I'd like to talk about shoulders. What is a shoulder? What are they used for? Do motorists see them differently than cyclists?
The Transportation Code says that shoulders are not a part of the roadway. As "roadway" is defined by the code. Sec.541.302(11)and(15).
Shoulders are needed to protect the road bed and to keep the edge of the roadway from sinking. They provide an escape area for disabled vehicles. They improve the sight lines for crossing traffic at junctions and intersections. They provide acceleration and deceleration lanes on high speed roads. They are used to collect debris from the roadway. They also provide for the passing a disabled or left turning vehicle.
Sec. 545.058 describes what one can and cannot do on a shoulder. Strangely it doesn't say whether crying on a shoulder is permitted. (Ouch!) Operators of bicycles have a right to the roadway, but they are permitted to use a shoulder if they want.
Drivers of automobiles see the shoulder as the proper place for drivers of bicycles- out of their way. (Where they are safe! Foolishly implying that they are poor drivers, unable to avoid hitting something in their way. But I digress.) I get far more grief from automobile drivers when there is an improved shoulder alongside the roadway than when there is no shoulder at all.
So do the benefits of riding on the roadway with a wide shoulder nearby outweigh the problems of riding on the shoulder itself?
In my opinion, the primary benefit of riding in the lane is that I become a big enough nuisance to the automobile driver that he must put off his attention to non-driving distractions in order to avoid colliding with me. A shoulder cyclist runs the risk of overtaking traffic dismissing him as being out of the way enough that they have the freedom to return to their non-driving distraction, thus becoming vulnerable to having them drift off the roadway into him. The lethal consequences of this peril rise exponentially to the speed of the overtaking traffic, counter-intuitively indicating that avoiding the shoulder is even more important on high speed roads.
The things available for auto drivers to distract themselves from their duty of operating their vehicle seem to be multiplying. If this is true, then riding in the shoulder becomes ever more riskier as time goes on- making cycling in the roadway ever more imperative to consider as a risk reduction strategy.
If shoulders provide better sight-lines for cross traffic, is that something a cyclist wants to give up by riding on the shoulder? Statistically, a cyclist is in far greater risk from crossing movements than from overtaking traffic!
I am generally exposed to better road surface on the roadway than on the shoulder. Besides collecting debris, often the shoulder is neglected as a cost saving measure when the roadway is re-surfaced. Often a side diversion hazard is created with the transition from new surface to old. Cracked pavement and pothole repair are not met with the same vigor as blemishes in the travel lane. I do not need to divert as much attention to avoiding surface hazards as the shoulder rider does.
Sometimes, a shoulder will narrow without warning, giving a cyclist little time to merge into the traffic lane. Is the shoulder rider prepared for this?
All in all, I would submit that a cyclist ought to avoid riding on the shoulder and in the narrow right lane on state hwy 287 pictured above between Ennis and Waxahachie Texas.
7 comments:
Great post!
The shoulder is the preferred way to ride by many people in Houston. When I visit my dad and ride with him out in the country near Houston, we are the only cyclists riding in the lane. We're often met with honking drivers telling us to get in the shoulder.
If the cyclists in the area hadn't set the precedent to ride on the shoulder like that, then everyone would be fine. Personally, I don't like buying unnecessary tubes and tires punctured by the debris in the shoulder, so I'll keep to the real roadway.
I think you make some fine points about drivers being attentive. I'll have to remember to be glad that they are paying attention when they're honking at me.
Eliot: I'll have to remember to be glad that they are paying attention when they're honking at me.Now that's a looking-on-the-bright-side attitude if I've ever heard one. I love it!
Shoulder: the furthest I have taken a road bike off-road.
Many bicycle advocates exult wide shoulder (6ft) for rural road because of the danger of high speed. I don't get it, any shoulder still work as collector of debris, [glass, rock, sand, salt] and rural areas add a multitude of small dead critters, possum, raccoon, bird, etc.
@stu42j regarding "honking", soft toot within the law, OK. LAYING ON THE HONK TO INTIMIDATE, it's a little letter to local law enforcement with vehicle license, etc.
Shoulders are a cyclist option in my state, I wonder how automobile driver get sub-alternate travel lanes built or forced on car drivers?
I have mixed feelings on this. The road operation looks like a typical Interstate Highway except the traffic volume is lower. I'm not convinced that taking the lane on I-35W or SH-183 is a prudent course of action. In fact, I've never seen a cyclist doing it. It's untouched territory in Forester's books.
What's more, if taking lanes on such a road became common, it would probably result in added cycling restrictions on limited-access roads. Such restrictions would require no statute changes at all - just some signs. I DO at least want to retain the option of using the I-35W shoulder if Westport became unusable. There are worse things than benign neglect...
One other thing - if you drive on rural Texas roads much, you'll often experience the "move over onto the shoulder" approach where good ol' boys in their pickups will shift right to the shoulder as a faster moving vehicle approaches from behind.
It startled me the first few times I experienced it. I never saw anything like it all the years I drove in Washington or California.
Whenever there is a shoulder of more than about four feet, I will experience about 1 in 25 motorists will pass me on the right.
Often, it is at a greater distance than if they did it legally.
SH-287 is not a limited access road, but it has the "feel" of one, as the photo shows. I am betting my health that taking the lane is the more prudent position between Ennis and Waxahachie.
SteveA points out; " One other thing - if you drive on rural Texas roads much, you'll often experience the "move over onto the shoulder" approach where good ol' boys in their pickups will shift right to the shoulder as a faster moving vehicle approaches from behind. "
These folks are applying a section of the law that allows such nonsense- Sec. 545.058. DRIVING ON IMPROVED SHOULDER.
(a) An operator may drive on an improved shoulder to the right of the main traveled portion of a roadway if that operation is necessary and may be done safely, but only:
(5) to allow another vehicle traveling faster to pass.
I generally don't like this provision in the transportation code because it contravenes established ROW rules.
The language makes it optional (By using the word "may") and I would argue that the word "necessary" voids it's legal practicality, but I mostly don't like it because it becomes an expectation for slower traffic to move aside off the roadway for faster vehicles over time.
That expectation can result in bullying behavior.
The only time faster traffic can compel slower traffic to move aside for them is if they have red lights and a siren.
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