Traffic Principles To Ride By

Cycling Tips

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Traffic Principles To Ride By

1. Ride on the right

Always ride with the flow of traffic
Do not ride on the sidewalk
Allow yourself room to maneuver around roadway hazards

2. Yield to traffic in busier lanes
Roads with higher traffic volumes should be given right-of-way
Always use signals to indicate your intentions to switch lanes
Look behind you to indicate your desire to move and to make sure that you can

3. Yield to traffic in destination lane
Traffic in your destination lane has the right of way
Making eye contact with drivers lets them know that you see them
Signal and make your lane change early, before you need to

4. Directional positioning
Position yourself in the right-most lane that goes in the direction of your destination
Ride in the right third of the lane
Avoid being overtaken in narrow-lane situations by riding in the right third of the lane

5. Speed positioning
Position yourself relative to the speed of other traffic
Leftmost lane is for fastest moving traffic, rightmost for slower traffic
Yield to faster moving vehicles by staying to the right in the lane

Tip courtesy of the League of American Bicyclists (bikeleague.org).

Sharing The Road
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