Originally Posted by
pdlamb
Concur, though the "shoulders are safer" crowd does get one sentence of text.
Of course, that does assume a "shoulder" is 3-8' wide and well-paved. Most of the shoulders near me are 6-12" wide, and their apparent purpose is to let grass grow there and crumble the pavement without damaging the traffic lanes.
When they built the Nissan plant a little way north of me, they put in a nice stretch of four lane divided highway they call Nissan Parkway. It has a designated bike lane on the right, but it's always full of gravel and litter. I've not seen any cyclist using the bike lane which is pretty much a really wide shoulder. Like me they stay in the traffic lane. Especially on group rides.
And since it's a four lane divided highway then it's no issue for the cars and other motor vehicles to move to the left lane. And they do. Unless of course I'm in it because I'm about to make a left turn.