I think the larger questions is: At what point is it appropriate for right-turning vehicles to merge as far to the right as possible?
It is clear they need to merge into the "bike lane" (usually marked as a bicycle and right turn lane) before they make a right turn. Also clear is that bicyclists going straight should not be continuing to the right of a vehicle indicating that it is planning on turning right. (That may not be a legal issue, but simply a practical and etiquette issue. You don't want to set yourself up for a right hook, and it's sort of rude to "cut off" someone who has indicated a desire to turn right.) But when is it appropriate to make that merge into the bike lane? W?hen there is heavy traffic, a driver may be tempted to merge very early, thereby both allowing others to continue straight on the left (if there is space), and also to not have to wait for the bicyclists and/or put yourself in a position where a right hook seems more likely. I see this situation frequently at the intersection of Old Sauk Rd and Old Middleton Rd, where drivers traveling EB on Old Sauk are usually making a right turn, and traffic backs way up. At the intersection, there are two lanes: RT and LT, and an all-way stop. There is no straight ahead option at this intersection. Motorists merge far up the hill, and bicyclists coming down the hill - which is pretty steep, so you can really pick up speed - have to merge as well if they want to stay safe. Assuming that most bicyclists are not turning left - back up the hill on Old Middleton - bicyclists also cannot bypass the backup by passing on the left. Closer to home, but with no bike lane, I see both bicyclists and motorists with wrong lane positioning at the NB leg of the intersection of Farley and University Ave. There is a LT lane, and the right lane serves both RTs and straight ahead traffic. There are quite a few bicyclists using Farley, and probably 95% of them are going straight - onto University Bay Dr and into campus/to the hospitals. I have stood on this corner in the AM peak hour and watched bicyclists passing to the right of cars with a RT indicator flashing - setting themselves up for a right hook, especially when the drivers try to make a RT on red. Dumb. About 1 in 5 bicyclists will merge into the car lane, which is the smart thing to do. In my opinion, motorists making a RT should also merge right, so as to discourage bicyclists from doing this, but bicyclists seem to see this as being aggressive. And by some quirk of light timing, the wave of bicyclists always seems to arrive right after the light has turned red, so they line up on the right, and then the later arriving motorists line up to their left, setting up the situation. When I use this intersection on a bike - and since it is a block from my house, that's not uncommon - I take the lane as I approach the intersection. I'm sure that bugs the motorists, who think I'm hogging the lane, but I know I won't get right hooked. I have asked the City to make this intersection No Right on Red, at least 7 am - 6 pm, as there are also many bicyclists that ride on the sidewalk counterflow to adjacent traffic, as well as many pedestrians. I seem to see close calls there all the time, and over the years there have been a number of crashes as well. Riding on the sidewalk there is another super dangerous move, but I understand why they are doing it. They are coming from Old University Ave, and probably only going a block or so to apartments, so they don't want to transition to Kendall or Stevens. Well, that was more than I intended to write, but I was on a roll. I'll probably end up posting this to my blog at some point, because I'm sure the question will come up again. But we are left with the original question: Is this a legal matter, or simply etiquette? And what is the safe thing for drivers to do? Robbie Webber On Mon, Aug 8, 2011 at 1:24 PM, Eric Sundquist <[email protected]>wrote: > In this case there is a clear bike-only lane that is about 5 feet wide and > not suitable for cars, until 50 feet or so before the interesection, where > the roadway widens and cars and bikes must use the same right lane. When > traffic is stopped, sometimes motorists try to squeeze through on the right. > >
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