what to do about aggressive vehicle passes

[dplasters]

@SolarBikeCar 128484 wrote:

My plain reading of the law is that legislators want cyclists to stay right and let faster traffic pass.

Bicyclists operating a bicycle on a roadway at less than the normal speed of traffic at the time and place under conditions then existing shall ride as close as safely practicable to the right curb or edge of roadway. Exceptions to this are when bicyclists are overtaking and passing another vehicle proceeding in the same direction, preparing for a left turn, avoiding unsafe conditions, avoiding riding in a lane that turns or diverges to the right, riding on a one way street where bicyclists may ride as near the left-hand curb or edge of roadway, or when the lane width is too narrow to share with a motor vehicle.

Allow traffic to pass, subject to the safety of the cyclist and the 3 foot requirement.

I’m about 2 feet wide, need 3 feet to pass me, car is about 7 to 7-1/2 feet (most don’t include side mirrors in their width measurement), trucks can be up to 9 feet wide. So that’s a 14 foot wide lane to meet the requirement for all motor vehicles. This assumes I’m riding on the gutter line, which no one is advocating for. Soooo I take the full lane. They have to get into another lane to pass me anyway (they can split the lane with me, but they have to give me 3 feet, which means they are protruding into the next lane – precluding another car from using it). All I am doing is making myself more apparent.

The FCPD cars that have passed me have not had an issue with my riding.

[dplasters]

If this is all about my gripe about cars being able to lane split, but cyclists not being able to.

Motorists get the benefit of the doubt that they will only lane split when giving cyclist 3+ feet. There is discretion about the situation.

In highly congested traffic there are clearly moments when you can safely lane split because you know the cars are bumper to bumper and are just crawling forward from a light cycle. They aren’t going to break 10, and you are really just filtering, but that isn’t what the law says. If the cars are moving forward even a little, its illegal.

I was just pointing out that one road user is given discretion, the other is not. This isn’t always the case. The VA red light trigger/cycle 2 minute wait for cyclists and motorcycles doesn’t have an equivalent I’m aware of for passenger vehicles.

[consularrider]

@GovernorSilver 128485 wrote:

As DS pointed out, the key word seems to be “moving”.

Bicyclists cannot legally pass between moving cars in VA, unless one of the lanes is a turn lane.

They can legally pass between stopped cars (filtering).

I’ve been known to misread/misinterpret stuff though. One of the reasons I filter very selectively is I don’t want to be caught between cars when they start to move (when filtering becomes lane-splitting).

Nope, what you are doing is called “passing,” and the quoted reference says you can do it on either the left or right and can split the lane which contradicts the reference about “where” to ride. § 46.2-907. Overtaking and passing vehicles paragraphs one and three are internally inconsistent and contradictory as written.

[GovernorSilver]

@consularrider 128493 wrote:

Nope, what you are doing is called “passing”

Is it passing when I move between two moving cars or when I move between two stopped cars?

I agree the VDOT regs are confusing.

[consularrider]

@GovernorSilver 128495 wrote:

Is it passing when I move between two moving cars or when I move between two stopped cars?

I agree the VDOT regs are confusing.

In plain English you are passing in both scenarios. Of course my legal interpretation is worth exactly what you paid for it.

[PotomacCyclist]

In actual everyday circumstances, I’m not comfortable riding on Columbia Pike at all. I’ve had a driver ride up on me from behind, even when I was toward the middle of a lane, and of course drivers passed when I was closer to the curb. They did this even when the other lane was occupied by a car/driver so they squeezed by with only a few inches to spare. After one or two such instances, I decided not to ride on Columbia Pike again. I don’t ride there that often but when I do, I take the sidewalk or a slower parallel street.

There are safe passing laws and such, but that’s not really going to help me if I were to get hit by a driver. The key for me is to recognize problems in advance and adjust my behavior accordingly (while also helping to point out inadequate infrastructure and support efforts to improve roads, trails, etc. when I’m off the bike). Save my rear now, then participate in efforts off the bike to improve the infrastructure. I do this mostly because I really don’t want to get hit by a car driver, many of whom are texting. (I see this when riding in taxis or while standing on a sidewalk and observing passing traffic. There are ALWAYS 10-20 percent of drivers texting whenever I make these brief observational surveys. Larger studies find the same thing.)

[Author]

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