Rhode Island Bike Laws

State Bike Laws

Click here to see Rhode Island's bike laws online.
(Source: Rhode Island General Assembly)
§ 31-19-1 Violations. – It is a violation for any person to do any act forbidden or fail to perform any act required in this chapter. The violations shall be adjudicated administratively under the provisions of chapter 41.1 of this title.
§ 31-19-2 Responsibility of parent or guardian. – The parent of any child and the guardian of any ward shall not authorize or knowingly permit any child or ward to violate any of the provisions of chapters 1 – 27 of this title.
§ 31-19-2.1 Helmets required on bicycle operators, bicycle passengers, skateboarders, rollerskaters, inline skaters, and scooter riders ages fifteen (15) and younger. – Any person fifteen (15) years of age or younger who is operating or who is a passenger on a bicycle or who is using or operating a skateboard, rollerskates, scooter or inline skates on a public highway, bicycle path, shared use path, park and/or recreational area, school property or on any other public right of way shall wear a helmet. The helmet shall fit the person's head and shall be secured to the person's head by straps while the person is operating the bicycle, skateboard, scooter, rollerskates or inline skates. The helmet shall meet the standards for helmets established by the Snell Memorial Foundation's nineteen hundred and eight-four (1984) standard for use in bicycling or subsequent standards; standards established by the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) or subsequent standards; or standards established by the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) or subsequent standards. In no event shall failure to wear a helmet be considered as contributory or comparative negligence, nor shall the failure to wear a helmet be admissible as evidence in the trial of any civil action.
§ 31-19-3 Applicability of traffic laws. – Every person riding an electric personal assistive mobility device ("EPAMD"), riding an electric motorized bicycle, or propelling a vehicle by human power shall be granted all of the rights and shall be subject to all of the duties applicable to the driver of any other vehicle by chapters 12 – 27 of this title, except as to special regulations in this chapter and except as to those provisions of chapters 12 – 27 of this title which by their nature can have no application. This section shall not forbid a bicyclist, EPAMD or electric motorized bicycle from traveling upon the shoulders of the highway except for those highways which prohibit bicyclists; provided, that an EPAMD shall possess all the rights and obligations of a pedestrian, but shall not have the rights and responsibilities of the operator of a motor vehicle and that cities and towns may regulate the operation of an EPAMD. Violations of this section are subject to fines enumerated in § 31-41.1-4.
§ 31-19-4 Excessive number of persons on bicycle. – No bicycle shall be used to carry more persons at one time than the number for which it is designed or equipped, except that a rider may carry a child securely attached to his or her person in a back pack or sling.
§ 31-19-5 Clinging to vehicles. – (a) No person riding upon any bicycle, coaster, roller skates, sled, or toy vehicle shall attach it or himself or herself to any vehicle upon a roadway.
(b) This section shall not prohibit attaching a trailer or semi-trailer to a bicycle if that trailer or semi-trailer has been designed for this attachment.
§ 31-19-6 Bicycles to right of road. – Every person operating a bicycle upon a roadway shall ride as near to the right side of the roadway as practicable, exercising due care when passing a standing vehicle or one proceeding in the same direction except where official traffic control devices (signs or pavement markings) specifically direct bicyclists to do otherwise.
§ 31-19-7 Number of bicycles abreast. – Persons riding bicycles upon a roadway shall not ride more than two (2) abreast except on bicycle trails or paths or parts of roadways set aside for the exclusive use of bicycles. Persons riding two (2) abreast shall not unduly impede traffic and, on a laned roadway, shall ride within a single lane.
§ 31-19-8 [Repealed.]. –
§ 31-19-9 Carrying articles. – No person operating a bicycle shall carry any package, bundle, or article which prevents the use of both hands in the control and operation of the bicycle. A person operating a bicycle shall keep at least one hand on the handlebars at all times.
§ 31-19-10 Lamps and other equipment on bicycles. – (a) Front lamp. Every bicycle when in use at nighttime shall be equipped with a lamp on the front which shall emit a white light visible from a distance of at least five hundred feet (500') to the front.
(b) Rear reflector. Every bicycle shall be equipped with a red reflector of a type approved by the division of motor vehicles which shall be visible for six hundred feet (600') to the rear when directly in front of lawful lower beams of head lamps on a motor vehicle. A lamp emitting a red light visible from a distance of five hundred feet (500') to the rear may be used in addition to the red reflector.
(c) Pedal reflectors. No person shall sell a new bicycle or a pedal for use on a bicycle that is not equipped with a reflector of a type approved by the department, on each pedal of the bicycle which is visible from the front and rear of the bicycle during darkness from a distance of two hundred feet (200') nor shall any person operate a bicycle without reflective pedals.
(d) Sirens or whistles. A bicycle shall not be equipped with, nor shall any person use a bicycle equipped with, a siren or whistle.
(e) Brakes. No person shall sell a bicycle, new or used, that is not equipped, and every bicycle, excluding bicycles that are especially designed and made for off-road use, shall be equipped with a brake or brakes which will enable the operator to stop the bicycle within twenty-five feet (25') at a speed of ten (10) mph on dry, level, clean pavement.
(f) Side reflectors. Every bicycle when in use at nighttime shall be equipped with a minimum of twenty (20) square inches on each side of the bicycle of white reflective material on the wheels or tires to indicate as nearly as possible the continuous circular shape and size of the wheels or tires of each bicycle. All reflective materials used in compliance with this statute shall be visible during the hours of darkness from five hundred feet (500') when viewed under lawful low beam headlamps under normal atmospheric conditions on a straight, level, unlighted roadway, and shall meet the requirements as prescribed by the division of motor vehicles.
§ 31-19-11 Bicycles and motorized wheelchairs on sidewalks and crosswalks. – A person may ride any vehicle operated by human power or may operate a motorized wheelchair or an electric personal assistive mobility device ("EPAMD") as defined in § 31-1-3 upon and along a sidewalk, a bicycle lane, a bicycle route or across a roadway upon and along a crosswalk, unless prohibited by official traffic-control devices (signs).
§ 31-19-12 Bicycles on sidewalks and crosswalks – Rights and duties. – A person propelling a vehicle by human power or operating an electric personal assistive mobility device ("EPAMD") upon and along a sidewalk, or across a roadway upon and along a crosswalk, shall be granted all the rights and shall be subject to all the duties applicable to a pedestrian under the same circumstances; provided, however, that a person riding an electric personal assistive mobility device ("EPAMD") on a sidewalk or a bicycle path or trail shall yield the right-of-way to pedestrians or give an audible signal before overtaking any passing pedestrian. Pedestrians using an EPAMD shall exercise a high degree of care when passing a pedestrian using a wheelchair, walker or other mobility aid and only pass when the width of the sidewalk exceeds five (5) feet. For purposes of this section electric personal assistive mobility devices ("EPAMD") and electric motorized bicycles shall be prohibited from sidewalks and crosswalks in the town of New Shoreham.
§ 31-19-13 Bicycle parking. – (a) A person may park a bicycle on a sidewalk unless prohibited or restricted by an official traffic control device (sign).
(b) A bicycle parked on a sidewalk shall not unduly impede pedestrian or other traffic.
(c) A bicycle may be parked in the roadway at any angle to the curb or edge of the roadway at any location where parking is allowed.
(d) A bicycle may be parked on the roadway abreast of another bicycle or bicycles near the side of the roadway at any location where parking is allowed.
(e) In all other respects, bicycles parked anywhere on a highway shall conform with the provisions of chapter 21 of this title regulating the parking of vehicles.
§ 31-19-14 Turn and stop signals. – (a) Except as provided in this section, a person riding a bicycle shall comply with § 31-16-5.
(b) A signal of intention to turn right or left when required shall be given continuously during not less than the last one hundred feet (100') traveled by the bicycle before turning, and shall be given while the bicycle is stopped waiting to turn. A signal by hand and arm need not be given continuously if the hand is needed in control or operation of the bicycle.
§ 31-19-15 Left turns. – (a) A person riding a bicycle intending to turn left shall, unless he or she complies with the provisions of § 31-16-2, approach the turn in a position as close as practicable to the right-hand curb or edge of the roadway. The turn shall be made at a position as close as practicable to the right-hand curb or edge of the roadway along which the bicyclist intends to proceed after turning.
(b) If the turn is made at a location where traffic movement is controlled by a police officer or by a traffic-control signal, the bicyclist may not proceed after crossing the intersecting roadway until a signal to proceed is given to traffic moving in the appropriate direction on the roadway along which the bicyclist intends to proceed. At all other locations, after turning and before crossing the roadway he or she is leaving, the bicyclist must yield the right-of-way to all traffic approaching on that roadway.
(c) The state highway commission and local authorities in their respective jurisdictions may cause official traffic-control devices to be placed and require and direct that a specific course be traveled by turning bicycles, and when the devices are so placed, no person shall turn a bicycle other than as directed and required by the devices.
§ 31-19-16 Bicycle identifying number. – No person engaged in the business of selling bicycles at retail shall sell any bicycle unless the bicycle has an identifying number permanently stamped or cast on its frame.
§ 31-19-17 Inspecting bicycles. – A uniformed police officer may at any time upon reasonable cause to believe that a bicycle is unsafe or not equipped as required by law, or that its equipment is not in proper adjustment or repair, require the person riding the bicycle to stop and submit the bicycle to an inspection and a test with reference to it as may be appropriate.
§ 31-19-18 Bicycle racing. – (a) Bicycle racing on the highways is prohibited except as authorized in this section.
(b) Bicycle racing on a highway shall not be unlawful when a racing event has been approved by state or local authorities on any highways under their respective jurisdictions. The approval of bicycle highway racing events shall be granted only under conditions which assure reasonable safety for all race participants, spectators, and other highway users, and which prevent unreasonable interference with traffic flow which would seriously inconvenience other highway users.
(c) By agreement with the approving authority, participants in an approved bicycle highway racing event may be exempted from compliance with any traffic laws otherwise applicable to it, provided that traffic control is adequate to assure the safety of all highway users.
§ 31-19-19 Use of coasters, roller skates, and similar devices restricted. – No person upon roller skates, or riding in or by means of any coaster, toy vehicle, or similar device, shall go upon any roadway except while crossing a street on a crosswalk, and when so crossing, the person shall be granted all of the rights and shall be subject to all of the duties applicable to pedestrians. This section shall not apply upon any street while set aside as a play street by a duly authorized police authority. § 31-19-20 Sale of new bicycles. – In every sale of a new bicycle, the seller shall issue a bill of sale which shall contain on it the date of sale, the seller's and buyer's name and address, the manufacturer's name, model, and serial number of the bicycle. Violations of this section are subject to fines enumerated in § 31-41.1-4.
§ 31-19-21 Sale of used bicycles. – In every sale of a used bicycle, the seller shall issue a bill of sale which shall contain on it the date of sale, the seller's and buyer's names and addresses, the manufacturer's name, model, and serial numbers where this information is available on the bicycle. Where any of this information is missing, the seller must obtain a registration number from the local police. Violations of this section are subject to fines enumerated in § 31-41.1-4.
§ 31-19-22 Use of pedal carriages and rickshaws in the town of New Shoreham. – (a) The town of New Shoreham may adopt ordinances to regulate, control, or prohibit the use of pedal carriages (also known as quadricycles) and rickshaws (also known as pedi cabs) in the town of New Shoreham.
(b) The provisions of such ordinances shall be reasonably related to promotion and protection of the health, safety and welfare of operators, passengers, pedestrians, motorists and others residing, visiting or working within the town of New Shoreham.

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state bicycle & pedestrian coordinator

Web: http://www.dot.state.ri.us/WebTran/bikeri.html
Steven C Church
Bicycle Coordinator, Intermodal Planning Div
RI DOT Planning
Two Capitol Hill Rm 372
State Office Building
Providence RI 02903-1190
401-222-4203 x 4042
Fax 401-222-2207
E-mail: schurch@dot.state.ri.us