Here’s a police training video that demonstrates a proper understanding of a shared lane, i.e. a lane wide enough that cars can easily pass bicyclists without having to change lanes and without bicyclists having to ride in the gutter.
So what happens when the lane is not wide enough to share? As this video properly demonstrates, bicyclists get to use the entire lane.
Many of the streets in downtown Springfield are too narrow to share. And with 20 mph limits, it’s just a really nice place to ride a bicycle — right down the middle of the street. So get out there and ride like you mean it!
There are other interesting things here, too, if you can get past the amateur acting and the silly music 
Comments 8
The only problem is you can’t say ‘Ride it like you mean it’ to the parent of a child while encouraging the child to ride a bike to school. You will get some unhealthy looks. Is it realistic to get the next generation to get accustomed to bicycles as transportation this way?
It is one thing to follow that in quiet neighborhood streets, it is another to follow that on a lane with 40mph + car traffic.
I have a post coming up tonight on riding with the traffic.
Posted 15 Jul 2009 at 3:15 pm ¶Shek… Good question re: encouraging children. I wish I had a good answer. Perhaps Robert would like to chime in on this one. He’s the education expert.
Posted 15 Jul 2009 at 3:31 pm ¶Andy,
I think the question lies more on the lines of convincing the parents. If your daughter was at the youngest age (12-16 maybe? I don’t know. I don’t have kids) where she could ride her bike to school herself without adult assistance, would you let her go in today’s streets?
20 mph is a low limit for the streets of a city. It may be the safest optimal speed. I have only seen it within the campus of University of Florida and inside some housing complexes. I am not sure it is representative of other cities. Convincing parents gets hairy when the route to school contains roads with higher speed limits.
Posted 15 Jul 2009 at 4:32 pm ¶“Ride like you mean it” is one of my favorite expressions
A friend of mine worked on a traffic cycling program for kids 20 years ago. The program was so effective, those kids (now parents) have come back to him and his partner asking where that program is—they want it for their kids. Why? It changed their lives. It empowered them to bust through the psychological limitations of car culture. Awesome stuff. It’s coming back.
In Hackney, UK, they teach traffic cycling to moms and kids. They’ve been very successful at empowering people.
It’s combination. Empowering people to use any road and providing access (through infrastructure) that allows them to choose more pleasant routes wherever possible.
US cities are huge and spread out. We will always have to rely on roads to reach all destinations. Focusing on teaching people to ride like they mean it is critical. And through that, we will – slowly but surely – change the culture.
Every time we go out into the world we change the collective consciousness about this just a little bit. I’m surrounded by clients and colleagues who do not ride, but who understand the best practices of safe cycling because of their exposure to me. What’s funny is, the non-cyclists in my life are much more open-minded and accepting of the “ride like you mean it” philosophy than the cyclists.
Posted 15 Jul 2009 at 5:20 pm ¶Which brings up a question in my mind. Namely:
“Is a bicycle allowed to share a lane with a slower motorist, passing to the motorist’s left?”
In California, this is often called “lane splitting.”
If it isn’t legal, why is it OK when the motorist is faster than the cyclist? A cyclist has a much better idea of where the “corners” of his vehicle are than does the typical motorist.
AND, how does this answer differ from state to state?
Let’s not get into a discussion about whether it’s a good idea or not, though I would contend that it’s certainly a LOT safer than the frequent practice of sneaking up alongside a motor vehicle on the right.
To start things off, I’ve heard this is illegal in Texas, though I’ve not dug through all possible statutes.
Posted 15 Jul 2009 at 9:24 pm ¶Notice how “lane splitting” sounds underhanded & somehow dirty compared to “sharing?”
Posted 15 Jul 2009 at 9:25 pm ¶Keri,
Do you have any details of the traffic cycling program for kids to share? Maybe we in Jacksonville can use it to complement the ‘Bike to School’ program.
Also, do parents (who were kids 20 yrs ago in the traffic cycling program) commute by bike today?
Do their kids commute by bike? If they were trained, shouldn’t they already be teaching their kids about traffic cycling?
The traffic cycling program should have grown exponentially since 20 yrs (kids ride on the road, other kids watch and learn, all kids grow up and teach their kids and so on).
Posted 15 Jul 2009 at 9:32 pm ¶Steve… I assume that in a shared lane a bicyclist can pass a slow car on the left just as a car passes a slow bicyclist in the left. That’s my reading of Missouri law (307.190), anyway.
Posted 16 Jul 2009 at 7:49 am ¶