Last week's column was intended to be an explanation of bicyclists' rights and the new state law requiring drivers to leave a 3-foot buffer when passing them.

Naturally some drivers objected. One sent an unsigned scrawl saying: "There is no way I will give a bicyclist a right of way. ... This law stinks. Get the bicyclists off the roads."

Even more put out were some bicyclists.

What offended them most was my quoting Motor Vehicle Administration spokesman Buel Young to the effect that bicyclists have the same rights and responsibilities as operators of other vehicles and that among them is to refrain from impeding traffic. He said impeding is defined as going 15 mph under the speed limit and I reported what he said.

One bicycle rights activist was so outraged he all but called for this humble bureaucrat's head on a license plate and hinted at a sinister conspiracy against bicyclists' rights.

"MVA is actively engaging in creating a hostile cycling environment by incorrectly telling motorists that cyclists must ride as far right as practical," the writer hyperventilated on the Baltimore Spokes website. Actually Young told riders nothing of the sort.

The bottom line is the MVA made an honest error and I didn't catch it. Young told me after the column ran that he inadvertently overstated the case. The 15 mph standard, he said, is a guideline used in driver's education. MVA Administrator John T. Kuo made the same point in a letter to a bicycle advocate, calling it a "benchmark" and "not a legal requirement."

It's also impractical in some cases, as I noticed recently on Route 103 in Howard County — a narrow, winding, two-lane road that is downright hostile to bikes or pedestrians.

As I approached a curve, I came up behind a bicyclist who was clearly struggling with an uphill slope. Despite all exertions, he was unable to sustain more than about 10 mph in a 30-mph zone. Though he was as far to the right as one could reasonably ask, there was no room to pass and no shoulder for him to pull onto.

The result: I had to slow to bike speed for maybe 30 seconds until there was enough room to safely pass. Somehow I survived the ordeal. Most motorists would, too, though you wouldn't know it from the lamentations of some drivers.

In this case, the bicyclist did the right thing staying in his lane — even if it meant temporarily slowing traffic. That's far different from impeding it.

But there are cases where the bicyclist can and should pull over and let cars pass, using a shoulder, a driveway or a patch of gravel. Are they legally compelled to? Probably not. But as bike advocate Jeffrey H. Marks wrote: "If the road doesn't straighten out or widen within a reasonable time, then the bicyclist should try to find a safe area where he can pull off the road to let faster traffic pass."

Unfortunately, there are bicyclists who "blithely hog the road." That phrase annoyed some bicyclists last week but I'm sticking by it. "Hog" is not a legalism but a reality. Supporting bicyclists' rights doesn't mean loving every clown on two wheels. Most motorists have encountered bicyclists who meander down the center of their lane regardless of road conditions, oblivious to the cars stacking up behind them.

Does this give motorists a right to "send a message" to a bicyclist? Absolutely not. Not by blasting a horn, not by brushing too close, not by chucking something out the window. With or without the 3-foot buffer rule, a driver is never exempted from the general legal requirement to interact with bicyclists safely. And passing with fewer than 3 feet to spare has never been safe.

Regardless of whether a driver approves, bicyclists have a legal right to use the middle of the lane if it is unsafe to stay right or on the shoulder. And it's the bicyclist, who is closer to the action and going slower, who gets to judge road conditions. It's the law.

So motorists should just give bike folks the benefit of the doubt and exercise patience. Even when we think the bicyclist is wrong, we should still take it in stride because our vehicles are big and the bicycle is small. Co-existing with bicyclists, even the occasional road hog, is a basic requirement of holding a driver's license.

You don't think bicyclists should be out on the roads? Don't take it out on the rider, who is only exercising rights granted under law. Write your state legislators, urge them to ban bicycles from roads they have been allowed to use since they were first paved. It'll never happen, because bicyclists vote too, but you can blow off steam.

And, bicyclists, we understand why you sometimes sound paranoid. There really are folks out to get you. But 15 mph under the speed limit isn't a bad guideline. When you're slowing traffic that much, and you're not struggling up a hill, it would be highly decent to consider moving to the right as soon as it's "safe and practicable."

As the MVA's Kuo put it in his letter, "all vehicles operating on our roadways should exercise an abundance of caution and courtesy at all times to help prevent accidents."

Is anyone — on two wheels, four or 12 — offended by that?

michael.dresser@baltsun.com