​Riding the line

One of the advantages of riding a double decker bus in Singapore is that – certainly if you are lucky enough to find a free seat up top in front – you can watch how cyclists behave on the roads and how other traffic – cars, buses, lorries – interact and respond to cyclists.
So let’s start with the basics… bicycles are allowed on footpaths but then need to give way  to pedestrians – it is a path for pedestrians after all – and need to adjust their speed, which basically means you can’t ride any faster than 5 – 10 km per hour.
That’s maybe good enough for a 5 minute ride to the supermarket around the corner but definitively not for a slightly longer ride to office, school or just for fun.
So you ride on the road, wear a  helmet, wear clothing that is properly visible in day and night, carry lights and fluorescent strips on your clothes, frame and tires and off you go.
Now… being visible also means you shouldn’t hide… you need to claim your space, indicate your directions clearly and change lanes timely. And that also means a cyclist needs to be bold. The below picture indicates that cars (or motorbikes, lorries or buses) need to keep at least 1.5 meter distance from a cyclist when overtaking.
In turn that means a car will effectively have to change lanes when overtaking since there’s no room in the left lane for a cyclist and a car…
However, I often see cyclist hiding all the way on the left, even riding on the yellow lines. That is WRONG and DANGEROUS. Technically – from a road design point of view – the road only starts to the right of the yellow line. The yellow line is a NO GO zone and you’re not supposed to ride on it… not by car but definitively not on a bicycle.
So cyclist, be careful, but also be bold and make sure you’re seen.  

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