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A chicken-and-egg relationship exists between common public beliefs and the interpretation of laws. For bicyclists, our legal right to the road may hinge on the prevailing concept of operations for marked travel lanes. Bicyclist advocates and safety instructors hold a concept of operations where other drivers change lanes to pass bicyclists safely, and where it is reasonable or even recommended for a bicyclist to ride in a lane position that makes it visibly clear that same-lane passing is not viable. Some motoring advocates, however, hold a concept of operations where motorists pass bicyclists without changing lanes, and where bicyclists must stay far enough to the right to facilitate this, even when a marked lane is too narrow for same lane passing to be safe (and it’s usually not). Given the human inclination to confirmation bias, the difference between these opposite and deeply held concepts of operation can result in completely opposite interpretations of traffic law, regardless of how carefully or clearly the law may seem to be worded. The difference in concepts also results in opposite perceptions of what needs to change about the law.

It is therefore of strategic importance to bicyclist advocates that we persuade public officials to adopt the safer, lane-change-passing concept of operations for typical travel lanes. To this end, bicyclist advocates in North Carolina – and across the country – are seeing progress. At a February 18 meeting with BikeWalk NC, NCDOT’s State Traffic Engineer Kevin Lacy explained his views on safe passing. “I agree that same-lane passing is unsafe,” he said. Lacy went on to suggest that he would support a law requiring motorists to change lanes to pass bicyclists, similar to a bill that is currently before the Iowa legislature. Bicycle and Pedestrian Division Director Lauren Blackburn explained that NCDOT endorses lane-change passing as the preferred, best practice. “It’s already in the study report,” she said, referring to the Draft Resolution portion of the report, which includes the language “Motorists should use other lanes to pass cyclists.” During the same meeting, NCDOT’s Chief Engineer Mike Holder told BikeWalk NC that after internal discussions that included NCDOT Secretary Nick Tennyson, NCDOT has decided not to promote or otherwise support legislation requiring bicyclists to stay on the right side of a marked lane. (Nor, he said, would NCDOT pursue or promote legislating permit requirements for groups.) Kevin Lacy and Lauren Blackburn both expressed a preference to see the law on bicyclist lane position clarified in a way that would protect bicyclists’ right to control a travel lane by riding in its center, but acknowledged that the debate over what that language should be wasn’t likely to make further progress at this time. (Lacy expressed his belief that restricting bicyclists from the left half of the lane would increase passing distances and bicyclist safety on higher speed roads; bicyclist advocates view any such restriction as undermining bicyclists’ ability to exercise defensive lane positioning and creating new legal problems for bicyclists.)

Legislation aside, NCDOT officials’ endorsement of lane control and next-lane passing as reasonable and preferred safe practices opens up the door for more meaningful education messages at the state level targeting motorists, bicyclists, police and transportation professionals. Lauren Blackburn expressed support for the content in BikeWalk NC’s Group Bicycling Skills and Techniques guide, and made plans to work with BikeWalk NC on educational projects in the future as funding and opportunities present themselves. BikeWalk NC is currently looking for partners to help develop video presentations of the Skills and Techniques materials, which a number of cycling organizations have said would be useful to them. BikeWalk NC is also in the process of soliciting input from ride leaders across the state on best practices for organizing and leading rides; look for an online request for information survey in the next week or two. One thing that the HB232 Study made abundantly clear is that there is a wealth of knowledge among the cycling community state-wide, and that the real subject matter experts who are out there already riding have important and persuasive things to say. Thanks go to all of you who are speaking up and shaping the public’s understanding of better bicycling.

Change Lanes to Pass — Graphic by Keri Caffrey

Update: Since the time this article was written, the State Legislature has legalized passing a bicyclist in a no-passing zone when done safely with no oncoming traffic and adequate sight distance, passing at a distance of at least four feet or moving completely into the next lane. See § 20-150. Limitations on privilege of overtaking and passing.

Narrow two-lane state roads are important travel routes for commuting and recreational bicyclists in North Carolina. Every day thousands of motorists pass bicyclists on these roads without incident. When there is little or no shoulder and the travel lane is narrow, competent drivers recognize that there isn’t room to pass within the bicyclist’s lane, and so they wait until the oncoming lane is clear of traffic for an adequate distance before moving into the next lane to pass. In many places where this occurs, a solid yellow centerline is striped to discourage passing of other motor vehicles. Traffic engineers place this striping where there is not adequate distance to safely pass a motor vehicle that is traveling near the maximum posted speed limit. But in the real world, drivers recognize that the distance required to pass a slow moving bicyclist is a small fraction of this distance, and invariably ignore the striping in favor of weighing the safety and convenience of passing under the existing conditions. Drivers routinely cross solid centerlines to pass bicyclists safely, and police routinely ignore this as long as the passing driver does not create a danger for oncoming traffic. Does this mean that it is legal?

Law enforcement officers are often asked this question – and are often uncomfortable responding. In states lacking clarifying language in the traffic laws, police may struggle to find legal support for ignoring solid centerlines when conditions are clearly safe for passing. Some states – Colorado, Maine, Mississippi, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, for example – have traffic laws explicitly allowing drivers to cross a solid centerline to pass a bicyclist under safe conditions. BikeWalk NC recommends that North Carolina adopt similar language. In the meantime, police in NC are in the same position as those in states such as Florida and Texas, where police have turned to the laws that govern driving around disabled vehicles and fallen trees to justify not ticketing prudent drivers. In North Carolina, this is § 20-146 (a)(2):

§ 20-146. Drive on right side of highway; exceptions.
(a) Upon all highways of sufficient width a vehicle shall be driven upon the right half of the highway except as follows:
(1) When overtaking and passing another vehicle proceeding in the same direction under the rules governing such movement;
(2) When an obstruction exists making it necessary to drive to the left of the center of the highway; provided, any person so doing shall yield the right-of-way to all vehicles traveling in the proper direction upon the unobstructed portion of the highway within such distance as to constitute an immediate hazard….

N.C. Highway Patrol 1st Sgt. Brian Gilreath provided the following explanation quoted in the 8/19/2014 Citizen-Times:

As long as you don’t affect the movement of oncoming traffic — that’s where common sense comes in — you’re allowed to go left of center to avoid hazards and obstructions in the roadways,” Gilreath said. “Take for example if a farmer drops a bale of hay in the roadway, and you need to go around it. Even though you’re left of center, you have not violated the law. […] An officer would have a hard time convincing a judge that you’re supposed to ride behind a bicyclist for 10-15 miles…. [Citizen Times, 8/19/2014]

This aligns with the pragmatic interpretation that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement approved for the Florida Bicycle Law Enforcement Guide:

The prohibition of passing in a no-passing zone does not apply when an obstruction exists making it necessary to drive to the left of the center of the highway [§316.0875(3)]. Thus, when a cyclist is traveling so slowly as to constitute an “obstruction,” a motorist may cross the center line in a no-passing zone to pass the cyclist if the way is clear to do so, i.e., when it can be seen that any oncoming traffic is far enough ahead that the motorist could finish passing before coming within 200 feet of an oncoming vehicle.

Police in Austin Texas, a state with similar passing laws, produced a video showing how to pass bicyclists by waiting until it is safe to cross a solid centerline.

BikeWalk NC hopes that other police officers in NC will leverage this interpretation of § 20-146 so that they can have more practical and meaningful discussions about safe passing techniques on narrow roads by focusing on traffic conditions and sight distances. However, explicit clarifying language in the passing law is preferred for bicyclists, tractor drivers, and other slow moving vehicle operators, because such users don’t want to be framed as “obstructions.” Slow moving vehicles are legitimate traffic, and in some cases, bicyclists aren’t slow-moving. A more nuanced, realistic alternative is needed for North Carolina’s one-size-fits-all no-passing-zone law.

Critical Mind Share

Safe Passing and Solid Centerlines

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