Riding AGAINST traffic... am I missing something?

[Polenicus]

I keep seeing this, and I'm wondering if I'm missing something.

When I learned about traffic laws, back when I was just a wee little 'lenicus, I learned that when on a bike, you rode WITH traffic, as you were classified as a vehicle, and subject to the same laws the cars were. You travelled in the same direction, signaled, etc.

Nowhere do I remember any mention of when it was appropriate to ride AGAINST the flow of traffic. In fact, the ONLY mention I remember seeing of that is when walking along a road that has no shoulder. Y'know, ON FOOT.

So why do I keep seeing cyclists in my lane coming flying towards me, riding against the flow of rush-hour traffic?

The best was the most recent one. The guy was on a MOPED, doing about 50k, in my lane, driving against traffic. I nearly had a heart attack, and definitely didn't have time to react if I hadn't been far enough over to give him space.

What's the advantage to doing this? It seems to me all you're doing is adding 30k or however fast you're going to the speed of the vehicle you're inevitably going to hit, and ensuring you make a much more impressive splat. Maybe someone can explain the reasoning to me, because I've seen this is three different provinces, so it seems to be a widespread practice.

[Mishi]

I don't understand it either, although my theory is that they're attempting to get a Darwin award. The latest one that I saw was when I was travelling down an unlit stretch of road on the way home from shopping. There was a teenager dressed in dark clothes without a helmet or lights on his bike, meandering across the lane, in and out of oncoming traffic. The last I saw, a 60 series Landcruiser with a bullbar was heading for him.

[EvilEmpryss]

While I understand the law is the law, it never made sense to me to make something as fragile as a person on a bicycle ride in such a fashion that they cannot see the tons of metal barreling down on them with an inattentive driver behind the wheel.

Law or not, I always rode my bike going into traffic so I could get the hell out of the way instead of getting clipped from behind. Now that texting and cellphones are such a problem I would never ride with the traffic again.

[Jack]

Many cyclists have erroneously learned to ride against traffic so they can see approaching vehicles, but as already said, this only makes it more dangerous as it compounds the speed of the two vehicles (bicycle and motor vehicle), giving less time to react and making any impact much worse.

In most places in the US without forced use of available bike lanes, vehicular cycling is the lawful and, many agree, the safest, way to cycle, due to the cyclist being visible, obviously placed, and acting predictably; i.e., as other traffic does.

The other common error is to ride far to the right, or in the shoulder or gutter. See http://commuteorlando.com/ontheroad/...arrowlane.html

Empryss, if personal anecdote means anything to you, I've been riding with traffic for a good while now and never been hit from the rear. Haven't been hit at all, actually. Plenty of almosts though.

[Geek King]

The only time you should proceed against oncoming traffic is when you must walk on the road on foot. I kind of agree with the common sense of fearing today's drivers though. I'm glad for the local parks and their bike paths if I ever decide to bike again.

[Magpie]

Empryss, you need to look at the numbers. Like riding on the sidewalk you have indeed made yourself a lot safer from the careless/malicious drivers who are the most likely to hurt you if you ride legally. However, you have now made yourself more likely to get hit by the rest of the drivers, who normally wouldn't have been a risk because they know the rules of the road. There's also the issue that they can't see you as soon, and therefore might not be able to change lanes quickly enough to avoid hitting you (or is this a case of riding on the shoulder?) There's also the issue of what happens if you encounter a legal cyclist.

We have bike lanes here, and a lot of people seem to think that they're the perfect place to ride illegally. When it's on a one-way street it makes a little bit of sense, but a lot of people use them for "I'm too lazy to either learn how to turn left, or to walk my bike across the street, so I'll ride on the left [against traffic]". A lot of said people give you the "hah, aren't I clever" grin when they encounter a cyclist. When they encounter me, they discover that some people have trained lungs, and get annoyed at people trying to kill their husband.

[BlaqueKatt]

While I understand the law is the law, it never made sense to me to make something as fragile as a person on a bicycle ride in such a fashion that they cannot see the tons of metal barreling down on them with an inattentive driver behind the wheel.

Law or not, I always rode my bike going into traffic so I could get the hell out of the way instead of getting clipped from behind.

8% of cyclists ride against traffic-25% of those 8% get hit-vs the 3.8% chance of getting rear-ended-I prefer the odds of being rear-ended-especially because in over 20 years of cycling on the roads(95% of the time during rush hour on main roads), following traffic laws, I have been in exactly one accident-and I got a small bruise and a broken spoke-driver ran a red light while I was crossing the intersection if you must know.

from bikesafe.com

Don't ride against traffic. Ride with traffic, in the same direction.

Riding against traffic may seem like a good idea because you can see the cars that are passing you, but it's not. Here's why:

1. Cars which pull out of driveways, parking lots, and cross streets (ahead of you and to the left), which are making a right onto your street, aren't expecting traffic to be coming at them from the wrong way. They won't see you, and they'll plow right into you.
2. How the heck are you going to make a right turn?
3. Cars will approach you at a much higher relative speed. If you're going 15mph, then a car passing you from behind doing 35 approaches you at a speed of only 20 (35-15). But if you're on the wrong side of the road, then the car approaches you at 50 (35+15), which is more than twice as fast! Since they're approaching you faster, both you and the driver have lots less time to react. And if a collision does occur, it's going to be ten times worse.
4. Riding the wrong way is illegal and you can get ticketed for it.

One study showed that riding the wrong way was three times as dangerous as riding the right way, and for kids, the risk is seven times greater.

Nearly one-fourth of crashes involve cyclists riding the wrong way. Some readers have challenged this, saying if 25% of crashes are from going the wrong way, then riding the right way is more dangerous because it accounts for 75% of crashes. That thinking is wrong. First off, only 8% of cyclists ride the wrong way, yet nearly 25% of them get hit -- meaning wrong-way cyclists really are three times more likely to get hit than those who ride the proper way. Second, the problem with wrong-way biking is that it promotes crashes, while right-way biking does not. For example, cyclists running stop signs or red lights is 17% of their crashes. But do we therefore conclude that not running signals causes 83% of crashes?!

Reproduction on websites. Feel free to reproduce any or all of the "How to Not Get Hit" article on your website, with or without modification. Just make sure to link back to this site in the credits of your page.

[Treasure]

OK, when i was younger, and even my mom remembers when she was younger, that we learned to ride against traffic - so that everybody could see each other; BUT you're supposed to do it safely - all the way to driver's left, and stay out of the lanes (sidewalks aren't for bikes) Sometime in the 90's? is my best guess as to when it changed here in TX, about the same time as they started passing the helmet laws. Austin is cyclist friendly, with bike lanes all over the place, and laws for where there are no bike lanes; and yes now its NOT ok to ride against traffic - they have to use the lights same as cars.

[mikoyan29]

I just remember riding on my bike as a kid when some jackass in a pickup got right behind me and honked his horn at me. Distracted me and made me spill to the curb. Fucker, I hope there is a special place in hell for him.

[Ironclad Alibi]

There are a couple of tips for cyclists in this funny video: Yes & No: A Dyseducational Road Movie.

[LadyAndreca]

I was taught to ride WITH traffic, stop at lights, wear bright clothes during the day and light clothes at night--or a reflector vest, if I'm intentionally riding after dark. My bike is currently out of commission with a flat and a lazy rider who hasn't fixed it yet, or I'd ride more...

Around here, bikers, especially younger ones, will generally ride on whichever side they please, or have a convoy that goes on both. The serious bikers and biking commuters tend to take advantage of the wide shoulders on most of our roads as an unofficial bike lane and ride with the flow of traffic.

[Geek King]

I was taught to ride WITH traffic, [...]

As several others have pointed out, laws have changed in the last couple of decades. Check local listings. I too was taught to ride against traffic, but my local laws changed back in the eighties.

[Polenicus]

As several others have pointed out, laws have changed in the last couple of decades. Check local listings. I too was taught to ride against traffic, but my local laws changed back in the eighties.

It's one thing to ride against traffic on a bicycle, riding on the shoulder.

This was a busy city street, with a sidewalk, but no shoulder.

Since there was considerable traffic, I only saw him once he passed the vehicle ahead of me. So... about two car lengths of warning.

He was on a moped. As in a little motorized scooter with pedals, not a bicycle.

He was doing pretty close to the 50 km/h speed limit.

He was in his 20's... so not old enough to have indoctrinated with riding against traffic.

He had no helmet.

Granted, my comment does cover the general issue of people riding bikes against traffic, and regardless it always scares the crap out of me when someone on a bike comes flying towards my hood at a combined speed sufficient to ensure I have NO chance of reacting if something goes wrong.