The Difference Between Bike Lanes and Shoulders

Setting aside the question of whether bike lanes are good or bad, let us consdier the differences between bike lanes and shoulders. Many bike facilities advocates clamor for bike lanes or wide shoulders as if the two are the same or are equally desirable. Washington County counts roads with wide shoulders in their inventory of roads with bike facilities. ODOT has even invented the term "shoulder bikeway," as if they think that the shoulder is an appropriate place for cyclists. However, the term "shoulder bikeway" does not appear anywhere in Oregon statutes, and nowhere do the statutes suggest that the shoulder is a required or even an allowed place for general bicycle travel.

The statutory definition of shoulder is "the portion of a highway, whether paved or unpaved, contiguous to the roadway that is primarily for use by pedestrians, for the accommodation of stopped vehicles, for emergency use and for lateral support of base and surface courses." (ORS 801.480) Cyclists and bicycles do not normally fall into any of these categories.

Other statutes add other uses for shoulders. Farm machinery must be driven "as closely as is practicable to the right-hand edge of the roadbed, including the shoulders, if any." (ORS 820.400) There is also a slow vehicle statute. A person driving any vehicle at less than the speed limit must facilitate passing by faster vehicles. If the road is a two-way two-lane road and there is no clear lane for passing, then the slow driver must pull off the "main traveled portion of the highway into an area sufficient for safe turnout" to allow faster vehicles to pass. (ORS811.425) I presume that refers to the shoulder. Note that if the roadway and traffic conditions permit ordinary passing, a slow driver, including a cyclist, needn't move to the shoulder.

Besides the fact that shoulder use is not required, there are reasons why it is undesirable. A cyclist on the shoulder loses all right of way. He has no more right of way on the shoulder than a motorist on the shoulder has.

The roadway is "the portion of a highway that is improved, designed or ordinarily used for vehicular travel, exclusive of the shoulder. (ORS 801.450) Any driver entering or crossing a roadway "from any private road, driveway, alley or place other than another roadway" (I presume this includes the shoulder) must yield to any vehicle already on the roadway and close enough to be an immediate hazard. (ORS 811.280) Therefore, any motorist who has pulled off the roadway onto the shoulder, whether to allow faster traffic to pass or to change a flat tire, must yield to roadway traffic when he prepares to re-enter the roadway. Cyclists are under the same obligation.

A cyclist moving from a bike lane to an adjacent lane must also yield to any vehicle already in that lane, so what's the difference? The difference is that a cyclist on a shoulder encounters several other places where being on a shoulder requires yielding that wouldn't be required if he were in a bike lane.

The following diagrams show some right-of-way differences between bike lanes and shoulders.

Bike Lane	Shoulder
Here, the cyclist is in a bike lane and every car here must yield to him. The oncoming and side street cars, because of normal rules of the road. The adjacent car because of Oregon's "yield to bikes in bike lanes" law.	Here, the cyclist is in the shoulder and must yield to all the cars. As soon as the cyclist passes the near edge of the side street he is "entering the roadway" and must yield to all vehicles already on the roadway, including the one on the side street and the oncoming one who wants to turn left.

The distinction may not always be observed in practice since motorists don't want to hit cyclists and may yield to them anyway. However, in the event of a collision, the cyclist in the shoulder may have difficulty recovering damages from the motorist.