Arkansas Cycling Statutes

Women's Ride on the Arkansas River Trail.

Arkansas Traffic Rules for Cyclists

Arkansas law does not specifically define a bicycle as a vehicle. In fact, the definition of “vehicle” appears in a section of the Arkansas Code, Annotated titled “Motor Vehicular Traffic” (Title 27, Subtitle 4), so bicycles aren’t included in the definitions. A.C.A. § 27-49-111 contains the language from the Uniform Vehicle Code which reads, “Every person riding a bicycle or an animal, or driving any animal drawing a vehicle upon a highway, shall have all the rights and all of the duties applicable to the driver of a vehicle, except those provisions of this act which by their nature can have no applicability” so as to include cyclists as legitimate and rightful users of the public streets and highways. The specific statutes pertaining to bicycles are found in the Arkansas Code of 1987, Annotated, (“A.C.A.”) Title 27, chapters 49 through 111.

Cyclists may use any public road, street, or highway in Arkansas with the exception of the freeways and other controlled-access highways. You may ride your bicycle on the sidewalks in Arkansas, except in specific cities which have enacted local ordinances that prohibit riding on the
sidewalks in the business districts (Little Rock, North Little Rock, Hot Springs, and Maumelle prohibit, directly or indirectly cyclists from riding on the sidewalks. LR, Hot Springs, Conway, Maumelle, Fayetteville, and Fort Smith directly prohibit riding on the sidewalks in the business district, NLR indirectly prohibits bikes from all city sidewalks.)

Riding on the streets and public roads in Arkansas generally falls into
six general principles in order to comply with state and local law:

Drive on the right side of the roadway; never on the left, and never on the sidewalk;
Obey all traffic signals and traffic control devices;
When you reach a more important or larger road than you are on, yield to crossing traffic;
When you intend to change lanes or move laterally on the roadway, yield to traffic in the new lane or line of travel;
When approaching an intersection, position yourself with respect to the direction of your destination; and
Between intersections, position yourself according to your speed relative to other traffic.

Bicyclists are required to signal like other vehicles pursuant to A.C.A. § 27-51-403, but not continuously if they need both hands for safety (A.C.A. §27-49-111).

When riding at night, Arkansas law (A.C.A. § 27-36-220) requires that you have a white headlight on the front of your bike, and a red tail light on the rear – both visible from at least 500 feet away. You may substitute a red reflector on the rear provided that it is still visible from at least 500 feet away when illuminated. The white and red reflectors that come on your bike from the sporting goods store or bike shop are insufficient; state law requires that you have active lighting systems when riding at night (reflectors are passive.)

A comprehensive look at Arkansas laws (as well as several municipalities) as they pertain to cycling can be found here.

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