General Bike Rights (Part II)

               Following an accident in which you were bumped by a motorist passing in the same lane, an insurance adjuster might suggest that you were not as far to the right as you should have been. You may respond that it was the motorist’s duty to wait until it was safe to pass; knocking you over was not an acceptable driving option. If the motor vehicle was any wider than an average car, you might also want to measure the width of the traffic lane, up to the line of parked vehicles, if any, where the accident occurred & determine the width of the vehicle that struck you. Measure the width of your bicycle at the handlebars (or wider, if you were bumped on a part of your body that extends out farther than the bars). If the extra width of the motor vehicle made passing you safely at that spot difficult, you have an even stronger argument that the vehicle had no right to attempt the pass at that point.

                Right turn right-of-way. One of the most common causes of bicycle accident is collision with a car turning right. While making a right turn, a car passes through the path of a cyclist, whether the cyclist is traveling in a traffic lane or in a bike lane. Some of these accidents happen when a car passes a cyclist, & then slows down while turning right, moving directly into the path of a bicyclist who has nowhere to turn. Or a motorist simply turns right directly into a cyclist without seeing, & often without looking for the bike.

                In either of these situations, the motorist is liable for the accident. One of the basic rules of the road is that a vehicle, & because side-of-the-road laws force cyclists to the right, a cyclist is entitled to continue straight through an intersection without yielding to a motorist turning right.

                Lane splitting. Many motorcyclists, & a few bicyclists, engage in the driving maneuver known as “lane splitting”. Done mostly in traffic jams, it means squeezing a bike between lanes, passing the cars in stop-&-go traffic on each side.

                Lane splitting is not recognized as a legal maneuver in any state except California. In most states it is not specifically prohibited but is regularly interpreted by police & courts as unlawful. Even in California, it is legal only if done safely. & “safely” is always very much a judgment call. The mere fact that an accident happened while a rider was lane splitting is very strong evidence that on that occasion it wasn’t safe to do so.

                If you have been involved in an accident while lane splitting, you will have a hard job convincing an insurance adjuster that the accident was not completely your fault. Remember, in most states you need not show that the accident was entirely the other driver’s fault; you need only show that the other driver’s carelessness was a substantial cause of the accident.