JoeyBike

This past weekend my wife and I drove out of town on the Interstate (I-10 and I-51) and I tried an experiment. For the first 10 miles on I-10 in the city/burbs with 8-12 lanes where the speed limit is 60mph and I held 65mph. The second 10 miles was outside the city on an elevated section of I-10 4-lane where the speed limit is still 60mph and I set the cruise control at 65mph. The last section was also 10 miles on an elevated section of I-55 4-lane and the speed limit was 70mph and I set the cruise on 70 exactly (the fastest I ever drive).

My wife counted the cars passing us, I counted the vehicles I passed (not including those entering or exiting the Interstate). I knew I had the easier job. Here are the results.

First 20 miles. 762 vehicles passed me. I passed ZERO.
Next 10 miles. 52 vehicles passed me. I passed one box truck filled with seafood.

On the way home, same route - I passed another box truck - again seafood. We got lazy about counting the ones that passed us. Hundreds. Maybe 2 in 10 signaled lane changes. We did not count phone users.

The irony to me is the fact that when I am driving a vehicle and obeying the law (or even fudging 5 mph) I am undoubtedly annoying other motorists as they bunch up behind me waiting for an opening to get around me. When cycling around town I am annoying motorists when I run red lights to AVOID having them delayed behind me.

So given the fact that 60 minutes on a busy Interstate highway revealed two vehicles out of over 1000 obeying the law (and likely only because their vehicle would not go any faster) the question I have is this: Why should I give a d@mn what motorists think of me breaking the law on my bicycle?