Originally Posted by
friday1970
I actually feel safer in my recumbent in traffic when compared to my road bikes. It really comes down to my mirrors. With my recumbent, I have a mirror mounted to my handlebars. Being a lowracer recumbent, this means my handlebars are less than a foot from my face, and just below face level. So, it doesn't take much to glance over at the mirror to check traffic.
Here's another thing to consider when riding a bent. Almost every uninformed driver assumes you are handicapped. They somehow equate recumbents as bikes for the handicapped. And since none of them want the guilt and shame of hitting a handicapped person, they always seem to give me much more room. And I'm quite OK with that.
This is mostly true. They tend to give even more room in my velo, but I suspect that has more to do with drivers just not know WTF it is.
As for clipping in or not, I got pedals that are clip in on one side, and platform on the other. I clip in if I'm going to be going more than ~100ft.
Just don't set them up so tight that it's hard to unclip when needed.