Shoulder Checks and Left Turns

Lanes: Shoulder Checks and Left Turns

Doing a “shoulder check” means looking over your left shoulder to check behind you.
Anytime you want to move to the left, it is important to do a shoulder check. Normally we are biking on the right side of the road about 6-8 feet from the door zone, because that is where slower moving vehicles or bikes are supposed to be and is where most bike lanes are built. Faster traffic travels to the left.

Before we move to the left into the flow of faster traffic it is important to look over our left shoulder when turning left, and to make sure there are no vehicles or obstacles in our path. A shoulder check signals to car drivers behind you that you want to move to the left. It is an example of non-verbal communication that car drivers can see from far away.

• Why is the rider in the picture below doing a shoulder check?
• What are they trying to avoid?

This picture was taken on Louis Road in Palo Alto. There is a car parked in the bike lane. This also happens regularly on Addison Ave., Stanford Ave. and on other streets near where you may live.

Sometimes car drivers will mistake how fast a bike rider is going and turn left in front of them. Always pay attention to the road, make eye contact and get good at quickly stopping so you can be prepared if this happens to you.

This video shows how to where to ride in the lane and how to do a shoulder check.