Maelochs

And in any case the root expression is "It takes two to Tango."

A single strand of rope can tangle ... but a solo dancer cannot Tango.

And ... I am not saying I am talentless as either a rider or a driver, but i cannot figure out how I would hit myself on the bike while in my car.

Which some might say is a strong argument for cloning.

mcours2006

@Maelochs, right you are. I don't know where my head was.

KraneXL

Was he a cyclist? Unless your a kid the only point a policeman has is that of the law. Otherwise, what makes his point any better than yours?Which makes no sense whatsoever. I can see a pebble in the road. How could you not someone moving directly in front of you?When you put it that way you make is seem like you're a target. If that's your assumption then how do you ever ride on the road at all?Glasses mount. I had a helmet mount but it was hard to adjust and had a plastic mirror that warped the view making it impossible to judge position of approaching vehicles.Every walk down the corridor or on a sidewalk when someone is approaching and end up doing the "dance"? That's because you're trying to predict their direction, and they're trying to predict your direction. Pick a position and stick to it. Your position should remain constant so that they know where you are. This is the #1 cause of low-speed accidents.Stay home and crawl under your bed. There is an inherent risk every time you leave your home.

Fargo Wolf

If the situation warrants it, yes, I will "take the lane". For the most part, drivers take it in stride, though on a couple of occasions, this was NOT the case.

The first incident happened back in 2005 when I was living in the City of North Vancouver, BC, Canada. I would ride along the Dollarton HWY (HWY in name only) on a roundabout route to get to the Seymour Demonstration Forest (awesome paved path there). The route was being 4-laned at the time. The part of the bridge over the Seymour River that would carry westbound traffic had been completed. A contra flow was in effect as eastbound traffic was diverted on this portion of the bridge, so the old structure could be removed and the rest of the new bridge built.

I was cycling westbound over the bridge and had taken the lane accordingly. That didn't impress some dip from carrying out an unsafe pass, knocking over several 45cm cones in the process. Once out of the work zone, the second driver (who would have been behind Idiot-boy) gave me a WTF expression after seeing what had just happened. I gave him a thumbs up and grinned. He grinned back, waved and was on his way, knowing I was Ok.

The second incident was on a bridge in town where I live. I was cycling N Bound over the bridge and some driver got impatient and floored it past me in the other lane. The bridge itself is 18' (feet) between guardrails. It was in the evening, so traffic wasn't affected.

sirkaos

Krane XL.... I wont bother quoting the unrelated and ridiculous response you presented as it makes absolutely no sense.
Uh, by the way..... NO ONE identifies Southern California as "South California" Appreciate the humor though!

woodcraft

Another 'take the lane' situation is to prevent a pass coming toward you.

Sometimes kind of a game of chicken, but better than being run off the road

or hit head on.

RobotGuy

You sir, are a mad man. I wouldn’t even consider taking on an oncoming car... or one that I thought might swing out. That’s easily 60 mph speed differential... that’s 9x the Kinect energy of a collision with the typical 20 mph speed differential in many rearend collisions

Maelochs

If all you own is a hammer, you hammer in screws.

If your "safe cycling" toolbox holds a variety of implements, you choose the one that will best handle the task at hand.

And if you are on BF, you come here and fight about it.

I am not sure there is a strong connection between "safe cycling" and "playing chicken with head-on traffic"---seems you either get hammered or screwed. Not sure if "taking the lane" is the best tool for that job.

Good luck, though.

Say, what does the expression "jumped the shark" refer to?

MikeyMK

I'm not happy about the options of the poll.

Like 'Never' or 'If i need to for my safety'.. Really..?!

I almost never ride on the road, but if ever i have to, i don't take the lane, i stay at the side. I've never had such a close pass i was in serious danger i couldn't get out of. I use practical bikes, with proper handlebars and proper tyres, so i can usually stay on even if i was forced to leave the road.

All that said, how can i possibly choose option 'No' over option 'Yes'..? If my safety depended on it, of course i'd take the lane. I guess. This poll isn't gonna be a very good reflection of the two positions really, is it.

Maelochs

For some, "taking the lane" is an option.

For some, it is a religion.

Don't expect reason, in polls or in discussion.

Also, do not participate in polls. Polls are designed to force people to support whichever position the pollster want supported, while supposedly "empowering" the respondent with the illusion of choice and the idea that his or her opinion counts and will be counted.

Simple polls, like this, really ask, "Do you agree with me, or are you wrong?" More sophisticated polls only offer you choices of supporting what the pollster believes in, without making it obvious.

It is all spin and fake science.

I did a poll once, and as I expected, 100 percent of the respondents agreed with me that polls were BS. Why would I argue with myself?

Jim from Boston

D'uh, I know, I know... Call on me.

hay

Jumped the shark means to sell-out. The saying comes from Arther Fonzerelli doing the stunt. Yes, I will take a lane if i deem neccesary.

RobotGuy

Funny isn’t it? Some of these guys really must be a hoot at parties.

Pretty sure the question was rhetorical? As in, this thread has ...

RobotGuy

All those nested quotes... seems like quite a labor of love?

ExPatTyke

Yes, I will control a lane where necessary. Two examples locally.

My commute takes me along some winding narrow lanes. I'll stay right out when there's a car behind, as if you stay in leaving just enough room to squeeze a car by the driver will take a chance overtaking by a bend, then have either brake hard, giving you a good chance of running into his boot, or squeeze you into the hedge, to avoid the oncoming car that he failed to either see or even think about. Consideration goes both ways though, so if I'm holding a car behind I'll slow into a layby or passing space as soon as one comes up.

The other time is on a roundabout; if I'm using the left hand lane to turn left or go straight on I'll use the middle of the lane - same issue really; if you're in the left of this lane drivers will try and squeeze between you and the traffic in the right hand lane.

I-Like-To-Bike

Seems more like it requires quite a lot of labor to read.

mr_bill

Really? All of it is a safe spot.

That's a terrifying road all right.

-mr. bill

Hypno Toad

Our local PD gave a demonstration last month, rear-ending my buddy on his way home from work. This appears to be a demonstration of the consequences of distracted driving. My buddy is recovering, but it will be a long slow path.

OTOH I've been on the receiving end of a squeeze/punish-pass from a local cop, making it clear that shoulder hugging isn't safe either.

Frankly, most cops are completely unaware of traffic laws and how it applies to people using bikes on the road. They most often quote the "far right" part of our laws and fail to understand that there are many exceptions to "far right"... but no exceptions to 3-foot passing distance.

To be 'safe', I do my best to avoid roads that require me to ride in a traffic lane. When a route requires riding one of these roads, I will take a dominate position in the right lane to force people in cars to change lanes to pass.

When I am driving a car and approach somebody riding in the lane, I happily slow until I can make a safe pass by leaving their lane.

Trakhak

I think that many of us simply skip over the posts with serial nested quotes.

Kontact 

From the POV of the person I quoted, this is a road that has no place that cars don't occupy. The only way to know that an overtaking car that isn't seeing you doesn't hit you is to get into the dirt, because even the far right of the lane is where the car is going to be.


And the point is that we do an awful lot of cycling on faith that no one is going to hit us. Bicycles don't have fast reaction steering, and anyone who overtakes us on a country road like this WILL kill us if they don't actively see and avoid the cyclist. Cycling car accidents don't automatically happen on busy roads - they happen anywhere a driver fails to see and avoid a bike - and that's anywhere.

Daniel4

I expect the people who oppose taking the lane to lobby for separated bike lanes. But, there are people who are opposed to those too.

Maelochs

There is no "group" which "opposes" taking the lane---no group riding bicycles.

The only people who "oppose" taking the lane are drivers---who by and large don't want bikes Anywhere on the road surface.

The groups here are cyclists who seem to believe that taking the lane makes them invulnerable, and the "gutter suckers" they dump on---the ones they blame for all bike accidents and bad drivers.

Most sensible road riders who have survived for any period of time know when to do what ... else They'd Be Dead.

But the "Take the lane or die!' crowd cannot admit there are other ways to ride .... their creed is that taking the lane is the most important safety effort and nothing else matters ... which even they don't Really believe, but you know how it gets when people repeat slogans enough ... they start to think people who don't agree with the extreme position expressed in their slogan must "oppose" them.

Nobody "opposes" taking the lane. Some people don't think it has magical powers, that's all.

mr_bill

That's not high speed rural road. Maybe it would be better if you posted pictures of a high speed rural road that YOU ride on rather than a stock photo of a road that you don't ride on.

-mr. bill

Kontact 

The rural roads I ride on look like that (two lanes wide, blacktop, no shoulder), have posted speed limits of either 35 or 45 mph and people drive 5-10 mph over the limit.

Maybe you should say what you call "high speed".

KraneXL

Depends on the quality of the poll. Some are more neutral than others. It can be tricky undertaking and difficulty to be objective sometimes. One reason why I typically include "other" in mine. Stay tuned.