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Every day on my way to school there is a long street with a bike lane and two car lanes on each side. But when the street is jammed I have cars going really fast behind me and honking because I'm not going 45 miles an hour like their car is. Can they really do this? I mean it's the BIKE lane. It's one thing to be pulling out of a parking spot and crossing the bike lane but to be driving on it in general shouldn't be right. I live in Los Angeles, CA.

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Where do you live? What do you mean by "pure bike lane and 2 car lanes on both sides"? – Stephen Touset Sep 27 '12 at 4:03
and on left side there are two car lanes and a bike lane and on the right two car lanes and a bike lane. – Raven Blackwolf Sep 27 '12 at 4:09
Obviously they can do it, since they do. – Daniel R Hicks Sep 27 '12 at 11:57
To the person close-voting: This site has decided that certain localized questions are on-topic here. – Neil Fein Sep 27 '12 at 17:46
When I first moved to a new city, I got pulled over for driving in a bike lane one time. It had the same width as a regular lane, and so many people were doing it that I didn't even realize that it was a bike lane. Now that I know better, I wish the officer was out there pulling people over more often. – Joe Oct 8 '12 at 6:36

2 Answers

up vote 15 down vote accepted

No. In California, a car can only drive in a bike lane 200 feet before making a turn from that side of the road or when entering or exiting the road.

California Vehicle Code 21209

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thank you. im new to this site and i love that there are people here to help. – Raven Blackwolf Sep 27 '12 at 4:18
Welcome to Bicycles.SE! Don't forget to accept the answer, so the author gets credit. – Stephen Touset Sep 27 '12 at 4:23
+1 freiheit, that's interesting. In the UK it all depends on how the bike lane is marked. Solid white line means no traffic, dashed line makes it optional. Does the US have the concept of solid/dashed at all? – PeteH Sep 27 '12 at 11:30
@Pete -- The US has numerous concepts surrounding solid/dashed. Unfortunately, they vary by state, and no one understands them anyway. – Daniel R Hicks Sep 27 '12 at 11:59
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@dotjoe -- Nobody wants to go through the new roundabouts (especially cyclists). – Daniel R Hicks Sep 27 '12 at 19:29
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The clue's in the name. BIKE lane! If you see cars doing this, especially if you're being bullied by antisocial car drivers, I'd recommend taking notes of license plates and having a few friendly chats with the police. Realistically that probably wouldn't achieve much, but you never know.

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The questioner says he's in LA. If he's in the city of Los Angeles (as opposed to Los Angeles County) the anti-harassment ordinance might come in handy: articles.latimes.com/2011/jul/21/local/… – nick g Sep 27 '12 at 7:44
@nickg -- Yeah, but what if it's a driverless car? – Daniel R Hicks Sep 27 '12 at 11:59
@DanielRHicks: LA anti-harassment ordinance is civil, not criminal. With witnesses, you can sue whoever is responsible for the driverless car. – freiheit♦ Sep 27 '12 at 16:48

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