Maelochs

Come on ... you are smarter than this.

If the driver can lie and say s/he didn't see the cyclist, s/he can say it no matter where the cyclist was in the lane. And the driver, who is already lying, will simply lie about where the cyclist was in the lane.

Unless there are winesses .... but even that doesn't matter.

You "prove" that riding in the middle of the lane is safer by telling about how a driver nearly hit you and all your friends who were in the middle of the lane. This is almost comical.

As I said above, the idiots will pass too close no matter where you are and the good people will give you enough room, or wait. Your own experience validates this, but you prefer to cling to the myth that the middle is always safer. The safety of the overtake is in the hands of the overtaker.

Some people will risk their lives and yours to pass, some will wait behind until it is safe, no matter where on the road you are. Your own stories here show that amply.

As for as whether the driver "acknowledges" me before he hits me, I really don't care. That is more BS.

I went out riding after my first response to this thread, and I paid especial attention to how much room people gave me. No one came within four feet and some people went entirely into the far lane ... despite me being on the right.

I am not telling anyone else how or where to ride ... but stop lying about the "dangers" of riding on the right. I am tired of people calling me stupid and timid because I ride safely differently than they do.

jppe

Okay folks. Let’s all step back and take deep breaths! We all live in various environments and ride in a wide variety of areas and under ever changing conditions. I’m not sure there is a one size fits all.

I was curious what others have learned from our vast collective experience of being out on the road and I personally enjoy learning from others. Everyone’s opinion is welcome and valued whether we elect to adopt it or reject it.

Let’s make an honest attempt to keep the conversation educational. Many thanks!!!!!

horatio 

Had a very large semi hauling sod patiently wait to pass me on a secondary road this morning. All the drivers gave me a wide berth today, most passing into the far lane as they came around. Every day is different. Got passed by an ambulance, siren blaring, on the way home. Stuck a finger in my left ear. Jeez they're loud.

zarbog

Took the lane on a 7% downhill the other day. 50km/hr speed limit with signs all over the place warning of the hill. It has a stop sign at the bottom before the hill runs out. I was doing 38 miles per hour according to the speedo, feathering the brakes when some guy on a motorcycle pulled up beside me, in my lane and started to yell at me. I tried to ignore him and concentrated on my decent. At the stop sign we got into quite an argument, with him being really pissed that I was holding up traffic, even though I was over the speed limit and it was just myself and him on the hill. I let him rant for a minute then let him know what I thought of him and moved on. His dangerous driving and lack of anger management shook me up.

I hardly ever take the lane, usually only at red lights and left turns. If there is no bike lane I pull up and stop in the lane behind the traffic, I do not creep along the space between cars and the curb. This is a very interesting thread.

Kabuki12

I took a cycling class in the seventies at our local community college and have stuck with what was taught to me back then and it still seems to work. I stay out of crosswalks unless I am walking my bike and I use the same turn boxes that the cars use. I stay as close to the side of the road as possible and signal when turning(Lumos Helmet!) . In fifty years of road biking I had a first about a week ago when a motorist got VERY upset at me for using the turn box to make a left turn. I was all the way to the right of the turn box and he just went ballistic on me . I think he was having a bad day or something. I was glad there were others around so he didn't get out of his truck or try something any more stupid than he already had , annoying everyone with his very loud horn repeatedly. Joe

rumrunn6

was thinking about this thread last week & got me thinking what it practical & what is practicable

There's a practical distinction, and I hope you will find my explanation practicable. The words both stem ultimately from the Greek term praktikos, meaning “practical.” However, while practical refers to something that is effective, useful, or easy to use,practicable means “something that is or could be done.”

credit "dailywritingtips"

Biker395 

In my jx, practicable is a legal term of art that means "as can be done in reasonable safety."

In roads without adequate shoulder, I use the "control and release" method. I ride far enough to the left so that a car cannot pass me without crossing the centerline. My experience is that once they get their head around the notion that they'll need to cross the line to pass, they do so and do not close pass you. Typically, that is in where the right tire of the car would be (also a good place to be, as you'll get less flats).

Even so, as they begin to pass me, I move over to the right. That gives them more room to pass, and seems to satisfy drivers that I know they are there and am trying to make it easier to pass.

If the driver is one of those that try to close pass me to "teach me a lesson" or what not, by using the control and release method, I have given myself a place to escape so they can't close pass me.

It requires a rear view mirror, but I really think that is the best way to handle it. Hugging the fog line with no shoulder is dangerous for all kinds of reasons.

Kabuki12

Yeah I went down hard once riding too close to non existing shoulder. They had just resurfaced the road and left one heck of a ledge and when my front tire caught it , over the handlebars I went . Busted my face in 5 places and lost 12 weeks of cycling trying to heal. My doctor said I was lucky I didn't go blind when I busted my orbital bone. I also broke my left hand. NEVER AGAIN! Joe