Riding two abreast is legal in many states in the US. In some states, a cyclist is entitled to use the whole lane. Even states that require a cyclist to ride "as far to the right as practicable", the key word there is practicable. I ride on a lot of rural roads that have crumbling shoulders, some of which are crowned for better drainage. On those roads I have to ride close to the center line. Longitudinal ruts wider than 3/4" can have a 23 mm road tire wedge in them, and cause a rider to endo over the bars. A woman in my area was killed over Memorial Day weekend while riding across a steel grate bridge that was faultily repaired---the contractor left inch wide gaps between the sections of plates. Her front wheel wedged so tightly in the crack that they had to pop the quick release and leave the wheel stuck there, to remove her bike. Make no mistake, I'm not an advocate of "taking the lane", or riding two abreast, just because the law says you can, or to deliberately obstruct cars. But taking the lane is often necessary to ride safely.
Also, as I recently had the misfortune to learn, you can be doing everything right, riding as far to the right as practicable, on a quiet little street in a quiet little affluent waterfront section of a cycling friendly town, and still have the misfortune of having an inattentive driver who is distracted by watching something to his left instead of checking for traffic approaching on his right, with the right of way, blow through a stop sign.
Also, as I recently had the misfortune to learn, you can be doing everything right, riding as far to the right as practicable, on a quiet little street in a quiet little affluent waterfront section of a cycling friendly town, and still have the misfortune of having an inattentive driver who is distracted by watching something to his left instead of checking for traffic approaching on his right, with the right of way, blow through a stop sign.
