For three weeks of every year, I fear for my life.

Well, it’s more accurate to say that I become highly attuned in regard to my safety while running. See, I spend some time each year in a small coastal town in south British Columbia, and the roads are hilly, windy and completely lacking in a pedestrian-friendly shoulder.

I remember elementary school. Walk facing traffic. Ride your bike with traffic.

And yet, I often see people running that same coastal road with the traffic. Probably a quarter of the runners I see are on the wrong side.

And yes, it is the wrong side. In most, but not all cases, the proper side is the left side (one-way roadways not always withstanding). Just make sure you’re facing traffic. You’ll be doing it correctly. You’ll be doing it safely.

This is all presupposing the lack of a suitable walking path or sidewalk.

“If you don’t run on the sidewalk, you can be ticketed,” said James Solomon, director of program development for the National Safety Council’s defensive-driving courses. “You’re supposed to use running paths and sidewalks whenever possible.”

But what about those situations where there is no path or sidewalk?

“The runner needs to be able to see possible danger coming,” Solomon said. “You want to run facing traffic.” Solomon, who is a runner, added, “I always run facing traffic. I never give anyone a free shot at me.”

Me too. On this narrow B.C. road I am hyper-vigilant, always ready to dive into the ditch if the person driving toward me doesn’t feel like sharing. It just seems like a no-brainer to me. Cars are big and made of metal; humans are small and soft and squishy. The pedestrian always loses. Every time I see people running with traffic, I cringe.

“Runners should run against traffic, so they can see the traffic coming toward then,” says Jason Karp, an author of several books on running including “Running a Marathon for Dummies.” Everyone I talked to said against traffic is the way to go.

“Run against traffic,” Jean Knaack, executive director for the Road Runners Club of America, told me. “More than anything the reason is safety.”

And an email from Derrell Lyles at the U.S. Department of Transportation makes it official: “Walk on sidewalks, if available; if no sidewalk, walk facing traffic.” This is the recommendation of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

So, what are the consequences for rule breakers?

“You will not find federal laws that tell you what side of the road to run on,” Solomon said. “They will either be state, county or local jurisdiction. … Everything I’ve seen has said ‘facing traffic.’ I’ve never seen anything contradict that.”

Both Solomon and Knaack spoke of people being ticketed for walking or running on the road when there was an available sidewalk, but it seems as though the enforcement for running facing traffic is practically nonexistent. Solomon refers to running facing traffic as “common-sense-based legislation.” This is one of those things where enforcement via a police officer writing up tickets isn’t the reason to obey the law. Fear of being turned into a road pizza is.