Stoplights: fatwa requested

08-03-2004, 01:15 PM

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!

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