The Orange County Bicycle Coalition recently shared a great video explaining the dangers of riding on the edge of roads vs 'taking the lane'. Most of Irvine has plenty of wide roads where it is easy to ride as far to right as practicable, or in a bike lane, but if you ride into Tustin, Orange, Santa Ana or Laguna Beach - or some where pretty out of town, it becomes more dangerous to invite close passing by hugging the edge.

Here is what the OCBC posted with the video on FaceBook:
"Some just don't understand why some of us avoid edge riding & ride in the lane.
If you are not willing to take a class & learn how to ride in traffic, please take a few minutes to watch this explanation, and share it with your local police department. It was produced as a tutorial for police.

Know that in California, cyclists are expected to operate on the road as they would if driving a vehicle. The ride to the right rule only pertains to when a lane is wide enough to safely share side by side. You need 4', the "3 feet for safety' law requires vehicles to give us another 3 feet, and parked cars requires us to keep 3 feet out of the door zone... so only when the lane is really wide enough for all that, plus a large semi & trailer to fit side by side, it is not practicable to ride any farther to the right than the lane controlling "sweet spot" described in this video. Of course if there is a wide smooth, litter & debris free shoulder to choose, we won't mind riding off the road on the shoulder. If there is a smooth debris and safe bike lane we'll be happy to stay in it until we need to merge for a left turn or to get clear of a possible right turning vehicle. The County of Orange has a standard for an 8' or greater bike lane. The State standard with traffic posted 40 mph or more is now 6 feet. Any sub-standard bike lane width, or door zone bike lane, or worse - has parking IN IT - can be risky and not practicable to stay in. Motorists generally will see us better in the "sweet spot" and will slow down &/or pass us safely.
Edge riding as far to the right as possible, is not practicable, and invites dangerous close passes."

Many of us don't do FaceBook where the video was shared but here it is - please take a few minutes & watch it!