The Parking Lane
By JB. Filed in Bike Commuting |
I was riding with my son to swim practice this evening down a one way, two lane road. It’s usually pretty free of traffic this time of night, but one of the sections of road we passed a cop had pulled someone over on the right side of the road and there was a tree cutting truck to the far left side of the road, so a short bottleneck built up behind us.
I always try to ride a straight line and since the parking lane was clear I had my son next to me in it (and out of traffic.) I felt OK doing this because there were no cars parked there for blocks.
I held my line for about a block and cars behind me began to honk, so I thought I would be polite and pulled into the parking lane a little – the car behind me would not pass. So I pulled a little further to the right and finally he went roaring by me, engine yelling and everything.
Turns out this guy lived on the same road we were traveling on and decided he would wait for me and my son to roll by about a minute after he pulled into his driveway. When we passed his house, he beckoned me over to the curb and began to tell me how stupid I was for riding in the middle of the road and for not riding single file.
I kept trying to interject and finally asked him if he was going to allow me to speak, which he did. I informed him that I was riding in the right lane “as far to the right as practicable” and that riders were indeed allowed to ride two abreast. Also told him he should polish up on his rules the next time he decided to confront someone about them.
My preference is always to be right in the thick of traffic because I feel like I’m much more visible there, but after I thought about it, I thought that maybe I could have used the parking lane since it was empty for several blocks ahead of me. I’ve just kind of forced myself to think and act like a vehicle since I began commuting, though, and it didn’t occur to me at the time that maybe I should use the parking lane if it’s empty. Not really sure what I’m going to do in the future yet. I still think the traffic lane is the safest place to be.
Tuesday, July 14th 2009 at 10:08 am |
Actually, if you’re going to polish up your rules, the law says you can ride two abreast if you’re not interfering with the natural flow of traffic, and I’d suspect your honker felt you were. (www.bikelib.org – “bike laws” on the side margin.) I also like to make that “double to single” change as an overt “I see you back there and I’m sharing the road” gesture, even when it doesn’t make a whole lot of difference… but that’s my personality. It doesn’t cost me anything and has created more good will than hostile reactions.
I often have exactly that debate with the parking lane. All the literature says not to bob and weave, but if I see one car in mirror and there’s room for it to get around between me and the next car, I duck over – not into the gutter, or anything. If I’m not sure or there are several cars, then I hold my line.
Tuesday, July 14th 2009 at 10:30 am |
Thanks for the comment, Sue. As it may seem, I felt a little conflicted about what I should do and whether I felt like the driver was being too impatient or if I should have been more accommodating. I suppose I should have added that technically we weren’t riding two abreast as I had my son riding in the parking lane since it was clear. Another thing that was impeding the flow of right lane traffic was the fact that the left lane traffic slowed to the speed of traffic in the right lane, which was just as much a hindrance as our presence.
Either way, it’s always good to get input and feedback from others and I appreciate your thoughts on the matter. I always hold my line in traffic, but I think in this case I could have gotten over because there were no cars parked in the parking lane for several blocks.