Thursday, January 21, 2010

Take The Lane When It's Less Than 14 Feet Wide

The Florida Bicycle Association made a tremendous video showing that a bicyclist has a right to take the lane when it's less than 14 feet wide. A lane with a width of less than 14 feet is considered sub-standard because there's not enough room for a car to safely pass a bicyclist who is pedaling at the right side of the road.

Check out how a motorist blasts his horn at a bicyclist who is filming a police officer properly taking the lane as part of this video. Obviously, the motorist didn't see that the first bicyclist was a police officer, who stopped to explain the law to the motorist.

Keri Caffrey was shooting the video for the FBA Law Enforcement Toolkit. The officer is Bill Edgar. Thanks to Friend of SWFBUD Michael Ploch for sending this along.

A Tampa police officer cited a bicyclist for impeding traffic in a lane that I believe is less than 14 feet wide. I hope Brad Mercel, the cited cyclist, uses this video as evidence to show a judge that a bicyclist can take the lane when it's less than 14 feet wide -- a "sub-standard" lane.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

There is no verbiage concerning 14 feet in the statutes....