This is CyclistView video from Brian DeSousa’s first visit to Orlando. I first used it in a post called Take the Red Pill. At the time I had no idea how to edit video, so Brian kindly did a quick edit. I was recently preparing a DVD and decided to re-edit the video to emphasize some key points about traffic.

Platoons and gaps

One of the challenges I have with creating videos of confident traffic cycling is that it is mostly uneventful. Of course, that’s exactly what I want to show, but, well, it’s almost too boring to watch. It consists of less than a minute of cars changing lanes to pass, followed by less than a minute of nothing. So, if I show several minutes of continuous video, it’s going to have long periods of nothing but a cyclist on an empty road. Thirty seconds feels like an eternity if you’re watching nothing happen in internet video. I recently cut together a 6 minute video of me riding on University Blvd, just showing the platoons and not the gaps, I eliminated about 3 minutes of empty-road footage to get that. And it was shot at the tail end of rush hour. Unfortunately, eliminating the boring parts actually means I’m not telling the best part of the story. It makes it look as if passing traffic is a non-stop experience. It isn’t.

Funny thing about video. It’s incredibly useful for telling a story about how bad things are. I could do that in one or two sessions by riding too far right and then cutting together a 2 minute video with numerous close calls. You can find stuff like that all over YouTube. It’s much more difficult to portray cycling as safe and uneventful without producing something soporific.

The reality of delay

In the video above, I called attention to the van. From the time it comes up behind us until it is able to pass, the “delay” is 30 seconds. As much as I hate passing a queue, doing so gave us some valuable footage because we passed that van. Including the time we waited through one light cycle (I cut that part), it had been 4 1/2 minutes since the van had passed us. Notice that there are cars queued in front of that van. Those cars had already been ahead of us on the road before we ever turned on to Orange Ave — possibly by 30 seconds or more.

One thing I’ve seen entirely too often — from motorists, cyclists and law enforcement — is an obsessive lack of perspective about a cyclist’s impact on traffic. In my experience, 30 seconds is a relatively long time for a motorist to have to wait to pass me. Rarely, it may be a bit more. Usually it’s 0-10 seconds. Invariably, that motorist will then wait behind other traffic (that was already in front of us) at the next red light. At the red light he is stopped, when behind me he is still moving.

Courtesy scolds

Lately upon the internet, I’ve heard my fill of blather about courtesy (mainly chest-thumping from other cyclists about what better citizens they are than my friend Reed). They seem to wish to outdo each-other by claiming how dutifully they’ll hug the gutter or how quickly they’ll skitter into the shoulder upon the appearance of a motorist.

Courtesy is an important aspect of civility on both sides, but reality should have some bearing on the matter, especially when courtesy is being balanced against the cyclist’s safety and efficiency. If I’m on a 2-lane road with constant oncoming traffic for as far as I can see, I typically will pull over or practice control & release. Additionally, if I am first at a red light and a lot of traffic queues behind me, I will often drive through the intersection and turn into whatever business is on the corner. In 10-20 seconds (usually, little more than the time it takes to turn around) the traffic will often be gone, then I ride out on the empty road. That’s less about courtesy than my own comfort.

In most of my riding on arterial roads, the platoon looks like the one that catches up to us in the video above. Most motorists change lanes far enough back to open the sight lines and everyone goes by with little or no slowing. Occasionally an inattentive or incompetent driver will wind up stuck behind me until the platoon clears. But even so, all of them will be waiting together at the next red light. My getting out of the way would make zero difference in their trip time.

Increasing confidence with evidence

Shooting and watching hours of video has really given me concrete proof of how little actual impact I have on traffic. This further empowers me to ride assertively as an equal vehicle driver. It makes my bicycling experience calm, enjoyable and virtually conflict-free. It gives me the freedom to not worry about what’s behind me. It makes me feel as if there is no limitation for me to access any destination by bike.

I hope that sharing a few minutes of video here and there does the same for you.

I don’t know much about video cameras. I’ve never owned a camcorder. So please take this post as my observations, not expert advice. My adventures in bike video and video editing began in October 2008 when Brian DeSousa came to Orlando.

Brian was generous in showing me CyclistView equipment and methods. And, of course, in providing valuable video of me cycling in Orlando traffic. With all that great video, I had to learn to do some basic editing. I hacked away at iMovie (the free version), later upgrading to the more-robust-but-frequently-aggravating iLife version. This was my first iMovie product.

Brian riding in front of the double paceline. Screen shot from VholdR video.

Brian returned in March. He spent a few days here and shot a bunch more video with me, including some group video that Dan Gutierrez used for an educational piece, and the downtown cruiser video I edited for this post. All of this video was shot on a VIO POV 1. I also had the opportunity to use a VholdR while Brian was here in March (more on that later).

Since Brian’s first visit, I’ve had the itch to buy my own camera. Bike cam video is such an incredible educational tool. But I wanted the best camera for the job, which meant plunking down big bucks on something I’d essentially use for hobby and volunteer work.

Robert Seidler shoots video of CO author, Rodney, for the LE Toolkit

The FBA Law Enforcement Toolkit project gave me a legitimate business expense to purchase my own POV 1.5 this fall. In November, Robert Seidler and I put our new POVs through the paces collecting video for that program.

Versatility & stability

Robert sets up the hazardcam on his Bike Friday

One of the main attractions of this camera is the tiny profile of the camera head. You can mount the thing almost anywhere.

I had always been under the impression that mounting a camera to the bike would produce too much vibration. Many of the bike-mounted videos I’ve seen require a lot of digital stabilization, resulting in image loss at the edges.

When we mounted cameras to our bikes to shoot road hazards, I figured a little camera shake wouldn’t be a bad thing. The idea was to show why bicyclists need to avoid the edge of the road, and that conditions that are merely annoying to motorists can be intolerable and dangerous for bicycle drivers. Well, it turned out the camera was almost too stable for that purpose. It certainly belies the pain and suffering one experiences on a road like Summerlin Ave. Here’s a sample:

Choosing a Lens

The POV 1.5 comes with a 110° wide angle lens. VIO also offers a 70° lens for tighter shots. I’ve experimented with both. The 110° is ideal for both image stability (especially on the helmet mount) and showing the the peripheral scene. For traffic interactions in their entirety, this is essential. One limitation I’ve found with the wide angle is that it makes everything look farther away. If you’re demonstrating properly-functioning traffic dynamics, this is an asset, but if you want to show traffic conflicts, it doesn’t work well. The last 2 clips in the video below compare motorists passing into oncoming traffic. In real life, the one shot with the 110° was slightly farther away than the one shot with the 70°, but nowhere near as far as it looks on the video.

70° lens mounted to the rack

I found the 70° lens works best mounted to the bike. On my helmet, the tight field shook wildly, exacerbating every bump, no matter how hard I tried to absorb the shock and hold my head steady. On moderately rough pavement, the video is unwatchable (the above clip of Mighk on the six-lane road—U.S. 17-92—is on fairly smooth pavement).

110° lens mounted near the bottom of the rear rack

I like the 110° mounted on the back of the bike, but haven’t found a good forward-facing mount. There is too much side-to-side movement when it is mounted to the handlebars. When mounted to the frame pointing forward, the peripheral movement of the bars and cables is disruptive.

The helmet mount requires a still head while your body absorbs the bumps. Photo by Mighk.

A helmet mount is best for shooting overall traffic dynamics because of the high perch. There is also a benefit to being able to turn my head to follow action (like here). The downside is I can’t turn my head for a shoulder check when I’m holding the camera on a subject. I put a take-a-look mirror on my helmet visor, I’m still getting used to that. Another downside is the inevitable stiff neck. Plus, on our rough roads, I get sore quads and calves from holding myself off the seat and using my legs as shock absorbers. But as Dan G. says, “we suffer for out art.”

The display

The recorder unit is mounted to the Arkel handlebar bag mount with Velcro. It's handy to start and stop recording and to check the image.

A valuable feature this camera has that most other helmet-cams don’t is an LCD display. Being able to aim the camera and see what the image looks like on the fly is a big time-saver. When Brian and I used the VholdR, we had to set up the mount, then take out the card, put it in a portable player, check the image, and do it again until it was right. Then, since it was on my helmet, I had to focus on holding my head in the exact same place as when I set it up. At one point we tried to set the VholdR up on another rider in a hurry — skipping checking the image — it was aimed wrong and the resulting video was useless. With the POV, I can check the image without recording anything. And I can check it again as I’m riding to make sure it’s aimed where I want.

Accessories

My favorite accessory is the Ultra-Clamp, an incredible little contortionist with a vise on one end and a camera mount on the other (you can use any tripod-ready camera with it). It can be purchased from VIO or HelmetCameraCentral with the camera, or you can get it at a photo store. I bought mine at Colonial Photo and Hobby.

We used a magnet-mounted platform (included with the basic camera kit) to attach the lens to a cap for shooting pedestrian crosswalk issues

The basic POV kit comes with a number of nifty mounting devices, but it’s missing some essentials that must be purchased separately. I bought the C-Clamp and Wide Flange Base to attach the lens to the ultra-clamp. I also use them to Velcro the lens to a helmet. VIO sells a separate mount kit, but I didn’t see anything in that with similar functionality.

Wish list

I hope the next generation includes an HD version and a bigger LCD (my old eyes need some help). I wonder if the color could be more vibrant.

An incredible tool for education and advocacy

In building instructional materials for cyclists and law enforcement, point-of-view video is priceless. It’s not possible to shoot accurate traffic interactions with video in a following motor vehicle. We’ve used a car to get motorist-perspective video for the law enforcement program. It’s valuable footage, but if the video car follows the cyclist for more than a few seconds, it really screws up the traffic dynamic (even on a multi-lane road). Then if the video car passes while there is traffic behind it, the cyclist is left with a herd of of angry motorists. (The same thing happens if any motorist sits behind a cyclist instead of taking ample opportunities to pass.)

The greatest gift the POV camera has given us is the view of the world behind the cyclist. Being able to show a continuous view of traffic overtaking safely, especially on roads most people think cyclists can’t use safely, is like shining a light under the bed and exposing the lack of monsters. Watching Brian and Dan’s Cyclistview videos gave me the courage to ride much more assertively on high speed roads. Once I experienced it, courage was no longer required — having cars pass in the next lane (8 – 10ft away) is so different and so much more pleasant than what most cyclists experience, it changes your entire perspective of the road.

This is an important tool for the education of non-cyclists as well. Once we demonstrate our legal right to use the road, the bogus safety and delay arguments become the weapon of choice for those who want to remove us from it (“That may be the rule, but…”). POV video is a powerful defense against mythology, misinformation and deliberately specious arguments.

Here’s an example of rear-facing video in daylight and darkness on Curry Ford Rd.

LE Toolkit production vehicle. We did almost all of our transportation for this project by bike. This often involved riding at slow speeds on arterial roads. The POV allowed us to run video along the way.

The video was shot by Robert Seidler. The daylight video was shot from the POV attached to the seat stay of Robert’s Bike Friday.  For the darkness video, the camera was attached to his seat post. The darkness video was shot at 6 AM on our way to meet the Colonial High School Bike Bus. Not much traffic eastbound at that hour, but drivers typically speed on such a road when it is empty. They all still saw us from a long distance and changed lanes. Our speed was never above 15mph, it was probably around 12mph. I was hauling a trailer with 150lbs of production gear.

The VIO POV was a huge asset to the project, allowing us to get valuable traffic interaction video while we rode from location to location.

Today was a stellar day! The weather was perfect and my work for today consisted of shooting on-bike video for the Law Enforcement Toolkit. The objective was to shoot the best practices of bicycle driving with a uniformed officer. My subject was Bill Edgar of OPD (with appearances by Mighk). Bill runs the bicycle training program and trains bike patrol officers all over North America.

One important segment of the program deals with a cyclist’s use of a “sub-standard width” lane. For the purpose of the statute, that’s a lane less than 14 feet wide. A cyclist is allowed the full use of a sub-standard* lane — meaning you can ride anywhere in it you choose and motorists must change lanes to pass. The lane in the photo above (Princeton St) has 13 feet of usable pavement (from the gutter seam to the lane line). It looks pretty wide with a small car in it, but it’s too tight to share with SUVs or large commercial vehicles. A cyclist’s best position in the lane is one that makes it clear to motorists that they have to change lanes.

Unfortunately, some motorists resent having to change lanes, and they make a big fuss about it.

So, as I was riding directly behind Bill on Princeton, one such motorist came upon us. Unable to see any details of the cyclist in front of me, he laid on the horn to try and intimidate us out of his way. That’s when Bill moved left into view… and the horn went silent.

It’s unbelievable that the guy went on sassing Bill after we stopped. I guess that’s the personality of someone who would honk like that (frequently wrong but never in doubt). The video doesn’t show it, but he was shaking like a schoolboy. I’m guessing his bravado was a cover for having peed in his pants.

We actually did demonstrate 2-abreast riding in a sub-standard lane (including Princeton St) with Mighk. Oddly enough, there was no honking.

Help us stop hostile behavior

The Law Enforcement Toolkit is a product of the Florida Bicycle Association. The first phase has been funded and is almost ready for beta testing, but we need more funding to complete the training program and implement it in Police Departments around the state. The purpose of the LE Toolkit is to educate traffic enforcement officers about the rights and responsibilities of bicycle drivers. Informed law enforcement is key to changing the culture and making the road system safer and more civil for everyone. Please help support this program with an individual, club or business membership, or a tax-deductible donation.

*Sub-standard is a misleading term, since >90% of the lanes in Central Florida are less than 14ft wide.

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One of the things that makes people think vehicular cycling requires speed and athletic prowess is the idea of making a left turn on a multi-lane road. It seems like it would be a really difficult thing to do. But most of the time it’s actually really easy, and you have options.

Making a standard left turn is easier than you think.

First of all, traffic is not constant. As I discussed in Getting the Road to Yourself, traffic travels in packs. With a little anticipation, you can usually make a multi-lane merge while you have the whole road to yourself between packs. That technique only requires overcoming the belief that you need to always be riding in the right lane. The video in the above Flash presentation shows Brian and I riding 4/10 of a mile in the left lane on University Blvd. It turns out the gap was almost that long as well. We could have gone over pretty much at any time, but we had no way to know that. The previous two packs had been long and only a few seconds apart. Had another pack overtaken us, they would have filed into the lanes to the right to pass us. There’s no penalty for planning ahead.

If traffic is very dense, or you miss your opportunity, you can sometimes negotiate a merge as traffic slows for a red light. However, motorists are difficult to negotiate with when they are driving faster than the speed of thought.

Plan B

Having another option is a great stress-reliever—with left turns, you have more than one. I usually have the plan B option in mind when I’m anticipating a left turn on a busy road. I’ve decided by what point I want to have merged into the left lane (slightly ahead of where the left turn lane begins). If I check for traffic and it’s thick behind me, I stay to the right and make an alternate turn. Sometimes I use an alternate as my first choice and don’t even bother anticipating a merge.

The Jug-handle

This is my primary choice when merging isn’t possible (or I just don’t feel like it). The advantages to this turn are that it’s entirely vehicular—it doesn’t require unclipping both feet or dismounting—and it places me in the queue of traffic. To remain legal, of course, you can only do this where U-turns are allowed.

The Box Turn

I have done this turn a time or two. I’ll do it if there is no traffic queued at the intersection already or if there is a bike lane to the left of an RTOL. I won’t place myself in front of a car and do that. I also don’t feel comfortable sitting to the right of the traffic stream if cars can turn right from that lane. The problem with this turn is that if your timing is bad and the light changes in the middle of flopping around with your bike, you will be unpopular with any drivers who have queued up behind you, and you could miss the light.

The Pedestrian Turn

I’ll tell you right now, I hate this one. I never mention it without a warning. There are places in the U.S. where pedestrians are respected, making this is a viable option. Orlando is not one of them. It allows you to transition the intersection without plopping in front of a line of traffic, or having to ride to the back of a long queue. But it’s also a good way to get hit by a right-turning car. Remember, pedestrians can jump out of the way (backwards or sideways) bicyclists can only stop or go forward. You’re not very maneuverable when walking your bike, either.

The Big Box Turn

No, this doesn’t involve a WalMart parking lot. This could also be called the Grandma Turn. When elderly drivers become uncomfortable with merging, they adapt by driving around the block, making three rights to go left. It works for cyclists too, but not so much out in the burbs where the blocks are half a mile long. Just thought I’d mention it, it’s not in the Flash.

Unsignalized Intersections

I plan my routes to avoid having to make a left from a multi-lane road at an unsignalized intersection. If you can’t make a standard turn, it’s best just to travel to the next signalized intersection, execute your left turn of choice (or a U-turn), ride back to where you wanted to turn and make a right.

Animations of the first 4 turns are in the Flash. I’m teaching myself Flash animation, this is my first interactive “project.” Enjoy

www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TQ7aID1jHs

Nice work, Preston! I was contemplating doing something similar with still photography, but this is perfect.

Other posts on the door zone:

The Swinging Door

DIY Door Zone Warning

The Politics of Sharrows

This cannot be brought up too much. Most cyclists I observe in the Orlando area are hugging the edges of parked cars, bike lane or not. That is a practice that can get you killed.

And now take a moment and ask yourself: “Why do they paint lines telling me to ride where I could get killed?” Let me know what you come up with, because I sure don’t get it.

What do these signs tell you when you're riding? Should you always merge right when a lane is added to the road? Do you know when a bike lane stripe is misleading you? What do you do when your lane is going to end? What can a roadway cyclist learn from a pedestrian countdown clock?

We write often about vehicular cycling, AKA Effective Cycling. The focus of vehicular cycling discussion and education is usually on the mechanics of how to position ourselves, handle certain road configurations and avoid the mistakes of other road users.

The mechanical components of cycling education are:

• the rules of the road;
• crash causes (and statistics);
• road configurations (intersections, turn lanes, interchanges, weave lanes, diverges, drop lanes, bike lanes, etc.);
• safe positioning on the road at and between intersections;
• and emergency handling techniques.

The overarching goal of teaching all that mechanical information is to give students the resources for situation awareness—the key component of mindful cycling—in traffic.

Situation awareness is the perception of environmental elements within a volume of time and space, the comprehension of their meaning, and the projection of their status in the near future.

That sounds pretty complicated, but it actually becomes second nature once you understand where the dangers are and where they are not. For example, it’s hard to have good situation awareness if you’re obsessed with overtaking traffic. A cyclist’s decision-making requires paying attention to the road ahead and reading the signs and environmental clues that allow for proactive decision-making.

We need to look for roadway hazards like parked cars, potholes and curb extensions. We can travel more efficiently and safely when we anticipate and look for signs of changes in the roadway, like:

• the right lane becoming a continuous right-turn lane, drop lane or highway on-ramp;
• a new lane entering from the right (where you’ll need to merge right), or forming a short weave lane (where you should not merge right);
• the bike lane ending or traveling to the right of right-turning traffic, or being striped completely wrong;
• expiring pedestrian countdown clocks that can tell us whether to speed up to make the light, or slow down because it ain’t gonna happen.

All of these things require situation awareness and forward attention.

Looking and planning ahead is something novice drivers (of all vehicles) don’t do well. This is partly due to their inexperience with road design and traffic dynamics, and partly due to anxiety. Anxiety diverts a tremendous amount of cognitive energy away from awareness.

Mindfulness vs vigilance: going beyond defensive driving

Defensive driving can be characterized by vigilance.

When I first started riding a motorcycle, I experienced a lot of “surprises” on the road despite being tense and watchful. Although I had taken the MSF safety course, motorcycling felt quite dangerous to me because it seemed like there were conflicts everywhere. I was always driving defensively and reacting to my environment, in a state of hyper-vigilance. It was quite exhausting.

Yet, after several months of riding, the surprises went away. I discovered that as I relaxed, I was able to see and anticipate the movements of other drivers. Once I lost the anxiety, the world slowed down around me and I found myself in a state of awareness that did not require so much vigilance or defensiveness. The combination of my relaxed state and the foundation of knowledge I’d acquired in the safety course allowed me to easily process what was a threat and what wasn’t. As I sensed the need, I would casually shift my speed or position on the road to increase my visibility or avoid conflict.

As a motorcycle driver, making the transition from anxious and frequently-surprised to relaxed and mindful was relatively easy—much easier than as a bicycle driver. Why? Because I didn’t have to overcome any cultural stigma about my right to control my environment. There is no taboo against a motorcycle driver controlling a lane, because motorcycle drivers are never expected or required to share a lane.

Unfortunately, that stigma (reinforced by bad laws, speed-centric road users and mollycoddling bike advocates) keeps most bicyclists from making a complete transition to mindfulness. For some, vigilance is as good as it gets because they’re operating in ways that make conflict inevitable. This state of mind is not only stressful, it’s not enough to protect them.

Mindless bicycling

Mindless cycling has many forms:

• Simple ignorance: obliviousness of the need to follow the rules of the road, the danger of riding against traffic, the potential hazards of car doors, blind spots and being invisible to other drivers (not understanding where the dangers are, thus mindlessly staying out of the way of same-direction traffic at all cost).
• Selfish ignorance: Not considering the impact or logic of our actions. For example, passing a short queue of cars in a narrow lane, and then making them have to pass you again, and again (queue jumping isn’t all bad, but it does require some mindfulness… and caution).
• Cultural ignorance: the stunted decision-making that comes from the belief that we are not fully equal vehicle drivers. This results in delayed actions or decisions which increase the difficulty of riding in traffic. An example is, waiting until the last minute to merge to the left lane for a left turn and getting trapped by a platoon of overtaking cars, when you could have merged earlier in a long gap between platoons and been where you needed to be when they began to overtake you. Another example is using a gap to swoop clear to the opposite side of to road and then ride against traffic to the left turn.
• Facility-induced ignorance: riding through a door zone or into the blind spot of a truck because the paint stripe leads there.
• Groupthink: from club rides to charity rides to critical mass, groups of cyclists can be some of the most frustratingly mindless road users. Some practice submissive inferiority behavior at the expense of group safety. Some use their feeling of empowerment to treat the road like a playground (to the point of endangering other bicyclists). Some just mindlessly follow route marks without thinking about anything (I watched a group on an MS ride, swoop across 3 lanes of traffic when they encountered a left-pointing route arrow).

Unlocking our mindfulness

Whether we are alone or in a group, we all have a responsibility to be mindful individuals.

Becoming a mindful cyclist is much more a psychological process than a mechanical one. Unlike other vehicle drivers, knowledge and experience alone doesn’t take us all the way to mindful practices. Simply teaching a person the mechanics of safe cycling doesn’t always change their behavior. Information is an important component, but it takes more than that to overcome the mythologies and change our self-perception.

Achieving optimal situation awareness, safety and ease of travel on my bicycle required not only understanding the dynamics, but overcoming my enculturation into staying out of the way. Once I opened the hatch and jettisoned that baggage, I was able to achieve the same zen state of mindful bicycling that I experienced as a motorcycle driver.

As a cycling instructor, I’m always looking for the key that unlocks that hatch for students. My end goal is not to deliver information, but to inspire transformation.

Mindful advocacy

The best accommodation a community can offer for cycling is an ongoing, sustainable education system which nurtures and empowers mindful, safe, effective bicycle drivers. The result is good for bicyclists, bicycling and the community at large.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=SV3gfabmrnc

Just for fun, here’s another video of a cyclist (well, 2 cyclists, one is wearing the camera) riding assertively, safely and comfortably in a wide lane (Goldenrod Rd, south of University Blvd.):

www.youtube.com/watch?v=glQzlKSiW4w

Comparing the videos, is it not clear who really benefits from the bike lane?

Step back from the all-consuming need to “promote cycling” and ask yourself, how does it benefit cyclists to punish the competent and knowledgeable in an effort to offer a hollow illusion to the uninformed and fearful?

If advocates could get over the bike lane distraction, perhaps they would focus on the real problems of connectivity.  Winter Park has exacerbated those problems by converting asphalt to rough, unevenly-laid bricks on most of its already-limited quiet connector roads. Routes I used regularly 15 years ago are now virtually unrideable. But in the name of symbolism, they’re intent on wrecking the thoroughfares, too. Thanks.

The Goldenrod Road and Mills pre-bike-lane videos were shot by Brian DeSousa of CyclistView. The Mills post-bike-lane video was shot by John S. Allen.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdlpJqHxLxk

WARNING: Turn down the volume before playing.

In October, CyclistView videographer, Brian DeSousa, shot video of me riding through downtown on my Surly. I never got around to publishing it, but I showed it to friends. Many were very surprised that it could be so easy. It never occurred to them that they could ride on Orange Avenue before seeing the video. Well, that gave Mighk and me an idea. We needed to shoot this with a comfort bike! So on Brian’s last visit, we did.

Here you go. Imagine the “feel” of our city and how it would change people’s perceptions and expectations if this was a common sight:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=yu5V_qUagGc

Aside from the lousy pavement, downtown Orlando is an easy and friendly environment for biking. You don’t need special facilities, athletic prowess, a “fast bike” or nerves of steel. Riding in downtown traffic does not require speed or vigilance. All you need are a few simple skills and a calm assertiveness that comes from your belief that you belong on the road.

You can help change the face of our community. Get out there and ride on the roads like you mean it!

Thank you Brian for the exceptional video work! You have given us a tremendous gift! And many thanks to Retro City Cycles for letting me ride the Schwinn Jenny (that thing was fun!).

Regarding enforcement of the 3-foot law

This quote is from one of the TV news story links Eric provided. The officer is explaining the legitimate difficulty of enforcing the law, but throws in another little gem of absolute car-centric bias:

“It’s very hard to do. The officer has to be in the right place and he has to observe a vehicle not giving the cyclist three feet. And if there’s on coming traffic, it’s hard for the motorist” said Dusty Stokes of the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Department.

Excuse me? Hard for the motorist? Because the motorist HAS to pass? Because his car will explode if he takes his foot off the gas and waits until it is safe to pass with adequate clearance?

This is exactly the kind of institutionalized anti-cycling bias that undermines the foundation of the advocacy pyramid. Cyclists are not drivers of vehicles to this official, they are an obstruction that poor motorists have to get around. Those poor motorists, in their comfortable seats and climate-controlled shells, having to wait a second.

Sorry. I’m not anti-motoring. I’m anti-entitlement (for either party). We are all equal users of the road, so let’s kill this notion that having to slow down to safely pass a slow vehicle is some kind of hardship.

This isn’t the first time I’ve heard this kind of “sympathy” for motorists having to wait. It’s been framed in terms of potential downstream road rage, too. If law enforcement is worried about the causes of delay-induced frustration, they might want to take a look at traffic light signal timing! Let’s have some official love for the hardship of long red lights, and freight trains, and school buses—cripes, you can’t even pass those things!

And now I have a few things to say about the 3-foot law

1. It is virtually unenforceable unless a cyclist is actually hit. We’ve seen, repeatedly, that it’s not being enforced even then. Even here in Orlando—last year a cyclist was hit with a landscape trailer and the motorist was not cited with anything.
2. There were already applicable laws on the books which cover safe passing of vehicles. All this one did was codify a minimum distance for bicycles—a minimum that is way to close in the most critical circumstances.
3. Safe passing clearance is a variable that depends on speed differential and vehicle size. If a motorist is passing at a speed close to mine, I don’t mind letting him come by with less space (a foot or two, even, if the situation warrants it). I’ve had Lynx buses give me exactly three feet—that’s intimidating at any speed. High speed differentials make three feet feel like 6 inches, even with small cars. Really, there is only a small window of speed at which it feels comfortable for a small vehicle to pass at 3 feet. “But it says ‘minimum!’” I hear you cry. Need I remind you, all interpretations default to the minimum? Especially for bicyclists.
4. Cyclists can get way more than 3 feet of passing clearance with good lane position. I rarely get less than 5 feet. The occasional close pass is one in many hundreds of drivers that pass me. That’s a REALLY SMALL target audience for all the energy people want to spend advertising this law. Of the tiny minority of drivers who pass me too close, most are doing it on purpose. Do you think they give a rat’s ass if there’s a law against it? I don’t.

When you’re used to getting space, your perspective changes

A year or so ago, a small group I was riding with was passed by a utility truck on Markham Woods Rd. It felt kinda close, but it was at least 4 feet away. That group had been using good lane position for a few months and they had quickly become accustomed to much greater passing clearance. When we stopped, they all remarked about how close that truck was… not realizing it was more than 3 feet.

Here’s some perspective demonstrated by research

Click the image for a larger view.

Brian and Dan of CyclistView rode a series of video passes on a 6-lane arterial road. They gradually increased their distance from the edge and measured the passing clearance. This chart shows how lane position influences the behavior of overtaking drivers and results in increasing passing clearance with leftward lane position. There are corresponding screen shots and video clips to show you what each of these passes looks like (here).

The following description applies to multi-lane roads. The optimal lane position is essential on a high speed road, where maximum passing clearance is most critical.

If you ride at the right edge of the lane, many motorists will pass within the lane, even if the other lanes are empty. At the left edge of the Exclusion Zone, most motorists will move over if the next lane is empty. But, if a platoon approaches at high speed, many motorists will squeeze through rather than wait to merge. This results in uncomfortable and unsafe passing. It’s a terrifying experience.

Riding in the Optimal Zone communicates, from a distance, the need for motorists to change lanes. With this information, they change lanes early, at speed, and traffic files into the next lane over well in advance of the cyclist. The result is an increasing gap as the lane clears behind the cyclist—a virtual 11 foot bike lane. The few that aren’t paying attention will have to slow and wait until they can merge. That’s their problem. And don’t think you’re delaying them, you’ll see the whole platoon waiting together at the next traffic light.

In this video, the above-described practice is demonstrated on University Boulevard. The passing clearance you see is ~6ft at the closest, most cars are 8 or more feet away. At those speeds, I would not want them any closer.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUNKox4-W90

Included in this clip are the high-speed entrance and exit ramps for the 417. Toward the end, Brian’s microphone picks up an unintelligible territorial noise, which neither of us heard while riding.

We need to reach higher than three feet

Want awareness of your rights? Publicize this!

The 3ft law has become a distraction from solving core problems. Now, every time there is a discussion about harassment problems or cycling safety, someone talks about publicizing the 3ft law. Awareness of that law isn’t going to solve either of those problems! First of all, we need to attack intimidation and  aggressive driving for what it is—assault and reckless endangerment. Passing clearance is the least of the issue with abusive behavior. Second, no matter how much you publicize that law, it is not going to make up for bad lane position. If cyclists ride so far right that motorists can squeeze through, they will. They just can’t help it! Impatience plus opportunity overrides reason, consideration and law. I mean, c’mon, look at the other stuff drivers do that EVERYONE knows is illegal!

If we truly want cyclists to be safe, we have to educate them (and the public) about how cyclists protect themselves. We need to remove the stigma of being slow in a fast world. We need to enforce the laws that protect all road users—speed limits, following distance and safe passing. We need to make hostility and aggressiveness socially unacceptable, with some legal teeth. There are so many bigger problems we aren’t finding solutions for when we waste energy trying to make people aware of an inadequate and unenforceable law.