(a) As used in this section, “bicycle lane” means any portion of the roadway set aside for the exclusive use of bicycles.

Terms Used In Tennessee Code 55-8-205

  • Authorized emergency vehicle: means vehicles of the fire department, fire patrol, police vehicles or bicycles and emergency vehicles that are designated or authorized by the commissioner or the chief of police of an incorporated city, and vehicles operated by commissioned members of the Tennessee bureau of investigation when on official business. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
  • Bicycle: means every device propelled by human power upon which any person may ride, having two (2) tandem wheels, either of which is more than twenty inches (20") in diameter. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
  • Highway: means the entire width between the boundary lines of every way when any part thereto is open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
  • Person: means a natural person, firm, copartnership, association, corporation, or an engaged ADS. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
  • Right-of-way: means the privilege of the immediate use of the roadway. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
  • Road: includes public bridges and may be held equivalent to the words "county way" "county road" or "state road". See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Roadway: means that portion of a highway improved, designed or ordinarily used for vehicular travel, exclusive of the berm or shoulder. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
  • Vehicle: means every device in, upon or by which any person or property is or may be transported or drawn upon a highway, excepting devices used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
(b) It is an offense for a person to operate a motor vehicle within a bicycle lane, except under the following situations:

(1) When parking, stopping, or leaving standing the motor vehicle pursuant to § 55-8-158, § 55-8-160, or other law, upon the right side of the roadway or the roadway’s shoulder or berm; provided, that a carrier of passengers for hire or other motor vehicle used to provide public transportation may only be parked, stopped, or left standing within a bicycle lane temporarily when loading or unloading passengers and when the area adjacent to the right-hand edge or curb of the roadway that is otherwise designated or primarily used to load or unload passengers is obstructed;
(2) When turning into an intersecting or adjoining highway, drive, road, or driveway; or
(3) When yielding the right-of-way to, or temporarily parking or stopping upon the approach of, an authorized emergency vehicle or police vehicle pursuant to § 55-8-132 or other law.
(c) Any person failing to conform with subsection (b) shall receive a warning citation on first offense and be liable for a fine of twenty dollars ($20.00) on second offense, and fifty dollars ($50.00) on third and subsequent offenses.
(d) Nothing in this section preempts or otherwise affects an ordinance or resolution governing the parking, stopping, or standing of motor vehicles in bicycle lanes that is more restrictive than subdivision (b)(1), whether enacted or modified prior to, or on or after, July 1, 2016, by a municipality or county, including a county with a metropolitan form of government.
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