Riding cooperatively with other cyclists, pedestrians, and motor vehicles is important for everyone’s safety and enjoyment. 

On A Shared Multi-Use Path (MUP)

These apply to all users; pedestrians, cyclists, and skaters.

• Keep Right / Move Right. Just like on the road, always keep to the right except to pass. When two or three abreast, move quickly to the right for those coming from behind to pass on the left.

• Ring a bell. Do not shout on-your-left. On-your-left became popular in the U.S. for a brief period but has proven quite dangerous as many people move to the left when they hear this instead of moving to the right. The rest of the world uses bells and these generally work better for getting others attention, don’t confuse people with the need to move right when they hear the word left, and are much more pleasant. 

  It is sometimes considered courteous on narrow or low traffic paths to give a ding of your bell when overtaking someone who is already keeping right. It is part ‘hello’ part don’t be alarmed that someone else is here and passing on your left.  Unfortunately some people in the U.S. interpret this in the wrong way. Fortunately people are beginning to understand this better.

   

• Pedestrians generally have the right-of-way However, they should be aware of and courteous of other users.

• Lights. All path users should have lights at dusk, night, and dawn. Bicyclists should have a steady red light to the rear and a steady white light to the front (aimed down at the path in front of them, not at other people). Ideally bicyclists should also have a rear reflector, reflectors on pedals, and sidewall reflectors on their tires. Pedestrians should carry a flashlight and maybe have something reflective on as well.

   

  Note that flashing lights, front or rear, may be more dangerous than steady lights as they can interfere with others ability to gauge your speed and distance. Flashing lights have been outlawed in most countries for this reason.

   

• Earphones can be dangerous. They make it difficult or impossible to hear other path users, particularly those who are passing from behind. If you wear them it may be a good idea to only wear one and the volume low so that you can hear others.

On The Road

(Adapted from MNDOT).

• A person riding a bicycle has all of the same rights as any other vehicle and may legally ride on any roadway except were explicitly prohibited.

• Cyclists should obey all traffic signs and laws the same as other vehicles.

• Cyclists should ride on the road, in the same direction as traffic.

• It is illegal and dangerous to ride against traffic or on most sidewalks.

• Faster cyclists are discouraged from riding on multi-use trails or bike paths and should use roadways instead.

• Use proper lanes at multi-lane intersections.

• Cyclists may ride two-abreast (though should be considerate of other traffic).

• Cyclists should ride as far to the right as practicable and safe.  This does not mean on the shoulder or even to the farthest right possible, but is the farthest right that the cyclist deems safe. This may often be in the traffic lane. 

  Shoulders are not bike lanes though they may be used as a bike lane at the riders discretion.

• Motorists and other vehicles must allow a minimum of 3’ at all times when passing.

• All vehicles, motorists and cyclists, must yield proper right-of-way.

Path or Road? When choosing between a roadway and path, the dividing line is usually about 15-18 mph. Faster than 18 mph on the road, slower on the path. Note that, due to poor design, some paths have speed limits lower than 18 mph.  

Bicycle riders do have, for their own safety, considerable discretion in where they ride. A slower rider may choose to ride on the roadway instead of an adjacent path for a number of reasons including a path that is too narrow, in poor condition, crowded, has dangerous obstructions, or is otherwise deemed not as safe as the roadway. Faster riders may choose to utilize a path if the roadway is exceptionally dangerous though they should be respectful of other users and slow down when necessary.

There’s an interesting symbiosis happening between young and old – cycling.

Not spandex clad recreational, but whatever we already have on hop on the bike and ride to lunch.

While cycling is growing across all age groups, these two, under 35 and over 55, have been growing the fastest, and not so much for recreation, but for daily transportation. At the same time, the average number of miles driven by 16 to 34 year olds fell 23 percent; from 10,300 in 2001 to 7,900 in 2009. By 2010 the number of these young folks with a drivers license had fallen to a low of 73 percent. Both were still flat as of January 2015.

Venerable car magazines Motor Trend and Road & Track have been wondering why young people no longer seem interested in driving or owning a car. And AAA, the American Automobile Association, is introducing roadside assistance for cyclists in many cities.

Both young and old appear driven initially by a combination of money and health. A number of social scientists have pointed out that young folks today would much rather have the latest phone than a car (though many are OK with both). Interestingly, this applies to some of the older folk as well! Once they begin cycling though, their reasons shift to enjoyment and convenience.

Here’s a quick look at why we’ve seen this growth and why cycling and walking are expected to grow even faster in the coming years.

Enjoyment. Riding a bike is fun. Many of us rent bikes when we’re on vacation and it’s just as fun when we’re not on vacation. Well, so long as we have safe and comfortable facilities to ride on.

Convenience. For shorter trips riding a bicycle is often easier and faster than a car.

Health. As much as we may desire it, our bodies are not maintenance free. Next to eating well, moderate routine activity is the best thing we can do for our health. Increasingly we’re learning that short bits of activity spread throughout the day may be much better for us than a massive one hour sweatfest at the gym. Walking and cycling to get where we need to go—active transportation—is one of the best ways to get this activity. Incidentally, driving a car is the least healthy activity, or non-activity, that most of us do each day. It’s even worse than watching TV.

Besides the immediate benefits of reducing our weight and helping us to feel better throughout each day, routine walking and cycling also reduce the likelihood of longer term health issues such as joint problems, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s. These activities also prolong coordination, muscle tone, and mental acuity as we age. Here’s an entertaining 9-minute video on the topic by Dr. Mike Evans.

You also stand a much better chance of surviving any kind of surgery if you regularly ride a bicycle or walk according to a new study from the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh. Deaths after surgery can be as high as 22 percent for those with low levels of fitness but are about 4% for those who regularly ride or walk.

Mental Health. Numerous studies have found that those who are moderately active throughout the day are mentally healthier, more creative, less stressed, and are better able to deal with stress.

Children’s Development. Walking or riding a bike to school helps children’s social, physical, and maturity development in a number of ways such as developing social skills as they interact with other children of varying ages and developing coordination from balancing, pedaling, steering, and watching where they’re going . Both activities require and develop a bit of responsibility and maturity, particularly as they grow older and walk or ride on their own instead of with a parent or as part of a bike train. Cycling properly develops an ability to follow rules and helps them to understand why these rules exist and why it’s important to obey them even when a teacher isn’t watching.

Children’s Academics. We’ve known for some time about the mental benefits of physical activity. To put a point on this, a recent study in Denmark has shown that children who ride a bike to school are about half a year ahead of other children in concentration – a key element of their ability to learn.

Money. Cars aren’t cheap. Even a very basic 4-year-old Chevy Cobalt that you pay $10,000 to purchase will cost you about $41,000 over the next 5 years (depreciation, financing, insurance, maintenance, fuel, tires, brakes, and taxes). And this is assuming you don’t get any costly and insurance rate busting tickets. Each mile we choose not to drive saves us about $1. Or considerably more depending on what we drive or if we have to pay for parking. A four mile round trip to the store costs us about $4 in a car or $0.12 on a bicycle (not including health benefits).

Not owning a car, or having only one instead of two, can save anywhere from $6,200 per year to an average of $9,400 per year, or more. The savings are greater for the couples who are choosing to own only one car and don’t incur costs of a rental car for weekend getaways. This lifestyle choice is also influencing where many choose to live.

Safety. Cycling or walking, on safe and dedicated facilities, is considerably safer than driving a car. Even riding on the road with traffic, if done safely, appears no more dangerous on a bike than in a car (though it may feel more dangerous, statistics say otherwise). On the flip side, many older folk, concerned about endangering others when they drive, are choosing to ride bikes to their morning coffee klatch.

Social. I often don’t even recognize good friends behind the glare of their windshields. Driving is rather anonymous and sometimes almost anti-social. Walking and cycling though, promote social interaction with our neighbors (and most would rather hear our bike than our car).

Altruism. From reducing oil consumption or noise, air, and water pollution to increasing local business, there are a number of altruistic reasons people choose to bike or walk instead of drive. For more on this, turn to

2 – Why Cycling Is Good

(Oh, and there’s no better way to get that natural northern European windblown look than to get naturally windblown for 15 minutes on your way to work in the morning.)