines show the stop signs.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]1963[/ATTACH]

3. Perhaps more controversial: at a minor intersection with a red light, it is OK to blow through the red light if there are absolutely no cars coming in either direction on the road that has the green light? Note that I do NOT want to frighten the drivers coming from the other direction, even if I know I can get through, so I do this only if it’s absolutely empty.

Thanks for any suggestions/guidance.

Topic

[MostA]

#1 – looks like intersection at the “shopping bag building”. If so, be aware that is not a safe intersection. There are left turn and right turn lanes, so it might “appear” you are riding up the right turn lane then turning left. I have witnessed many cars do that, and it isn’t safe for cars. Also, cars will take the right turn then immediately make a u-turn coming back the other way to avoid waiting for the left. Bottom line – be very aware of what is going on around you at that intersection and be safe.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

@DS re: Lynn and Wilson. I always hug the passenger side of left turning cars and make the turn parallel with them. Never had any of the Police at the semi-regular enforcement net there do a double-take. They’re too busy pulling over cars.

As to the original post, I do 1, 2 and 3 like Hoppy with the addendums that checking for clearance means checking for pedestrians too, I’m always prepared to swallow the ticket for my actions, “blow through” to me means coasting to under 5 mph and a double triple check there’s nothing coming.

[DismalScientist]

@Brendan von Buckingham 36791 wrote:

@DS re: Lynn and Wilson. I always hug the passenger side of left turning cars and make the turn parallel with them. Never had any of the Police at the semi-regular enforcement net there do a double-take. They’re too busy pulling over cars.

I got stopped by one doing exactly that, but he did not give me a ticket. He did give me some song and dance saying that as cyclist I needed to behave like a vehicle or pedestrian, but not both. I didn’t see how this was relevant as there was nothing I was doing that resembled acting as a pedestrian. He said I should wait in line like all the other cars and should not filter as that was illegal in VA. I do not believe that this is the case. In any event, I was not filtering: I was passing cars in the middle lane and then merging into the left turn lane next to the narrowest car I could find. This is a safe merge because I am not impeding anyone’s right of way. When turning, he said that this would be dangerous as the car could turn wide. This is potentially true if I were foolish enough to turn tight into the path of a car. However, any cyclist with any sense of self-preservation would take a cue from the turning car behind and not initiate a turn before that car does. Most cyclists take that turn very wide to avoid the “grate of death” anyway (whereas cars do not), so this not a real concern. I didn’t really want to continue my discussion with the cop because that would only increase the likelihood of a ticket, although I don’t know what behavior the ticket would have cited.

[Tim Kelley]

@DismalScientist 36806 wrote:

Most cyclists take that turn very wide to avoid the “grate of death” anyway (whereas cars do not), so this not a real concern.

Technically, it should be referred to at the “grate of doom” as I believe that no one has died there.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

Filtering is allowed, but the phrasing in the VA regs says something about traveling abreast in the same lane being illegal. You can overtake in the same lane, but you can’t travel abreast. I think that’s what they’d use to write a citation about make left turns with cars like that. Either way, I’d prefer the ticket over being forced over that Grate of Peril.

[DismalScientist]

I don’t think I was riding abreast. I just was following with zero following distance but offset so that if the car in front came to a stop I would not hit it. The officer was certainly not complaining that I took the turn too wide, so I would never have been put on the grate.

All in all, I wasn’t all that upset about getting stopped. I don’t think the police want to actually give cyclists tickets there anyway. I got stopped a long time earlier at that intersection for running a very orange light making a left turn. I deserved the ticket then, but did not get it.

[mstone]

@Brendan von Buckingham 36932 wrote:

Filtering is allowed, but the phrasing in the VA regs says something about traveling abreast in the same lane being illegal. You can overtake in the same lane, but you can’t travel abreast. I think that’s what they’d use to write a citation about make left turns with cars like that. Either way, I’d prefer the ticket over being forced over that Grate of Peril.

So that means cars can’t pass us, right?

[zanna_leigh]

@Brendan von Buckingham 36932 wrote:

Filtering is allowed, but the phrasing in the VA regs says something about traveling abreast in the same lane being illegal. You can overtake in the same lane, but you can’t travel abreast. I think that’s what they’d use to write a citation about make left turns with cars like that. Either way, I’d prefer the ticket over being forced over that Grate of Peril.

Where did you get the information that riding abreast is illegal? Are you referring to riding abreast next to a car or another biker? According to VA law, you can ride abreast with another biker only if it doesn’t impede traffic. I wasn’t able to find anything about riding abreast with a car. This is a little confusing because if you’re riding on the right hand side of the roadway with slow traffic, chances are you will be riding abreast with other vehicles which is legal. In regards to overtaking a car in the same lane, this is LEGAL (see below). What you can’t do is ride between two lanes of traffic moving in the same direction (i.e. split lanes). There is a thread already on splitting lanes and filtering that might be useful.

Here’s the info from VA law:

Passing

Bicyclists may overtake and pass another vehicle only when safe to do so. Bicyclists may pass another vehicle on the right or left, and they may stay in the same lane, change lanes, or ride off the road if necessary for safe passing. Please note that passing motor vehicles on the right side may be extremely dangerous if the motorist does not see the bicyclist and attempts a right turn.

A person riding a bicycle, electric personal assistive mobility device, electric power-assisted bicycle, motorized skateboard or scooter, or moped shall not travel between two lanes of traffic moving in the same direction, except where one lane is a separate turn lane or a mandatory turn lane.

Motorists must approach and pass a bicyclist at a reasonable speed at least two feet to the left of the bicyclist.

Reference: §§46.2-839,46.2-907 ^TOPICS

[DismalScientist]

What does it practically mean to split lanes? I would think if you are not on the line between lanes, you are in one lane or another and can pass cars in that lane according to the law.

[Author]

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