Comments on: Top 5 Reasons to Claim the Lane (and why it’s safer)

By: Tigerface

Tigerface — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 22:57:33 +0000

I am considering doing a 15.7 mile commute to college on a motorized cruiser. Seven miles of this will take me on a busy five lane road that technically is limited to fifty miles an hour but really ends up being about sixty miles an hour. This concerns my dad, but I guess the rationale on this site is that it would be perfectly fine? Looks like you guys are going even more hardcore and are still alive!

(Yes, sticking a $185 engine kit on my bike is cheating, but then I can hit 20, 30, 35 mph. I figure it would be little different than riding a motorcycle. I’d be just as exposed and just a little slower.)

By: JonO

JonO — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 21:29:12 +0000

After reading this post, I tried to claim the lane on my commute this morning. Long story short, I nearly got ran over by 800 speeding cars and one of them even buzzed the tower on purpose. The whole experience scared the hell out of me! Someone needs to develop a smoke screen or oil slick for bikes similar to that old video game ‘Spy Hunter’. That’ll teach those drivers!

By: Keithmj

Keithmj — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 19:18:11 +0000

Taking the lane is the safest thing to do. And it is CURB, not KERB. A substandard lane is anything less than 14 feet wide, so you are allowed to take the full lane, drivers can go around if they don’t want to stay behind you. More riders are hit riding far to the right and on the sidewalk. An idiot would be a bike taking the lane at night with no lights on the bike or riding a bike on the sidewalk at night with no lights.

By: Ted Johnson

Ted Johnson — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 17:56:14 +0000

What are you supposed to do? Claim the lane, that’s what.

Just because you’re going 10 MPH does not mean that you don’t have a right to use the lane. Nor does it mean that it is not safer to do so. “Too slow to ride on the road” is in your head.

I find that having a helmet-mounted rear-view mirror adds to my confidence and safety. I can monitor if a motorist is coming fast behind me — and perhaps not going to respect my right to be on the road — and I can respond defensively.

Make sure you are dressed visibly — and use bike tail lights at night. Talk to some other cyclists in your area about specific roads, and strategies.

By: Jess

Jess — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 17:26:18 +0000

What if you are too slow to ride on the road? I’m relatively new to cycling (biked on and off for fun) and only ride at a speed of about 9-10 miles per hour. If I’m going up a hill, I come to a crawl in the lowest gear on my bike. Basically, I’m not in great shape. I don’t want to get off my bike and walk up the hill because I want to get the hills mastered, but I’m too slow to be on the road. And 10 miles per hour on flat terrain is too slow to be on the road as well.

What am I supposed to do?

By: curt

curt — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 21:50:50 +0000

– nothing more annoying than 2 or more cyclists riding along having a chat as they go.
some states the law allows that..

By: Jason

Jason — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 18:52:06 +0000

Obviously, once a person becomes more and more familiar with riding their routes, they learn that their position in the road is dependent upon several factors: visibility, traffic, road conditions, weather, and fitness/ability. There’s no one position or one rule that always applies. (And for the random car drivers who’ve obviously never commuted before, you should realize that most cycling commuters have left their house, used the road, and hit the office/gym/coffee-house before you’ve finished brushing your teeth.)

But for all the crotch-grabbing, chest thumping talk about “the law”, no one’s bothered to mention the universal principle of human decency.

Fact: Most cyclists don’t want to be an annoyance or block traffic, they will move as safely to the right as possible to allow motorists more room to pass.

Fact: Most motorists don’t want to face the consequences of hitting a pedestrian or cyclist in the road (because your law, lets face it, isn’t going to overrule the stupidity of driving like a jag-off) and will provide as much room as safely possible when they pass.

Fact: Some people are sub-human dillweeds that will be jerks regardless of how many wheels they’re rolling along on. And you’ll have to deal with them occasionally no matter what precautions you take. Deal with it.

So the real key to commuting, by bicycle or car, is to be considerate. Realize that everyone has some place they’d like to get to as quickly, safely, and incident-free as possible, and do your best to help them achieve that goal. The more people who start acting like reasonable, compassionate human beings, the more all of us will enjoy using our roadways.

By: Jabba

Jabba — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 13:52:08 +0000

“Claiming the lane”? You arrogant idiot. You are riding a bicycle, not a car. The roads were designed to carry cars not bikes. It’s people like you that give cyclists a bad name. You are supposed to keep as near to the kerb as possible, and no more than a couple of feet, or just outside a drain. If every cyclist were to adopt your approach then cities around the world would come to a standstill. Don’t get me wrong, I like cycling, but I do it responsibly, with respect for other road users. I do not get on the road and expect everyone to bow to me. Oh and by the way, you should be riding in single file as well – nothing more annoying than 2 or more cyclists riding along having a chat as they go.

By: Dean

Dean — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 19:10:39 +0000

The reference at http://floridabicycle.org/rules/bikelaw.html also states that their is no legal definition of what is “too narrow” but provides a guide line of 14 ft. (Most roads are 10-12).

So for most roads, it is completely legal to take the lane as it is considered too narrow to share the lane with a passing vehicle.

My observation is that most lanes that are 14′ wide will have the bike lane added to it.

By: james

james — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 01:37:27 +0000

i recently got hit while going on the side walk. some one pulled out before looking both ways. but for some reason i still think riding on the side walk in 40+ mph is safer in my mind. I don’t own a road bike, i don’t have the money. Any way, i think ill try to ride on that road now. I live in a very non bike friendly neighborhood, that’s why its always worried me.