What laws govern bicycles and ebicyles?

Answer

The New York State Vehicle and Traffic Law, art 34 governs operation of bicycles and ebikes. Municipalities may also have laws and regulations governing bicycles and ebikes. A summary of the laws are contained in Vol. 8a, American Jurisprudence 2d, Automobiles, Section 838, which is a legal encyclopedia which you can access at any of the public access law libraries.

This is a quote from the introduction to the section:

"Every person operating a motorcycle1 and bicyclists have all the rights of and are subject to all the duties applicable to motorists by the rules of the road set forth in the Vehicle and Traffic Law, except as to special regulations and those provisions which by their nature can have no application.2 Bicyclists and motorists are each required to obey the statutes governing traffic and are entitled to assume that the other also will do so.3 Therefore, if a bicyclist or motorist has the right-of-way, that bicyclist or motorist is entitled to anticipate that other drivers will obey traffic laws requiring them to yield.4 In general, a motorist is required to keep a reasonably vigilant lookout for bicyclists, to sound the vehicle's horn when a reasonably prudent person would do so in order to warn a bicyclist of danger and to operate the vehicle with reasonable care to avoid colliding with anyone on the road.

 

5 However, the Vehicle and Traffic Law statutes providing that every person riding a bicycle shall be subject to all duties applicable to the driver of a vehicle are directory rather than mandatory.6 Thus, a motorist was entitled to summary judgment in an action by a bicyclist against him for a collision. The bicyclist's failure to yield the right-of-way when he entered a roadway from a bicycle path and struck the defendant motorist's vehicle that was turning into a parking lot, rather than the motorist's failure to activate his turn signal, was the proximate cause of the bicyclist's nighttime collision with the motorist's vehicle.7"

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  • Last Updated Sep 03, 2025
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