IV
The Cycling Environment

26
Basic Principles of Traffic Cycling

There are five basic principles of cycling in traffic. If you obey these five principles, you can cycle in many places you want to go with a low probability of creating traffic conflicts. You won’t do everything in the best possible way, and you won’t yet know how to get yourself out of troubles that other drivers may cause, but you will still do much better than the average American bicyclist. The five principles are these:

1. Drive on the right side of the roadway, never on the left and never on the sidewalk.

2. When you reach a more important or larger road than the one you are on, yield to crossing traffic. Here, yielding means looking to each side and waiting until no traffic is coming.

3. When you intend to change lanes or move laterally on the roadway, yield to traffic in the new lane or line of travel. Here, yielding means looking forward and backward until you see that no traffic is coming.

4. When approaching an intersection, position yourself with respect to your destination direction—on the right near the curb if you want to turn right, on the left near the centerline if you want to turn left, and between those positions if you want to go straight.

5. Between intersections, position yourself according to your speed relative to other traffic; slower traffic is nearer the curb and faster traffic is nearer the centerline.

The chapters in this part will show you how to obey these principles best, even under difficult conditions. For now, however, ride on easy-traffic roads and think about obeying these principles right from the moment you leave your own driveway (which is a small street crossed by a larger street). Then you can cycle enough to get experience, which will allow you to understand and practice the more advanced habits and maneuvers.