Originally Posted by autonomy

I've been telling my wife that road cycling around here is the new tennis for the rich. Some of the best roads to ride in the Boston suburbs go through fairly wealthy towns and you see lots of people on the roads on the weekends, a lot of them on expensive custom titanium bikes. The towns have responded too by improving infrastructure (trails, road markings, signs, etc.). I've seen more and more gravel-type bikes around here they don't seem to be quite as prevalent partly because of selection bias (less likely to see them on the road, right?) and because there's not as much gravel around here as in other parts of the country. Personally, there have been instances where I've avoided going on rides or certain routes due to safety concerns. I, too, feel like drivers are getting more aggressive and more distracted around here.
I strongly believe that autonomous cars are nowhere near being able to handle our roads and will not get there even in the next five years. Some options are gravel, riding when traffic is lighter (early morning on weekends), or driving to ride in places where traffic is lighter.