Cyclists fare best when they act, and are treated as, drivers of vehicles.
Cyclists fare best when act, and are treated as, drivers of vehicles. – John Forester
The 5 Principles according to the League of American Bicyclists are:
- 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
- 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
- Yield to traffic in your 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
- 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
- Speed Positioning
- Position yourself relative to the speed of other traffic
- Left-most lane is for fastest moving traffic, right-most for slower traffic
- Yield to faster moving vehicles by staying to the right in the lane