<p>We didn’t until now and now that we have them nobody knows how to use them.</p>
<p>The only time I have seen cyclists out here is out in the country in washtenaw county, and they ride on the like 12-16inches of road on the other side of the solid white line from me. They always make me very nervous, I give them a wide berth but I am always afraid they will spontaneously fall in front of my car. 
They don’t have much room.</p>
<p>I turn right at a corner like the one described above every day. You look and see if there is a bike in the lane. If yes, I slow to let them know I see them, put on my signal. They’ll often slow or stop or motion me to go, but they have the right of way. I cross their lane into the right turn lane. They are now on my left if they’re going straight. If they want to turn right they are usually in the right turn lane next to the curb. I turn. They go straight, or I turn, and they’re turning with me, on my right. I give them plenty of room. Now I’m in the right lane of traffic and they’re in their new bike lane.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>All four of you must be quite lean (low body fat percentage).</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>You are required by law to make right turns from as close as practicable to the right hand curb or edge of the roadway. This means that if you must merge into or through a bike lane to get as close as practicable to the right hand curb or edge of the roadway, you must do so safely in preparation for your right turn.</p>
<p>[Statutes</a> & Constitution :View Statutes : Online Sunshine](<a href=“Statutes & Constitution :View Statutes : Online Sunshine”>Statutes & Constitution :View Statutes : Online Sunshine)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>It is safer for the bicyclist if you position your car at the right hand curb or edge of the roadway in preparation for your right turn. This includes having merged into the bike lane if one is present. If you do that, then a straight-through bicyclist can pass you on your left and not have to pass through your probable blind spots while passing you on your right. And you won’t have to wait for any possible straight-through bicyclists passing you on your right if you are close enough to the curb to prevent any from passing you on your right.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Yes. When approaching intersections, traffic is supposed to sort itself by destination, which may require appropriate lane changes before the intersection. Right turning traffic should be on the right, left turning traffic should be on the left, and straight-through traffic should be between them. So a straight-through bicyclist should be on the left of a right turning car.</p>
<p>
I may be required by law, but it’s not as if it’s enforced. I’m not going to get a ticket for not being “as close as practicable to the right-hand curb or edge of the roadway”…</p>
<p>Through CardinalFangs explanations, I got a better understanding of what they were talking about and how them and other posters including me actually weren’t in disagreement. Originally, I thought they meant I had to merge into the bike lane (which in my area is a whopping three feet at most), and then check to see if merging into the turning lane was “safe”…which is silly and unnecessary. </p>
<p>There are bike lanes all around my area. There’s nothing technical about it. They’re there. If you’re in the right lane, the bike lane is to your right. When a turning lane approaches the previously solid line turns into a dashed line. If you want to enter the turning lane, you put your indicator on and you go in the turning lane. Clearly, I’m not going to turn onto an adjacent street from the right lane when there is a turning lane made to do so…</p>
<p>The point is, sometimes when you are turning, there is no turning lane, because for example you’re in the middle of the block turning into the supermarket parking lot. If you are driving on a street with bike lanes, and you want to make a turn where there are no turning lanes, you can’t just swerve right across the bike lane, because if you do, some cyclist might be minding her own business, riding along at 18 mph, and you’ll hit her. She has the right of way; you don’t. So you merge over first, and then she smoothly continues around you to your left.</p>
<p>Hey Niquii, what is your area? Can you give me an example of one of the streets with a less than 3 foot wide “bike lane”? Are these labeled bike lanes, or are they just substandard shoulders that cyclists foolishly squeeze themselves into? </p>
<p>If a shoulder is less than three feet wide, I’ll ride outside of the white line to protect myself. Otherwise, drivers pass me with inches to spare, instead of the soon to be legally required three feet that is safe.</p>
<p>In the event that there is no turning lane, but there is a bike lane, I will still put on my indicator to turn right. I will not “merge” into a bike lane to turn right. I will just turn. If I see a biker on the road, I’ll just the distance and either wait or proceed to turn. </p>
<p>An example like a picture? I’ll try to find one, but these bike lanes are labeled so. They have a little bike picture on them. When bikes are on the rode, people just move to the far left of their lane to increase the space between their car and the cyclist. This is done on two lane highways as well…the moving over.</p>
<p>These are the bike lanes in my area:
<a href=“http://brokensidewalk.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/bad_bike_lane_01.jpg[/url]”>http://brokensidewalk.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/bad_bike_lane_01.jpg</a></p>
<p>We do NOT have the space nor the demand for bike lanes of this size:
<a href=“http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bleecker_Abingdon_jeh.JPG[/url]”>http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bleecker_Abingdon_jeh.JPG</a></p>
<p>If you gave the road name, I could just look it up on Google Maps street view.</p>
<p>As far as turning from the middle lane, why don’t you do that all the time? What’s preventing you from turning right from the lefthand lane, and left from the righthand lane on roads with more than one lane in your direction? If you can do it for bikes, why don’t you do it for cars? Why doesn’t everyone, if it’s such a good idea? Perhaps it’s because looking for traffic from the right, from the left and from behind at the same time is impossible.</p>
<p>I do not view a bike lane as an actual lane I must merge in. I just don’t. It would be a waste of my time to merge into a lane in which my car can’t even fit in. You can exaggerate all you want, but crossing two lanes to turn right when you’re in the left hand road is 1) Blindingly illegal and 2) Dangerous. Bike lane…eh…not so much. At least not in my area. I will continue to pass through bike lanes as if they were a shoulder on the road. If someone is in the bike lane, I’ll watch out for them. But there’s no need for driving protocol for bike lanes in my area. The police don’t even do it.</p>
<p>And no, I will not give you a street from the area I live in. I provided a picture that is similar if not exactly alike the roads in my area. You can take my word for it or not.</p>
<p>That is certainly a kind of bike lane you are legally required to merge into before you turn, Niquii. You might think that because you don’t see many cyclists it doesn’t matter, but it’ll matter to the cyclist you hit because you made an illegal turn. Why not just obey the law? It shouldn’t be any harder for you.</p>
<p>I will repeat: If someone is in the bike lane, I’ll watch out for them. </p>
<p>I have never stated I will disregard them because I’m driving a car and they’re on a bike so I have the right of way or the like. If there is a bike in the road, I will judge if I can turn or not. </p>
<p>But, tell me what I should do. Hover in the bike lane a millisecond more? What law am I breaking by simply moving from the right lane, through the bike lane, into the turning lane?</p>
<p>
</a></p>
<p>In this example bike lane, if you were turning right into the driveway just before the 1447 sign, the proper technique is to merge into the bike lane (yielding to any bicyclists already there) before reaching the turn, so that you can approach the turn and make it as close as practicable to the right hand curb or edge of the roadway.</p>
<p>Obviously, your car only partially fits in the bike lane after you merge into it, but that is what you need to do to get as close as practicable to the right hand curb or edge of the roadway when approaching your turn.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>The car drivers in this picture appear to be doing it incorrectly, as they have not merged into the bike lane before turning across it.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Yep. Exactly. And yet, incompetent bungling drivers do that blindingly illegal and dangerous maneuver in front of me all the time. They may believe like you, Niquii, that they are special snowflakes that don’t have to obey the law. And of course, they all believe they are excellent drivers, too. </p>
<p>[Bike</a> Lanes & Right Turns - SF Bicycle Coalition](<a href=“San Francisco Bicycle Coalition - Promoting the Bicycle for Everyday Transportation”>San Francisco Bicycle Coalition - Promoting the Bicycle for Everyday Transportation)</p>
<p>Thank you for the explanation, ucb. I mean that genuinely. </p>
<p>That’s right, Cardinal. I’m a special snowflake. A special snowflake who realizes that crossing two lanes of traffic is more reckless than not merging into a three foot bike lane before turning. :)</p>
<p>Looks like this’ll be another law I will knowingly break.</p>
<p>Niquii, the reason this attitude on the part of drivers infuriates me is their cavalier disregard of the law isn’t endangering them. They could kill me with their lawlessness, but they’d probably just get a scratch on their car.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Why do something less safe as well as illegal, especially when there is no advantage to do so?</p>
<p>Cardinal, it won’t be me who is killing you. You’re directing this attitude towards me when I have CLEARLY said I WATCH out for bikers. I’m not the one who you hooks be spouting fire at. </p>
<p>I’m not going to merge into a three foot space to turn. I know in my area it would cause more confusion than anything with the biker and cars behind me when I get in their lane to turn.</p>
<p>@ucb How is it less safe when there is no one in the lane? Sure it maybe illegal…but is it punishable? Not very likely. </p>
<p>In my area, this law is not enforced and is not practiced. Therefore, the importance of me following it goes down.</p>
![http://brokensidewalk.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/bad_bike_lane_01.jpg[/url]](http://brokensidewalk.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/bad_bike_lane_01.jpg%5B/url%5D){kind=link}
![http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bleecker_Abingdon_jeh.JPG[/url]](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bleecker_Abingdon_jeh.JPG%5B/url%5D){kind=link}
