Arizona Bicycle Laws

Each statute referenced is a link and its full text will open in a pop up window. Here is a version better for printing.

Here is a very large .pdf (27MBytes) of the entire ARS snapped from the azleg.gov website in March 2013 — good for searching (the search tool on azleg.gov leaves a lot to be desired), and for general off-line use. The curious can find the unix script that was used to generate it. There is also a .pdf of just ARS-Title28, from around the 2013 time period that’s only about 1MByte.

For research on other states’ laws, start here: UVC.

This used to appear here in an iframe but it seems that no longer displays, Just click  here to go to a flat-html file good for viewing or printing…

the widget was something like

11 thoughts on “Arizona Bicycle Laws”

  1. So basically anything that says “motor vehicle” does not refer to bicycles and the word “vehicle” alone can refer to a bicycle?

    I think that rule of thumb would apply to all sections when reviewing this document.

    The section about local authorities being able to make their own rules about bicycles opens up a whole other discussion.

  2. According to ARS 28-101.56, Bicycles are NOT considered vehicles!

    Hi BJ — that is correct! You DID see 28-812, though, didn’t you?

  3. Lol.. i never new that I could get pulled over on a bike, well I did for not stoping at a stop sign…

  4. Can the police give you a ticket for riding on the wrong side of the street but its on the sidewalk??

  5. 2 lane road north-south with only one bike lane on west side without yellow stripe, no bike lane on east side. I don’t feel safe riding on east side going north without designated lane. Is it legal to ride in west bike lane going north? A southbound biker yelled at me when I was in west lane.

  6. I really like the Idaho rules of the road and am sad that AZ doesn’t adopt them. They really are more practical.
    Question, can a driver be cited for unnecessarily honking at a cyclist?
    If the right lane of a two lane road is 10-12 feet (3′ for bike and the 3′ rule ) and a car (average 6.5′ wide) passes a cyclist with their car remaining in the right lane, wouldn’t that technically be grounds for a citation for violating the more than one vehicle per lane statute?

  7. is it illegal to ride on the “wrong side of the road” facing traffic?

    Yes, it is very much illegal, and is much more dangerous, too. When riding in the roadway, bicyclists must follow all the same rules that apply to the driver of a vehicle. The direction of traffic rule is:

    28-721. Driving on right side of roadway;
    A. On all roadways of sufficient width, a person shall drive a vehicle on the right half of the roadway…

  8. So there’s no penalty at all for passing with less than 3 feet unless a cyclist is injured or killed??? What sort of law is that? Also no penalty if there’s a bike path nearby? SMDH

  9. Well, no; there is still a penalty, for less than 3 foot pass, it would be handled like any other traffic infraction; a standard fine, and 2 license points.
    This is a moot point, since the offense is rarely if ever cited against a driver who isn’t involved in a crash.
    You are speaking of the “enhanced penalty”, a extra civil fine, which only applies if a serious injury or death occurs. Keep in mind that all other laws still apply, e.g. if an impaired driver causes a crash resulting in death or serious injury they can be charged with manslaughter / agg assault.
    Lastly, the phrase “designated bicycle lane or path is present and passable” isn’t completely clear and has never been tested AFAIK in the many years 28-735 has been on the books, and again, all other laws still apply, e.g. all drivers (and bicyclists!) must control speed to avoid striking whatever is in front of them.
    Please see:
    https://www.cazbike.org/overtaking-bicycles-and-arizonas-three-foot-law/

    Because of the (many) shortcomings of 28-735, in the case of a motorist striking a bicyclist out of (the motorist’s) lane, i.e. where the bicyclist is riding in a bike laen, or shoulder, i would much prefer that police ignore 28-735 and go right for the criminal misdemeanor charge (rather than just a civil infraction), see https://azbikelaw.org/arizona-already-has-a-vulnerable-user-law/
    But prosecutors don’t like it, for some reason(?) see e.g. https://azbikelaw.org/drifting-driver-kills-bicyclist-in-scottsdale/

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