[Bill14564]

Originally Posted by ElDiabloJoe

There is an entire philosophy within the cyclist community regarding "Taking The Lane." I don't mean the Mom or Dad who take their kids out for a ride, or the guy on a beach cruiser tooling around town. I mean the large pelotons of spandex-covered Lance Armstrong wanna-bes who can hardly be troubled to stop at a red light because of the inconvenience of unclipping their little clickety-clack ballet shoes from their pedals.

"Taking The Lane" is their defensive response to cars, wherein they do not move to the right, they will not share a lane - their practice is to take the entire lane because they feel entitled to it and because they feel it enhances their safety. Not sure what studies support that if any.

They are not interested in "Sharing the road," they are interested in making the road theirs entirely.

Well, they should use the road then, and stay off the MMPs. Those are for dad and the kids on a bike or the beach cruiser guy tooling around to share with golf cars and pedestrians of all sorts.

Taking the lane is a legitimate thing for cyclists to do according to Florida law. The law requires leaving at least three feet of space between you and the bicycle when passing. Most automobile lanes are not wide enough to "share the lane" and MMP lanes aren't even close. Taking the lane by riding in the center of the lane helps avoid close calls by a driver who mistakenly thinks there is enough room in the single lane.

HOWEVER, taking the lane means the lane closest to the shoulder, it DOES NOT mean the entire MMP or both lanes of a road with two lanes in the same direction. If they fan out across the entire MMP then they deserve all the criticism they receive.