[SDCBC] Is this sign approved?

[Bicyclist]

The white one is not an approved sign. There is 
no section of CVC 21202 requiring single file bicycling.

Try this from 
http://www.vcbike.org/bikelaw/bikelaw.htm#_C._Riding_Single by Alan Wachtel.


C. Riding Single File or Two or More Abreast

Nothing in California law explicitly requires 
bicyclists to ride single file or prevents them 
from riding two or more abreast, as bicyclists 
often do for social reasons.[79] Nonetheless, 
some police officers believe that the slow 
bicycle rule does so implicitly, because the 
bicyclist on the left is not riding “as close as 
practicable to the right-hand curb or edge of the 
roadway.” This opinion is also expressed in a 
1975 Attorney General’s letter of advice to the 
Statewide Bicycle Committee, without further elaboration.[80]

This interpretation lacks reason, common sense, 
and harmony.[81] In the strictest sense, the 
bicyclist on the left cannot ride farther to the 
right, because of the presence of the bicyclist 
on the right. In an analogous situation, on a 
road that carries three lanes of traffic in the 
same direction, it would surely be considered 
proper for two slower motor vehicles to travel 
abreast in the two right-hand lanes, leaving the 
left-hand lane open for faster traffic to pass. 
Riding two abreast is expressly permitted by both 
the slow bicycle rule and the bike-lane rule when 
one bicyclist is passing another, even if both 
are slower than other traffic. Finally, no law 
currently prevents a car and a bicycle, 
regardless of speed, from traveling abreast in a 
single lane wide enough to allow it.[82] It is 
therefore illogical to single out two bicycles side by side.

If the slow bicycle rule is to be applied to the 
case of two cyclists side by side, it must meet 
the tests described under “What Constitutes a 
Violation?” supra. Clearly the rule cannot apply 
unless both cyclists are traveling slower than 
other traffic; if not, they may ride two or more 
abreast. Nor does the slow bicycle rule apply in 
a narrow lane, so riding two or more abreast is 
lawful there. The slow bicycle rule should apply 
only when faster traffic is unable to overtake 
and pass.[83] If traffic can pass by changing 
lanes, or if it could not pass even if the 
bicyclists were riding single file, there should 
be no violation. If bicyclists ride two or more 
abreast, but revert to single file to allow 
following traffic to overtake, again there should be no violation.

Regardless of how the slow bicycle rule is 
interpreted, bicyclists may lawfully ride two or 
more abreast on the shoulder, because the 
shoulder is not part of the roadway, and 
therefore not subject to the slow bicycle 
rule.[84] Likewise, bicyclists may ride abreast, 
one on the roadway and one or more on the 
shoulder, provided that the one on the roadway 
observes the slow bicycle rule, if 
applicable.[85] Finally, bicyclists may ride two 
or more abreast in a bike lane; the special 
bike-lane rule, if applicable, requires at most 
that they ride within the bike lane, without 
specifying any particular position in it.

[81]. For exactly the same reason, the Attorney 
General found in id. that bicyclists could 
legally make a left turn from a left-turn lane or 
pocket, overtake and pass to the left of a slower 
vehicle, or move away from the right-hand curb or 
edge to avoid hazards in the roadway, even though 
Cal. Veh. Code § 21202 at that time contained no such explicit exceptions.

[82]. If such a law were enacted, it would 
disrupt traffic flow unnecessarily by preventing 
a motorist from passing a bicyclist in a lane 
wide enough to permit passing to be done safely.

[83]. See “Practicable is a Flexible Term 
Favorable to Bicyclists” and “What Constitutes a Violation?” supra.

[84]. “Bicyclists May Ride on the Shoulder” infra 
demonstrates that riding on the shoulder is lawful per se.

[85]. The slow bicycle rule does not apply to the bicyclist on the shoulder.


At 07:40 AM 2/20/2007, Kenneth King wrote:
>This is a San Luis Obispo sign. I don't think I 
>have seen one like it before; approved by CALTRANS?
>Ken
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