How to Bike to Work
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Commuting Safety

Traffic Laws and how they Apply to Bicyclists

Traffic laws apply to all road users, including bicyclists. Kentucky law gives bicyclists the same rights and responsibilities as motorists, with a few exceptions. Key exceptions Unlike motor vehicles, bicyclists may not ride on limited-access highways and may ride on roadway shoulders. Whenever a road includes a lane marked for the exclusive use of bicycles, bicyclists must use that lane whenever feasible. Otherwise, the same traffic laws apply to both motorists and bicyclists. Bicyclists must obey all traffic signs and signals, including stop signs, yield signs, and red lights. Obeying the law reduces crash risks and also helps bicyclists earn the respect of motorists with whom we must share the roads.

Safety Tips for Bicycle Commuters

Ride on the right, in the same direction as the traffic flow. Never ride on the left side of a two-way street or against traffic on a one-way street. A driver stopped at an intersection looking for crossing traffic will often not notice a bicyclist coming from the wrong direction. Wrong-way riding typically cuts in half the time available for a motorist in the same lane to see and steer around the bicyclist. Riding against traffic makes a crash more than three times more likely, causing more bike-car collisions than any other bicyclist error.
Don't ride under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Nearly a quarter of all fatal bicycle crashes in the US involve intoxicated bicyclists.
Don't ride in poor light - night / dawn / dusk / rain / fog - without a good headlight and taillight. Can you see your headlight and taillight clearly from 500 feet away in the dark, as required by Kentucky law? If not, install fresh batteries or get brighter lights. Develop good traffic riding skills in daylight before attempting a night ride in traffic. At night, you have a harder time seeing road surface hazards, vehicles, and pedestrians - and motorists have a harder time seeing you. Riding at night without lights increases your crash risk by a factor of 10! Don't do it - ever.
www.pedbikeimages.org / Dan Burden

Don't ride on the sidewalk. The truck driver in this photo will more likely see and yield to the bicyclist on the road than the one on the sidewalk. The sidewalk rider is outside of the zone where drivers look for traffic. A motorist turning into a side road or driveway frequently fails to notice a bicyclist riding on, or riding out from, a sidewalk. Sidewalk bicyclists face two to five times the risk of injury crashes compared with on-street bicyclists!
Ride in the appropriate position within the lane. For his part, the on-street rider above is also choosing a poor lane position in this narrow lane, leaving inadequate room to manuver around debris and tempting a lazy pass from motorists with the chance of a sideswipe collision. Counter-intutitively, The cyclist would be safer riding three to five feet farther from the right edge of the roadway.

www.pedbikeimages.org / Dan Burden

Most roads in Louisville have lanes no more than 12 feet wide - too narrow for a motorist to pass a bicyclist without changing lanes. In lanes like the one at left, ride at least 3 feet from the right edge to reduce a driver's temptation to try to pass in your lane. Riding in the middle of a narrow lane tells drivers to wait to pass until safe passing space appears in the next lane.

In the rare lanes wide enough to share, ride about 4 feet to the right of the cars and trucks. This gives them space to pass safely without taking you out of their field of view. Never swerve in and out of the parking lane, which can hide you behind a tall parked vehicle.
Merge and change lanes carefully. Swerving across lanes of traffic leads to many bike-car crashes. Like the rider in this video, scan over your shoulder for cars behind you. When you see a large enough gap in traffic, signal and make your lane change quickly but smoothly.
Use the lane appropriate to your destination. Turn right from the rightmost lane. Never use a right-turn lane to travel straight ahead. To travel straight, use the rightmost through lane. To turn left, use the leftmost lane if there is no designated left-turn lane, or the rightmost designated left-turn lane if the intersection has one.
Choose a route within your comfort zone. Avoid traffic conditions that you don't feel confident handling. A longer, but less stressful, route will help you enjoy bicycle commuting and stick with it. Explore your commuting route in a low-traffic time - a Saturday morning, for example - to get an idea whether you can handle it during heavier commuting traffic.
Yield to crossing traffic when entering a road from a driveway, alley, or parking space.
this rut can grab a wheel

top: uneven pavement / bottom: glass

Beware of road surface hazards, including railroad tracks, cracks, gravel, sand, oil, wet leaves, uneven pavement. Take special care to avoid pavement cracks parallel to your direction of travel, and any ledge from the road surface up to a driveway. Both of these can trap the front wheel, making it impossible to keep balance on your bicycle. When crossing railroad tracks or driveway ledges, steer to approach them at close to a 90-degree angle.
Avoid the door zone of parked cars. Ride at least 4 feet from parked cars so you won't need to swerve if someone opens a car door.

Correct
Wrong!
Pass only on the left. Passing on the right is illegal in most circumstances, and creates many chances to get "doored" or hit by a car moving toward a parking space, driveway, or right turn. Playing leap-frog by passing vehicles stopped at lights and making them pass you more than once infuriates motorists. Infuriated motorists are bad for our health!
double jeopardy: distracted & no helmet
photo David Morse

Don't multi-task while riding. The road calls for your undivided attention. A bicyclist's two hands must do five things already - balance, steer, brake, signal, and shift gears. Occupying one hand with a non-bicycling activity like using a cell phone means that you will not be ready to control your bicycle if something unexpected happens, and you won't be alert enough to notice it in the first place.
Wear a properly sized and adjusted helmet. (See diagram) Adjust the straps and headband to keep the helmet level from front to back and from side to side, with the brim about a half an inch above your eyebrows. The sliders on the side straps should rest just below your ears. The chin strap, when buckled, should have only enough slack to allow you to put one finger between the strap and your chin. Never wear a loose, unbuckled, or oversized helmet. It will not protect your head.

Learning More about Safe Bicycling

A good way to learn safe bicycling is through hands-on training from skilled instructors. Bicycling for Louisville offers a Confident Cycling Course for adults. Whether you have commuted by bicycle for years or are just getting back into bicycling, this course offers valuable information and skills for you.

The Kentucky Driver's Manual (pdf) includes guidance for bicyclists and guidance for motorists driving near bicyclists.

Bicycling Street Smarts, by John Allen, explains traffic safety in detail with clear text and drawings. You can read it online or purchase printed copies of this 46-page booklet.

Reminders for Motorists

Obey the posted speed limit. Excessive speed dramatically increases the incidence and severity of crashes.
Don't run red lights! Obey "No Turn On Red" signs, which are often used in areas with high pedestrian or bicycle traffic.
Bicyclists have the rights of vehicle operators with a few exceptions. Respect them as legitimate road users.
Don't come closer than 3 feet when passing a bicyclist, to make sure you pass safely even if the bicyclist needs to dodge an obstacle on the road. Take special care if your vehicle has large mirrors, a trailer, or cargo extending out past the body. Make sure you have enough space to pass well beyond the bicyclist before pulling back into her or his lane. If you cross a double-yellow centerline to pass, you must yield to oncoming traffic and not cut off the bicycle that you are passing. Stay well behind the bicycle until you have plenty of room to pass safely.
Avoid Distractions: Please do not talk on a cell phone, use a GPS, eat, adjust your hair or makeup, or perform other non-driving activities while driving. A study from National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute shows that these activities and other driver distractions increase crash risks by a factor of three! Your safety and the safety of your fellow road users deserves your full attention.

How to Bike to Work
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