California Vehicle Code - Bicycle Relevant Sections

The California Vehicle Code is an official drivers safety guide maintained by the Department of Motor Vehicles to ensure those on the road are driving as they should.

Bicycle Relevant Sections

The portions relevant to the operator of a bicycle in 2004 are as follows:

• Division 11 - Rules of the Road
• Division 16.7 - Registration and Licensing of Bicycles
• Division 16 fine limitation
• Use on Freeways
• Helmets

CVC 21

Uniformity of Code

21. Except as otherwise expressly provided, the provisions of this code are applicable and uniform throughout the State and in all counties and municipalities therein, and no local authority shall enact or enforce any ordinance on the matters covered by this code unless expressly authorized herein.

While not referencing bicyclists specifically, Section 21 is critical to California bicyclists because it prohibits local authorities from enacting or enforcing laws that contradict statewide rules, which means there can be no local laws banning bicyclists from certain roads, prohibiting them from riding two or more abreast, etc.

CVC 21200

Laws Applicable to Bicycle Use: Peace Officer Exemption

21200. (a) Every person riding a bicycle upon a highway has all the rights and is subject to all the provisions applicable to the driver of a vehicle by this division, including, but not limited to, provisions concerning driving under the influence of alcoholic beverages or drugs, and by Division 10 (commencing with Section 20000), Section 27400, Division 16.7 (commencing with Section 39000), Division 17 (commencing with Section 40000.1), and Division 18 (commencing with Section 42000), except those provisions which by their very nature can have no application. (b) (1) Any peace officer, as defined in Chapter 4.5 (commencing with Section 830) of Title 3 of Part 2 of the Penal Code, operating a bicycle during the course of his or her duties is exempt from the requirements of subdivision (a), except as those requirements relate to driving under the influence of alcoholic beverages or drugs, if the bicycle is being operated under any of the following circumstances:

(A) In response to an emergency call.

(B) While engaged in rescue operations.

(C) In the immediate pursuit of an actual or suspected violator of the law.

(2) This subdivision does not relieve a peace officer from the duty to operate a bicycle with due regard for the safety of all persons using the highway.

CVC 21200 states that bicyclists (who are not police officers) riding on roadways have all the rights and responsibilities applicable to the driver of a vehicle by Division 11 of the California Vehicle Code, which are the Rules of the Road. Alan Wachtel points out that a close reading of CVC 21200 reveals that provisions which apply specifically to drivers of specific types of vehicles (most notably motor vehicles) do not apply to bicyclists; only provisions which apply to general "drivers of vehicles" also apply to bicyclists.

CVC 21202

Operation on Roadway

21202. A. Any person operating a bicycle upon a roadway at a speed less than the normal speed of traffic moving in the same direction at that time shall ride as close as practicable to the right-hand curb or edge of the roadway except under any of the following situations:

1. When overtaking and passing another bicycle or vehicle proceeding in the same direction.
2. When preparing for a left turn at an intersection or into a private road or driveway.
3. When reasonably necessary to avoid conditions (including, but not limited to, fixed or moving objects, vehicles, bicycles, pedestrians, animals, surface hazards, or substandard width lanes) that make it unsafe to continue along the right-hand curb or edge, subject to the provisions of Section 21656. For purposes of this section, a "substandard width lane" is a lane that is too narrow for a bicycle and a vehicle to travel safely side by side within the lane.
4. When approaching a place where a right turn is authorized.

B. Any person operating a bicycle upon a roadway of a highway, which highway carries traffic in one direction only and has two or more marked traffic lanes, may ride as near the left-hand curb or edge of that roadway as practicable. Amended Sec. 4, Ch. 674, Stats. 1996. Effective January 1, 1997.

Section 21202 (a) addresses the roadway position that a bicyclist moving slower than other traffic should use. The shall ride as close as practicable to the right wording is commonly misunderstood, even by law enforcement officers, to mean that a bicyclist must always travel as far as possible to the right-hand side of the road. Indeed the CVC synopsis carried by patrolmen in most of the Police Divisions of Los Angeles, California (where it is obtained from the uniform shop in Long Beach) actually carries incorrect wording, substituting possible for practicable. The combination of the actual legal meaning of the practicable wording in 21202(a), with the provisos in 21202(a)(1), (2), (3) and (4), provide ample justification for bicyclists to take the lane in most urban, suburban and rural traffic cycling situations, as recommended by the safe vehicular cycling practices taught in the Effective Cycling program.

In other words, whenever a bicyclist in any of the following situations:

• traveling as fast as other traffic (including when there is no other same-direction traffic)
• passing others
• preparing to turn left
• avoiding hazardous conditions near the edge of the road
• the lane is too narrow to be safely shared side-by-side with other vehicles, or
• approaching a place where right turns are authorized (including driveways, mall entrances and alleys as well cross streets)

there is no legal or safety reason or obligation to "ride as close as practicable to the rght", as long as the cyclist safely merges left without violating anyone's right of way.

References

External links

• this piece Detailed discussion of the laws as they apply to cyclists provided by Alan Wachtel

Availability

The California Vehicle Code is available online through the Department of Motor Vehicles as either a webpage (html) or a pdf.

This is a vital section for anyone using a bicycle for travel in Los Angeles.