The bicyclists’ advocacy organization Massbike has as of today, November 27, 2018, posted a quiz online and promoted it in an e-mail, and the first question is “True or false: Massachusetts law considers a bicycle to be a vehicle.” Massbike says true, and gives this explanation:
It’s true! The law considers a bike a vehicle. According to Massachusetts General Law Chapter 85 Section 11B, you may ride your bicycle on any public road, street, or bikeway in the Commonwealth, except limited access or express state highways where signs specifically prohibiting bikes have been posted. You are to ride and follow the rules of the road, except where those rules apply specifically to bicycles, as is also noted in this section of the law.
I have other issues with the quiz, but let’s examine this one statement for now.
You are to ride and follow the rules of the road, except where those rules apply specifically to bicycles.
You are to follow the rules except when they apply to you? Sorry, try again.
Chapter 85, section 11B of the Massachusetts General Laws in fact says that
Every person operating a bicycle upon a way, as defined in section one of chapter ninety, shall have the right to use all public ways in the commonwealth except limited access or express state highways where signs specifically prohibiting bicycles have been posted, and shall be subject to the traffic laws and regulations of the commonwealth and the special regulations contained in this section, except that: (1) the bicycle operator may keep to the right when passing a motor vehicle which is moving in the travel lane of the way…
and there are a few other special rules.
Do you see the word “vehicle “? I don’t. This section refers to Chapter 90, section 1, the definition section for special rules that apply to motor vehicles, but that section also contains no definition of “vehicle”. There are only specific definitions of several types of motor vehicles. There is no definitions section at all in Chapter 89, the rules of the road chapter, though the word “vehicle” is used repeatedly in that chapter. A search of the General Laws turns up no definition of “vehicle” anywhere.
So, a bicycle is not a vehicle under Massachusetts law, because Massachusetts law has no definition of “vehicle”.
Turning back to Chapter 85, section 11B, it establishes the right to use all public ways, but to what part of the public way? Massbike’s quiz gives a faulty and perilous answer to this question:
According to MGL Chapter 85 Section 11B bicyclists may leave the bike lane to avoid hazards or blockages. Riders do not have to stay in the bike lane. However, it is advised that you ride in it to remain predictable to traffic, riding in a straight line unless voiding a hazard or turning!
Considering that about 95% of urban bike lanes in Massachusetts are in the door zone of parked vehicles, I do not appreciate the advice to stay in the bike lane except when “avoiding a hazard or turning.” I can ride in a straight line and be predictable outside the bike lane and also avoid dooring and the six other hazards, that go with edge riding. If I am to be predictable, I need to leave the bike lane to prepare a turn, not only “when turning.”
Can we even assume that bicyclists have the right to leave the bike lane? Consider this, in Chapter 89, section 4B:
“Upon all ways the driver of a vehicle shall drive in the lane nearest the right side of the way when such lane is available for travel, except when overtaking another vehicle or when preparing for a left turn. When the right lane has been constructed or designated for purposes other than ordinary travel, a driver shall drive his vehicle in the lane adjacent to the right lane except when overtaking another vehicle or when preparing for a left or right turn; provided, however, that a driver may drive his vehicle in such right lane if signs have been erected by the department of highways permitting the use of such lane.”
For a bicyclist, the bike lane is the lane nearest the right side of the way available for travel and so this rule amounts to a mandatory bike lane law with only one limited and vague exception, a highly restrictive rule. A literal interpretation of the law requires bicyclists to stay in the bike lane except when it is blocked by a stopped or parked vehicle, etc. I haven’t seen this issue raised in a court of law, but I’m not holding my breath.
In Code of Masschusetts Regulations 720, which applies only on state highways, there is a fine definition of “bicycle”:
Bicycle. Any wheeled vehicle propelled by pedals and operated by one or more persons.
CMR 720 also includes a a number of rules which are absent from the Statutes — trivial things like what a vehicle driver is to do at red, yellow and green traffic signals — absent from Chapter 89; rules for pedestrians and for drivers encountering pedestrians, etc. Highway Department regulations are exactly the same for bicyclists as for operators of other vehicles, though a more restrictive lane rule may apply when a state highway has bike lanes. The definition of “bicycle” and the rules which are absent in the statutes have been in the Highway Department regulations for many years. My assumption is that the Highway Department, frustrated with the Legislature’s having left gaps in the law, filled them.
