Advocacy & Safety - Please Help

Hello. I love to ride my bike all around the city. You could say I am a recreational biker, but I also go to stores, gas stations (for snaks :) ) , and even the nearest bike shop for repairs. I have very strong legs, etc. etc. I do have a few concerns. The first one is that I am positive I am not following the rules of the rode. I am scared to ride on the rode in a way. I probably would not be frightened if there were bike lanes, if the drivers here didn't hate bicycilists, and if I knew how to properly ride on the ride and use hand signals. What if the drivers are not watching for me? I will get run over!! All the websites about it have confused me. If you have any references or if you would tell me yourself I would much appreciate it. I usually try to find random paths and sidewalks to bike on. I will go through parking lots and things like that. I know, I know. I am giving a bad image for cyclists. Please help me. I am trying to take the effort to fix my ongoing problem. Another question I had was whether it was ok to ride on sidewalks. I am not sure if that will apply soon because I think I will be riding on the rode. Thanks so much. Please give me anything that might help. Websites, emails, etc.

Thank!!!

Well, bikebum, you could start at www.ehow.com and enter "bike commuting" or something like that as a search field.

This is a good place to start.
http://www.bikexprt.com/streetsmarts/
http://www.kenkifer.com/bikepages/health/risks.htm

I don't know your location, but your state may have something like this to research:
http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=Ch0316/titl0316.htm&StatuteYear=2005&Title=%2D%3E2005%2D%3EChapter%20316

More interesting and informational reading:
http://sheldonbrown.com/beginners/index.html
(there's a whole lot of other good stuff on the Harris Cyclery site)
There may be an organization like this for your state that puts out a lot of good information:
http://www.floridabicycle.org/
http://www.floridabicycle.org/rights/farright.html
http://www.floridabicycle.org/rights/freedomfromfear.html

One of the advamtages of riding a bike, is that you can use alternate unofficial routes, like school playgrounds, undeveloped land, even sidewalks and the wrong side of the road. However the safest place to ride is on the road with the traffic. When you take an unofficial route you need to be aware of the special dangers and adjust your riding accordingly. For example when riding on the sidewalk, you are very close to the walls and motorists going across your line will not be able to see you early enough to avoid a collision.

My favorite book on the subject is John Franklin's "Cyclecraft," but you'll have to reverse his diagrams and "left/right" wording, since he's British.