The origins of riding in accordance to vehicular rules of the road go back to the 19th century when bicycles were invented and began sharing the roads with other vehicles, such as wagons and buggies.

John Forester’s book, Effective Cycling, is generally considered the primary modern reference work about vehicular cycling. Without using the term vehicular cycling per se, John Franklin also describes VC practices in his book, Cyclecraft. A “nuts and bolts” reference to VC is John S. Allen’s booklet, Bicycling Street Smarts.