Bicycles are supposed to be ridden with the direction of traffic. This is by far the safest for everyone on the road. I think the confusion comes in based on the guideline that pedestrians walk on the left side of the road and against traffic. I was reminded today yet again that for some reason a good portion of the recreational bike riders in the world don't realize which side of the road they belong on. While out for a 40 mile ride I realized that there were three junior high boys coming along towards me in the shoulder on my side of the road. Thankfully there was no traffic at the moment and with a 20 MPH tailwind I cruised past them around 32 MPH, which was fast enough to experience the Doppler Effect as they shouted who knows what at me going past them.
For those of you who remained unconvinced that the right side of the road is the right side to ride on, let's do a little physics, shall we? Most people make the argument that if you are opposing traffic you will have more time to see traffic and get out of the way. While this makes sense for a walker because they are basically standing still in comparison to a car, a cyclist runs a far greater risk by riding against traffic. Not only is it more difficult to safely dodge an object coming at you on a bicycle, the combined speeds of the two travelers would be incredibly dangerous.
You see, the impact force is based on the combined velocities of the two objects traveling towards one another. A stationary object hit by a car moving at 50 MPH feels the force of the car moving 50 MPH. A recreational bicyclist riding 15 MPH being struck by the same car feels the force of being hit at 65 MPH and for the amateur racing cyclist like myself out on a training ride at 32 MPH would be the same as being hit from at standstill by a car going 82 MPH. Not so cool.
The effect is also thankfully subtractive. So that same cyclist riding 15 MPH would only feel the impact of 45 MPH instead of the comparable 65 MPH head on collision. Starting to see the light?
Besides the difference in the risk for impact, traveling the same direction also effectively gives a car more time to decide what to do when approaching you, because the gap between you and said car closes at a less rapid pace when you are both going the same way.
So there you have it. At least two good reasons to ride the same direction as traffic. And in case that wasn't enough, here's number three. Riding against traffic is illegal. There you go.
Until next time, happy riding (on the right side).
