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08-04-2004, 12:07 AM

Luigi de Guzman wrote:

>On the way back home from the store, I roll up to a stoplight. The
>street is four lanes, two in each direction; the rightmost lane
>usually fills up with right-turning traffic, while the left-hand lane
>stays pretty loose. My way home is up a fairly gentle hill.
>
>Now my first instinct as a law-abiding cyclist is to stop, take my bit
>of the lane, and wait in line. But I've done that for ages and ages,
>and I already know from experience that if I do, I'll just have to get
>rolling again in twenty to sixty seconds.
>
>So today I do something a little different; I look over my shoulder,
>signal, join the left-hand lane, roll up right to the light. By this
>time, the light has changed, and I still have enough momentum to check
>back the other way, change back to the right lane, and move up the
>hill.
>
>So, fatwa time, RBM traffic muftis: Is this permissible for the
>faithful cyclist, or should I just go back to waiting in the right
>lane? I mention this because motorists do this sort of thing all the
>time--line up in the left lane to get clear of a long line of
>right-turning traffic, and then change back into the right lane when
>the opportunity presents itself.
>
>-Luigi
>
>go play in traffic!
>
>www.livejournal.com/users/ouij
>Photos, rants, raves
>
Sounds reasonable and perfectly normal to me. You ride a pretty zippy
bike to boot, so you aren't holding up traffic either. And like Frank K
said, be aware of impatient passers on your right.
Enjoy the ride!
Bernie

08-04-2004, 12:07 AM	#49 (permalink)
Bernie Guest Posts: n/a	Re: Stoplights: fatwa requested Luigi de Guzman wrote: >On the way back home from the store, I roll up to a stoplight. The >street is four lanes, two in each direction; the rightmost lane >usually fills up with right-turning traffic, while the left-hand lane >stays pretty loose. My way home is up a fairly gentle hill. > >Now my first instinct as a law-abiding cyclist is to stop, take my bit >of the lane, and wait in line. But I've done that for ages and ages, >and I already know from experience that if I do, I'll just have to get >rolling again in twenty to sixty seconds. > >So today I do something a little different; I look over my shoulder, >signal, join the left-hand lane, roll up right to the light. By this >time, the light has changed, and I still have enough momentum to check >back the other way, change back to the right lane, and move up the >hill. > >So, fatwa time, RBM traffic muftis: Is this permissible for the >faithful cyclist, or should I just go back to waiting in the right >lane? I mention this because motorists do this sort of thing all the >time--line up in the left lane to get clear of a long line of >right-turning traffic, and then change back into the right lane when >the opportunity presents itself. > >-Luigi > >go play in traffic! > >www.livejournal.com/users/ouij >Photos, rants, raves > Sounds reasonable and perfectly normal to me. You ride a pretty zippy bike to boot, so you aren't holding up traffic either. And like Frank K said, be aware of impatient passers on your right. Enjoy the ride! Bernie