Recumbent - Safety margin lost

I was just riding along on my trike when I came upon a DF rider. He wanted to ride with me and talk about my trike. As we pedaled and chatted, I noticed something was happening. When he was riding near me the cars didn't give me near as much room as they had before. And I'm not talking a small amount here. Most cars were only giving me about 5 feet of space. I'm used to more than double that. It was odd that I was telling him that cars always gave me a lot of space, but with him there they didn't. The funny thing is, he thought he was getting more space than normal. Hmm.
Anyone else ever experience this?

I was just riding along on my trike when I came upon a DF rider. He wanted to ride with me and talk about my trike. As we pedaled and chatted, I noticed something was happening. When he was riding near me the cars didn't give me near as much room as they had before. And I'm not talking a small amount here. Most cars were only giving me about 5 feet of space. I'm used to more than double that. It was odd that I was telling him that cars always gave me a lot of space, but with him there they didn't. The funny thing is, he thought he was getting more space than normal. Hmm.
Anyone else ever experience this?


Yes I have experienced this, and I think it took driving my car to understand why and it's not odd. In passing a trike the driver of the car develops a blind spot, at one point (front fender) he can no longer see you on the trike. He can't use the mirrors because you are too low to see and he won't see you again until he's passed, thus he gives you a wide path. The flag and lights I run just lets them know I'm there when they approach; it's no help when they're by your side because the driver of the car can't or has no way of judging distance they are from the trike. If you have ever passed an upright or a recumbent and I doubt you haven’t, you know how easily they can be seen; almost eye to eye, drivers don’t develop that same blind spot or have the same problem.

Yes I have experienced this, and I think it took driving my car to understand why and it's not odd. In passing a trike the driver of the car develops a blind spot

Thanks, seems reasonable to me. I can't duplicate what you've said cause I think I'm the only triker in this area that rides on roads.

Also consider the height of your flag. When I first got my trike I had the orange safety flag flying way up high. Many local neighbors told me that they couldn't see it when they were close. I'd recommend a flag about half way up a tall pole.