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New law forces Californian cyclists to pull over when traffic backs up

Cyclists will now be classed as 'slow moving vehicles' and must pull over if five or more cars are following...

Cyclists in Sonoma County, California are to be forced to pull over to allow traffic to pass when a new law comes into force in the new year.

Bicycles, now classed as ‘slow moving vehicles’, will have to pull in whenever five or more cars are behind them.

The new rule goes hand in hand with a requirement for motorists to give cyclists at least a three foot berth when they overtake.

In addition to these regulations, electric bikes are to be classified according to their speeds. Operators of the fastest bikes, capable of going 28 mph, must be at least 16 and wear a helmet.

Gary Helfrich, executive director of the Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition told the Press Democrat: “Sharing the road goes both ways. We always teach in bike safety classes it’s how to behave
anyway.

“Cyclists aren’t required to stand down in a drainage ditch as you drive by,” he added.

In the UK, Rule 169 of the Highway Code states you must not hold up a long queue of traffic, especially if you are driving a large or slow-moving vehicle. Drivers are instructed to check their mirrors frequently, and if necessary, pull in where it is safe and let traffic pass.

The offence in a motor vehicle (bicycles are not included) could earn you three to nine points on your licence and a fine of up to £5,000.

According to Mental Floss: “As with many road laws, it's left more down to common sense than the letter of the Highway Code itself.

“The onus is on the driver to observe whether they're causing a sizeable tailback and take appropriate action.

“But if they don't, it's hard to see too many cases coming to court - not least because given the short distances most [slow moving vehicles] travel on the roads, it tends to be more an inconvenience to drivers, than a major problem.”

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16 comments

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sanderville | 8 years ago
0 likes

I don't edit my posts post hoc to look less stupid than I am, but it's only neighbourly of me to point out that the link to this story in the "recent comments" section of the homepage still has the original title without the word "Californian" insterted into it.

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Spike64 | 8 years ago
0 likes

Not sure what the penalty is for cyclists as the article only states the penalty for motorists? 

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Dressmaking Cyclist | 8 years ago
0 likes

This isn't a new law - it's already in place in California (and similar in Washington state) for other road users - it's just cyclists have been included in the current highway regulations.  Their roads are designed so the slow moving traffic to move over, while the vehicle being passed can maintain close to speed limit speeds while the traffic passes.  When you have  queue of 5 (or 3 in Washington) behind you, you pull over into the next passing place and let those behind pass.  As a tourist (in a car) on unknown roads, with a string of logging trucks behind me, I was grateful for the passing places.  If it's well designed, it works.  If it's already in the highway code here, the implementation has been piss-poor in comparison!

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ron611087 | 8 years ago
7 likes

As the article says, this rule is already in force in the UK, but most motorists don't think it applies to them. I'm frequently held up by cars on urban roads and none have ever pulled over to let me pass.

How about getting rid of on-street parking? These cars occupy road space and contribute far more to congestion than slow moving vehicles, which are at least moving.

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brooksby | 8 years ago
0 likes

Five or more cars are behind them over what distance? Twenty metres; a half mile; *ever*? To be honest, if I'm looking over my shoulder I'm looking for how close the next vehicle is, not counting how many I can see.

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dafyddp | 8 years ago
5 likes

On any given bank holiday Monday, heading to a National Park... a queue is most like to be found behind a) a cyclist or b) a caravan (pulled by a Volvo-driving-Daily-Mail-reading-cycle-Hater)?

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moonbucket | 8 years ago
0 likes

Sonoma bitch!

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sanderville replied to moonbucket | 8 years ago
2 likes

moonbucket wrote:

Sonoma bitch!

Why does the Like button vanish when I login?

Anyway, this is just more clickbait.  I wouldn't have bothered reading the article if California or US were in the title.  Cyclists there have a lot more to worry about, such as the Aliso Canyon gas leak that has been spewing millions of tons of methane into the air for two months, or having their pet shot by a policeman.

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gmac101 | 8 years ago
3 likes

When I lived in the North of Scotland a few years ago there was a prosecution of a driver for failing to pull over on a single track road ( most of the roads away from the coast are single track with passing places) but I suspect most drivers aren't  aware of their responsibilities.  I was once following a group of cyclists in a car and they helped me past by signalling down the group that the road was clear past  the brow of hill. If everybody was more aware of what was going on around them and better trained you wouldn't need these laws

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HalfWheeler | 8 years ago
2 likes

A queue of cars behind you is often the fault of a clueless driver who hasn't the balls to overtake you safely.

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DaveE128 replied to HalfWheeler | 8 years ago
3 likes
HalfWheeler wrote:

A queue of cars behind you is sometimes the fault of a safe driver who hasn't the agression to overtake you when there isn't room to do so safely.

TFTFY!  3

Seriously though, would you rather someone gave you a dangerous overtake or waited patiently until they can actually see whether it's safe to overtake?

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HalfWheeler replied to DaveE128 | 8 years ago
0 likes

DaveE128 wrote:
HalfWheeler wrote:

A queue of cars behind you is sometimes the fault of a safe driver who hasn't the agression to overtake you when there isn't room to do so safely.

TFTFY!  3 Seriously though, would you rather someone gave you a dangerous overtake or waited patiently until they can actually see whether it's safe to overtake?

I did not write that. You have changed my quote to suit your answer. Odd...

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kie7077 | 8 years ago
1 like

Wouldn't work in London where you're typically going as fast or faster than traffic and there are long queues of traffic to start with- pulling over wouldn't make any sense at all (for the cyclist).

 

At least 3 foot is reasonable for slower speeds, even 2 foot is ok at 15mph for smaller vehicles.

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cdamian replied to kie7077 | 8 years ago
4 likes

kie7077 wrote:

Wouldn't work in London where you're typically going as fast or faster than traffic and there are long queues of traffic to start with- pulling over wouldn't make any sense at all (for the cyclist).

In town the cars would have to pull over as they are slower and in the way  1

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CXR94Di2 | 8 years ago
2 likes

On the odd occasion I see farm vehicles pull over to let traffic pass, usually when 100+ cars and trucks have built up!

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don simon fbpe | 8 years ago
1 like

Unworkable. When was the last time you saw an HGV pull up, or get pulled up,  after collecting a line of traffic behind it?

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