WiNK wrote:
"

I think that is exactly what happened....I was doing some research, because
it was bugging me. My guess is laws for bicycles were a later addition...
but the bike safety courses often taught kids improper riding:
"Many cyclists make these mistakes because they were taught to ride this way
as children."

I remember riding that way til I was a teenager!

FWIW, I remember arguing about that when I was a teenager, in the early
1960s. I clearly recall four of us riding along debating the issue,
with two of us on the right, the other two guys on the left.

My guess is the laws were already on the books. They are stated rather
generally, after all - something like [from memory] "The operator of a
bicycle has all the rights and all the duties of a vehicle operator."
If there had been a great flurry of bicycle law changing, I think I'd
have heard.

But it's clear the laws were not well known. And yes, any
good-intentioned but ignorant group can put on a Bike Rodeo and tell
the kids all sorts of nonsense. So there have always been kids - and
adults - who just don't know.

Still, I believe the level of ignorance has gone down over the years.
I think this, and better medical care, are the main reasons the annual
bike fatality toll has been dropping since 1970 or so.

- Frank Krygowski