A bicycle is a vehicle — and other laws you need to know

Published 1:30 am Saturday, May 20, 2017

Note: May is National Bike Month, and Street Smarts celebrated Bike Everywhere Day on May 19. Some other topics covered in celebration:

– Is a bicycle helmet required? Only in one place…

– The Dutch trick that could save a cyclist from pain — and a driver from breaking the law

Washington Bikes offers a free pocket reference guide to state bicycle laws. So I sent in for one. And I learned several new-to-me things right away.

For example, a bicycle is legally defined as a vehicle when on the road and as a pedestrian when on the sidewalk or crosswalk.

It’s a matter of safety.

“Cyclists fare best when they act and are treated like drivers of vehicles,” said Susan Lahti, an avid cyclist from Mukilteo and a certified instructor with the League of American Bicyclists. “Ride like you’re driving a car.”

That means don’t stay in the right-turn lane if you intend to go straight, for example.

It also means keeping right when there’s faster traffic needing to get around you, using a front lamp and rear reflector at night, and obeying all traffic laws — or risk the fines that go with violating them.

Some other facts:

– Bike riders are not required to use a bike lane or shoulder.

– Bikes may ride two abreast, but not more.

– Bikes may legally control the lane by riding in the middle or left third of a lane so faster traffic merges fully into the next lane to pass.

To get your own pocket guide, send a request to info@WAbikes.org.

Melissa Slager: streetsmarts@heraldnet.com, 425-339-3432