Positioning when cycling on a road.

[leemac87]

Hello, I was curious about how I position myself when travelling on a road. I have always stayed close to the curb to allow cars to overtake easily, but was curious as to whether I am allowed to use the whole lane if I wanted to? I hear that the law has changed to allow this, but just wanted to double check.

[Nearholmer]

From the Highway Code:

Rule 72
Road positioning. When riding on the roads, there are two basic road positions you should adopt, depending on the situation.

1) Ride in the centre of your lane, to make yourself as clearly visible as possible, in the following situations

on quiet roads or streets – if a faster vehicle comes up behind you, move to the left to enable them to overtake, if you can do so safely
in slower-moving traffic - when the traffic around you starts to flow more freely, move over to the left if you can do so safely so that faster vehicles behind you can overtake
at the approach to junctions or road narrowings where it would be unsafe for drivers to overtake you
2) When riding on busy roads, with vehicles moving faster than you, allow them to overtake where it is safe to do so whilst keeping at least 0.5 metres away, and further where it is safer, from the kerb edge. Remember that traffic on most dual carriageways moves quickly. Take extra care crossing slip roads.

[pjclinch]

Hello, I was curious about how I position myself when travelling on a road. I have always stayed close to the curb to allow cars to overtake easily, but was curious as to whether I am allowed to use the whole lane if I wanted to? I hear that the law has changed to allow this, but just wanted to double check.

The law hasn't changed in that you've always been able to use the whole lane, but the Highway Code has been clarified. For a more complete discussion of road positioning, on which Bikeability's positioning training is based, look at John Franklin's "Cyclecraft".

Staying close to the kerb is generally reckoned bad practice, and National Standards Cycle Training encourages you not to do it. Again, see Cyclecraft for more.

Pete.

[gaz]

The law hasn't changed in that you've always been able to use the whole lane, but the Highway Code has been clarified.

Spot on.

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[axel_knutt]

There's never been a law against cycling in the middle of the lane, and there hasn't been any change to the law. For some years now, cyclists have been advsed to use the centre of the lane (commonly known as Primary Position), so the Highway Code was recently amended to acknowledge this in an attempt to reduce some of the ire it causes amongst drivers. Whether it works that way remains to be seen.

Riding on the left is fine when there's plenty of room for motorists to overtake safely, the issue arises when there's not, because motorists and cyclists genrally have a different idea of what's safe, and of who's obliged to give way. The Highway Code recommends at least 1.5m passing clearance where possible, but motorists think it's OK to pass closer when the road's not wide enough if the cyclist won't pull over, and cyclists think they should wait until it is wide enough. AFAIK, there's no research been done into how effective PP is at deterring overtaking when there's an impatient motorist following.

The problem is that most motorists (70%) have no experience of cycling, and have little concept of how much space an apparently stable cyclist can need at short notice.

[pwa]

Hello, I was curious about how I position myself when travelling on a road. I have always stayed close to the curb to allow cars to overtake easily, but was curious as to whether I am allowed to use the whole lane if I wanted to? I hear that the law has changed to allow this, but just wanted to double check.

It has never been a good idea to cycle in or near the gutter. If you do that you face a couple of problems. Firstly, if you encounter something you need to cycle around, such as a bit of rubbish, you only have the right side to move to, having eliminated the left side option by being too close to the curb. And secondly, the closer to the curb you cycle, the closer the passing traffic will be to you. I know that doesn't sound right, but it works out that way. If a passing driver finds you a bit further out into the road they see you as an obstacle requiring some action on their part, and they tend then to give the matter a bit of thought and work out a way of passing properly. But if they find you cycling along the gutter they see you as being almost out of their way anyway, so not worth the trouble of applying the brake or waiting. And they pass almost without changing line. So being a bit further out results in most vehicles giving you a bit more room.

My default position is with my wheel about 75cm from the curb, which is a sort of in-between position. I rarely get closer to the curb, but I will carefully move out a bit further if doing that is likely to prevent someone overtaking in a place where that would put me in danger. That puts me in the centre of the lane until I feel it is safe to move back to my default. I don't hold drivers up longer than necessary, but I do it for as long as I need to.

[rogerzilla]

A metre is good - avoids drain covers and road debris but gives you a bit of room to swerve into if you hear a vehicle approaching from behind that hasn't reacted to your presence by slowing down. On country A-roads, if I must ride on them, where cars are passing very fast, I shrink to the left as they pass. This requires some concentration and is rather tiring, but avoids close passes altogether.

[Nearholmer]

Pretty much exactly the positioning and approach that I take. The 1m out is nominal, and if the road has a rough surface on the edge side ( most country roads round here don’t have a kerb), or is both quiet and one that I can get up a fair speed on, I will be a bit further out, say 1.5m.

As a side-note to the above, there seems to be a bit of psychology in this, in that the closer to the edge one rides, the closer some drivers pass - it’s as if their instinct is to pass at a distance equal to how far from the edge one is.

[Barrowman]

Pretty much with other respondents on this. Be seen be safe!
It gets trickier when alongside lines of parked cars I believe.

[nirakaro]

"...allow them to overtake where it is safe to do so whilst keeping at least 0.5 metres away..."

Very unclear meaning if you read it fast. A comma after 'so' would have made it clearer!

[Nearholmer]

I thought that too.

If you read further in the Highway Code to the rule for cyclists turning right, that is even more poorly worded. TBH, I’m not entirely sure what it is meant to mean at one point!

The language in the recent revisions is generally poor, and I wonder if they failed to test it properly in ‘plain English’ terms.

[pjclinch]

A metre is good - avoids drain covers and road debris but gives you a bit of room to swerve into if you hear a vehicle approaching from behind that hasn't reacted to your presence by slowing down.

Cycling Scotland gave position teaching quite a going over a couple of years ago, because trying to teach it to Primary 6 (Y5) school kids on roads that generally aren't wide enough for secondary to effectively vary at all was an uphill struggle.
Now the advice in Bikeability Scotland is "the magic meter" as a default, very much in tune with rogerzilla's thinking.

Pete.

[Pebble]

you need to be either in the way or not in the way at all. Any half way house and they will squeeze past, sometimes at full speed.
And if the road is narrow so that there has to be a close pass, stay completely in the way until they have slowed down.

[rogerzilla]

Definitely take the whole lane through chicanes and other traffic-calming fails.

[CyberKnight]

secondary as a default position and primary when needed
https://road.cc/content/feature/why-don ... ane-267623