While cyclists on Pennsylvania roads must make “reasonable efforts” to not impede the flow of traffic, the law does not mandate that they always and immediately pull off the road to let faster traffic pass, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court recently held in a case of a bicyclist protesting a $25 traffic ticket given him by a state trooper.
The law does require slow-going motor vehicles to pull off the road but whether cyclists should do so is a matter of the circumstances including the road and shoulder conditions, traffic situation, posted speed limits, time of day and other factors.
In a 5-2 opinion, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court disagreed with the Commonwealth, which maintained that the General Assembly imposed on operators of pedalcycles (as they are called in the law) a duty to always and immediately …