jon c. 

The Idaho Stop law is a great thing and should be the law everywhere. But I follow the practice without that official sanction and the local constabulary seem fine with it.

Congratulations on retirement. I look forward to it in a few years.

Rollfast

I have no idea, but it's fun watching a few of you cite regulations, chapter and verse.

noisebeam

28-812. Applicability of traffic laws to bicycle riders

A. A person riding a bicycle on a roadway or on a shoulder adjoining a roadway is granted all of the rights and is subject to all of the duties applicable to the driver of a vehicle by this chapter and chapters 4 and 5 of this title, except special rules in this article and except provisions of this chapter and chapters 4 and 5 of this title that by their nature can have no application.

Juan Foote

The best and most worthless, is the 3' passing rule. Best for obvious reasons. Worthless because it is positively 110% not enforced or followed.

MikeyMK

We can ride on the pavement. Almost everywhere.

I seem to be a bit of an oddball on this site, but you guys have no idea. Everything from your lights, clothes, equipment, bikes, attitude... the topics here reflect how the entire cycling experience, and your approach/execution, is based around the flaws and dangers of having to use roads. And it's horrific.

So much of the world has so far to go. Ironically, it seems the western world is the worst.

All you'll hear about Milton Keynes is that we have too many roundabouts and our cows are made of concrete (ironically it means few traffic lights, and we have real livestock animals in parkland everywhere). It seems our world-leading, quite halcyonical, cycleway system is our best-kept secret. Despite reaching every nook and cranny of the City. And that's great for us..

jmeb

For others who aren't aware -- in the UK, "pavement" == "sidewalk" in the US.

However, in the case of Milton Keyes, their cycle networks are more like a densely built multi-use path.

I don't think you'll find many people in the US cycling culture which dominates this site that wouldn't love such a system. But our desire to be on roads stems from the fact it the lesser of two evils, and there is no political will to build cycle infrastructure like Milton Keyes which is quite a distinctive building project built as a greenfield development. It isn't feasible to retrofit such infrastructure into most cities without a massive reduction in space dedicated to automobiles -- and then again -- a political will problem.

So short of that, you'll find most US advocates at least working towards ensure safety on the street which requires changes to norms, social attitudes, laws while we work on getting dedicated lanes built. Until then, we need to ensure safety on roads because they are the only viable option. Sidewalks aka pavement here doesn't exist in many areas, where it does it is often just 2-3ft wide, or extremely busy, and therefore more dangerous to ride on than the road.

KraneXL

There are streets with dedicated bike lane as well as some functional paths. However, my biggest grip is that the bike lanes are relocated to the far edges of the road. Exactly where all the road debris collects and decay of asphalt begins. With all the glass and nails and rocks there, its the worst possible surface, as we cyclist all know. Although it wouldn't be so bad if they cleaned the gutters every now and then.

In fact, I know of one bike lane that was paved over 30 years ago and hasn't been touched since. The saplings that were planed along its edges back then are now fully grown trees with roots buckling the path. Not the ride most of us would enjoy. Its great for mountain bikers though.