There will always be occasional construction, cars, or bikes that may slow down traffic. Are we always in such a rush? There are safe ways to deal with every situation. As far as road users go, people riding bicycles are helping our environment and I always give them the respect they deserve. I don't understand the us versus them mentality or considering a person on a bicycle as someone who is engaging in an activity that is significantly more dangerous than driving a car. When I have been behind groups of riders I have noticed that after a while they will signal when it is safe to pass them. I find this hypothetical situation of avoiding a head-on collision so far fetched, akin to school children at a bus stop that you would "have to run over" if you had to avoid a head on collision? It would be better if their parents drove them to school instead of leaving them by the dangerous road (ridiculous right?).

FYI: Bob Mionske has written the "Legally Speaking" column (about cycling and the law) in VeloNews for several years. I've found his articles to be both interesting and educational. http://www.velonews.com/bob-mionske/

Unfortunately, the Dept. of Transportation is not a good source of information about the actual laws (or best practices) regarding bicycling. For a detailed critique of their information, please browse the following page and click on the link (on the right side) to:

"Critique of NCDOT Guide to NC Bicycle and Pedestrian Laws" (the PDF is about 100 KB in size). http://www.humantransport.org/bicycledriving/

In regards to the law; law enforcement officers don't always interpret the law correctly (one reason why we have courts) and sometimes judges don't either (which is why there are higher courts with multiple judges).

There are no special rules of the road in the NC statutes for adult cyclists, with one exception (which allows racing under certain special conditions).

I encourage interested readers to do what I did: search the statutes themselves. http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/gascripts/Statutes/StatutesTOC.pl?Chapter=0020

"Definitions", in statute 20‑4.01, include the following under '(49) Vehicle'; "...every rider of a bicycle upon a highway shall be subject to the provisions of this Chapter applicable to the driver of a vehicle except those which by their nature can have no application."

"Part 10. Operation of Vehicles and Rules of the Road" starts at statute 20-138.

"Part 10A. Operation of Bicycles." begins with 20-171.1.

No Rev. RB - this demonstrates further the incompetency of our police, and judicial system apparently. You do not need my piece of paper congratulating me on three years of professional school to read the plain letter of the law.

Further, while it is academic, all people - cars, trucks, bicycles - have the PRIVILEGE of riding on the road; not a right.

To quote someone in this thread: "You made more [incorrect] assumptions in your short diatribe[s] than I've seen in a long time; doing so with unclear data just makes you look foolish."