Originally Posted by
Leisesturm
I don't need or want 3'. I want not to be hit! I'd love not to be passed at 30mph.
Here is an alternative take .... three feet allows me to swerve if I suddenly see an obstruction on the roadside. If I have three feet I can avid most debris and the passing car. Given that the standard lane around here is supposed to be 11-14 feet wide, and most cars 5-6 feet wide, three feet for a bike is not unreasonable.
As for fat passing ... I say, the faster the better. The quicker the car is past me, the less chance it will hit me. If I am doing 16 and the car is doing 19, we are side-by-side for a while ... which means that I am strictly limited in my avoidance room in case of debris or bad pavement, and which means that the driver has more time to get distracted, drop his/her cigarette, sneeze, turn to yell at a kid, get scared by oncoming traffic in the other lane ...
If I am going downhill on a long straight road at 25 mph ... no cars should pass me, no matter how much room there is?
If I get hit from behind at 19 I am probably going to get really hurt ... but if I don't get hit at all .... if a driver cannot overtake another road user without slowing or swerving and colliding, that driver shouldn't be driving. I see no reason why a driver cannot just ... drive right by me at traffic speed. I am another vehicle on the road, and most drivers seem to not drive into every other vehicle they overtake?
I sincerely Hate people who creep by. They are putting me in more danger for much longer ... and what is worse, all the drivers behind them get impatient and then try to speed past even faster ... the guy six cars back cannot see me but he is getting aggravated because he has to slow form 50 to 15 ..... so he floors it and doesn't even look for a bike ... he is too busy cursing.
More than five decades of riding in traffic have shown me that it is safest for bikes to impede cars as little as possible, and to deliberately impede them when that is the safest course of action. If I don't take the lane, the lane is open for cars and the drivers in those cars should just drive.
Not saying I am right, just saying this is what I think after putting my ideas into practice for many, many years and miles. My ideas might not work, but they haven't killed me yet.