Originally Posted by Helmet Head
When you're riding on the roadway, how do you appear to motorists?
vehicle driver
Do you act like and appear to be a vehicle driver... someone with the same rights and responsibilities on the same roads as drivers of vehicles?
rolling pedestrian
Or do you act like and appear to be a "rolling pedestrian"... someone with different rights and responsibilities on roads from those of drivers of vehicles and pedestrians? In particular, you have a right to be on the road, but it's not the same right as other vehicle drivers. In particularly, you have a responsibility to stay out of the way of vehicular traffic as much as is reasonably possible, not just when faster traffic happens to be traffic, but all the time. You belong "out of the way", near the outside edge, in the bike lane, in the shoulder... In fact, you have a special right that to that space.
If motorists are used to seeing us as drivers of vehicles, making vehicle-like maneuvers, following the same rules they follow, they will expect us to behave as vehicles.
If I can understand that bicycles are vehicles that can be ridden in the lane with traffic, so can motorists. If I can understand that bicycles can also be ridden in bike lanes, on shoulders, or bicycle facilities in addition to the street, so can motorists.