Commuting - Hat off to any Texan Commuters

I've just come back from a week in Dallas (Arlington/Grand Prairie area to be precise) and was shocked to see the standard of the roads, lack of space and bad driving. I only ever saw one cyclist in my entire time there and he very nearly became a statistic.

Now I fully understand why cyclist complain about truck and SUV drivers. Some of the ones I saw must have had their frontal lobes removed!

:) This happens all over states not just in Texas. Happy birthday Hants commuter:bday:

I vividly remember being caught in the DFW metro area once when a heavy (for them..) snowfall hit. What a bunch of idiot drivers!! I was at an intersection, 3 lanes in my direction. Light turns green.....30 cars simultaneously start spinning tyres.... Several bang into each other as they slide sideways... I start off in 4th gear (driving a 10-speed semi at the time), and slowly pull away....light turns red, and 28 of the cars haven't even gone through the light....
Sheesh!!!

That's my area. It's not so bad. There are certain roads to avoid because the percentage of ahole drivers is extremely high. One nice thing is that I can take low traffic streets and residential streets that run parallel to the main, high traffic routes. Route planning is everything. Most roads are actually very wide or have 6 lanes on average so there is plenty of space to share with cars. Some Texans do get very pissed off when someone is not conforming to their car- centric culture. Most people that honk or yell are not even being slowed down any by me.

Originally posted by JDP
That's my area. It's not so bad. There are certain roads to avoid because the percentage of ahole drivers is extremely high. One nice thing is that I can take low traffic streets and residential streets that run parallel to the main, high traffic routes. Route planning is everything. Most roads are actually very wide or have 6 lanes on average so there is plenty of space to share with cars. Some Texans do get very pissed off when someone is not conforming to their car- centric culture. Most people that honk or yell are not even being slowed down any by me.

Agree completely. You have to use the residential streets and the multi-lane streets. You can ride almost anywhere with careful planning. Even though I've been getting honked at by the same car in the neighborhood for some time. He/She must like bicyclists ;)

I must be pampered then.

It was the multilane streets that really worried me. By the time you got 2 trucks or SUVs side by side there wasn't going to be any space left for a cyclist. I'll be honest and say I didn't venture off the main roads so perhaps I was being unfair, but intersections must very interesting, especially with the right turn on red rule.

It wasn't all bad from a cycling point of view. I managed to get a pair of cable cutters and 4th Hand tool in dollars for what I would pay in Pounds sterling :thumbup:

Gojonnygo - thanks for the greeting, pity I had to spend the first part of my birthday care of United Airlines coming home :(