Thank you! I am amazed that "Downtown" is defined by those streets.

+++ on #2
AND don't talk on your cell while riding your bike. It makes you look like an asshole.

Is it possible to get more Clarity about the "Can Bikes cut across traffic lanes and pass stopped cars?"

Does this also apply to lane splitting? For example, if there are two lanes going the same direction, are bikes allowed to pass in the left of the two lanes, on the right side of the car?

This is something that really drives me nuts as a driver. It happens alot at the Intersection of Broadway and Burnside, and seems completely nuts. Travelling South on Broadway, the right lane can proceed straight through the light. The Left lane can proceed straight through the light, or turn left onto east bound Burnside. When I'm at this light, I am usually in the Left lane and I travel straight through the light (I have a left turn not far after the light). Cyclists will come up between the two lanes of car traffic, and then turn left in front of cars who are proceeding straight. It is a complete recipe for disaster. It seems the proper thing to do is for Cyclists who want to turn left onto burnside, to take the lane at their spot in line and proceed like the rest of traffic.

It really drives me nuts.

Anyway, any idea if there is a distincion between that kind of passing, and the kind of passing that was discussed in the seminar? I checked through most of the Bike Law Manual, but couldn't really find much about it.

@Rulesaregood: You might want to check if you have a steering wheel down your pants.

@Rules,
Bikes can't legally ride down the divider line between lanes, which seems like what you're saying. But they could, I think, ride on the right hand side of the left lane to get to the front of the line then turn left (whether it's safe is another question). Good question, though, I'll email Ray and ask him to chime in.

@Rulesaregood: I see cyclists doing that kind of crap all the time (turning left from the right hand side of the lane especially). As a cyclist I want to hit them with a rotten tomato.

I HATE when cyclists cut to the front of the line to turn. Get in fucking line like everyone else. If you want to be treated like a car, act like a car. I hate cyclists.

@Unicode - Because that's not what pissed me off. :) I hate when I'm sitting at a red light in my car, and a bike comes up from behind and gets in front of me to wait. It's straight-up cutting in line, and I'm clearly going to be faster off the line once that light turns green....

Laws for pedestrians and motorists are pretty clear. What seems to be the problem is that it's difficult to anticipate what a cyclist might do. One moment a cyclist might be riding along with traffic, then pass on the right, hop onto the sidewalk to avoid a red light, ride through the cross walk, or, cut through a parking lot, back into the street, ride down the wrong side of the street then cut back to the flow and proceed. It'd be nice if I could do that in my car or on my motorcycle as long as I was going at the pace of a pedestrian....

Remember, this Q&A was about what's legal, not what's safe.

It might be legal to ride with headphones in, but it's dumb and not safe.
It might be legal to cut the line at a light, but if there's cars waiting to turn right it's not safe.
It might be legal to ride with just a rear reflector instead of a light, but it's not safe.

And there's other things that are illegal but perfectly safe, like doing a California stop (it's amazing how many of the people complaining about cyclists doing that do it themselves all the time in a car...).

The whole thing of treating bikes the same as cars is outdated, it just seems like laziness on the part of our legislators who don't want to come up with rules for bikes. Anyone know if the City of Portland would be allowed to come up with its own laws for bikes that conflict with the state-wide ones? Like requiring rear lights, for starters?

Thanks for asking my question, Smirk!

What about when riding North on Naito? On the right is Waterfront park, so there's no cross traffic (except pedestrians). Do I really have to stop at all those lights?