Left and right of the white line

By Michael Brooks

Have you ever been driving and come up behind people riding bikes in the travel lane and thought to yourself, as you pass them, that they cannot legally ride in the road? 

Have you ever been riding your bicycle on a busy road, thinking that you have to ride to the right of the solid white fog line, regardless of how bad the road is or if there is virtually no room?

Two young bicycle drivers, being followed by their parent, navigate Highway 244 through Dellwood.

Without a state-sponsored program of continuing education, it is difficult for people in cars, on bikes, or walking to be up to date with current laws and know how to coexist in the transportation system. The resulting blend of fact and fiction creates stress, frustration, and outright anger because each person is certain the other doesn’t understand the laws as well as they do.  

Laws are routinely added and updated, making it a shifting discussion. To ease into it, I’ll take you through some of the primary rules and requirements in Minnesota that apply to bike and car responsibilities and rights in the transportation system. I know some people will want far more detail than I am providing today. To accommodate the curious, links to relevant state statutes are provided along the way. 

The beginning of the modern transportation system’s rules of movement were laid out in 1904 by a businessman who never learned to drive a car, William Phelps Eno, also known as The Father of Safety. He saw the chaos on New York streets as a young lad and reasoned that a system to organize the many modes of users, including bicycles, was desperately needed. 

The modern transportation system that has evolved out of this pioneering effort has maintained Eno’s original premise that a system of road safety must plan for people using roads in different ways and at different speeds, and that all of them must be considered. Collectively, these many users of the transportation system are referred to in our state’s applicable statutes as “traffic.” 

Minnesota Statutes 169.011 is a listing of definitions of all things transportation. It defines “traffic” as  “pedestrians, ridden or herded animals, vehicles, streetcars and other conveyances, either singly or together, while using any highway for purposes of travel.” 

Bicycles were a primary consideration in 1904 and are included in Minnesota’s broad definition of a mode of movement that can use roads in the state. Thinking locally, this means people can ride bicycles in the travel lanes of every road in and around white Bear Lake. The only exception is the interstate highway. 

When operating a bike on a road, a bicyclist must ride as close to the right-hand curb or edge of the road as the bicycle operator determines is safe. This might not be the shoulder or bike lane; it might mean riding to the left in the travel lane. The key point is that in Minnesota, a bicyclist is allowed to ride where they feel safest. If the road pavement is broken up or other hazards, such as parked cars, are present, a person operating a bicycle is not required to ride as close to the right-hand curb or edge. There is greater detail in Minnesota Statutes 169.22 if you are interested. 

 Minnesota Statutes 169.18 lays out the driving rules for motorized and non-motorized users.

Here are some key points covered by this statute:

• When the driver of a vehicle wishes to pass a pedestrian in the road or a bicycle driving on the road in the same direction, they are required to give separation of no less than three feet to the person walking or on a bike and maintain that distance until the person or bike is passed. 

• Motorists can cross a double yellow line to the left side of the roadway to pass a bicycle going in the same direction. Remember, bicyclists are allowed to ride where they feel safest. If that places them closer to the center of the lane, this rule allows cars to maintain the three-feet clearance rule by legally crossing the center line to pass a bicyclist, when it is safe to do so.

• The driver of a vehicle may overtake and pass another vehicle on the right only under conditions permitting such movement in safety. In no event shall such movement be made by driving in a bicycle lane or onto the shoulder, whether paved or unpaved, or off the pavement or main-traveled portion of the roadway. 

• Bicycles are allowed to ride two across in the travel lane, but they need to be aware of traffic volumes and conditions to not impede the reasonable movement of others. The Bicycle Alliance of Minnesota recommends riding single file as the safest option. 

• Bicyclists are safest when riding in the direction of traffic. Riding opposing traffic makes you a wrong-way bicyclist, significantly increasing the risk of an accident (about 32% of cyclists involved in crashes were riding against traffic).

We are just skimming the surface today on what the state has included in law to ensure the transportation system considers all of its many users. It is why a state-sponsored, ongoing education program for everyone, motorized and non-motorized, would, over time, resolve many of the misperceptions and get everyone on the same page about rules and regulations for using our road system. 

If you are a bicyclist who is looking to learn more about how to use the transportation system safely and with more confidence, including side paths, check out the many online courses offered by the American Bicycle Education Association. They began with courses for traditional bicyclists and group riders and now also offer courses for e-bike riders and teen e-bike riders