[Winter76]

The city I live in has no 'bike lanes' and during my commute I am alway riding in traffic sharing the road with vehicles. They often pass me within a couple of feet if not inches. Is this what you talk about being Vehicular Cycling?

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[Roody]

No.

Vehicular cycling refers to operating your bike in accordance to the rules for vehicles. From your post I can't tell if you do that or not.

[Winter76]

Ahh no in that case I don't. There are specific rules here govering bikes on roads. We are only allowed to ride within one meter of the curb unless passing another bike or car. There are more but the only one the cops seem to care about is keeping close to the curb.

[flipped4bikes]

Yuck. That's a stupid law. OK, so you're that close to the curb and traffic is buzzing you too close? Are you travelling on very narrow lanes? And what happens when you come upon parallel parked cars?

[sggoodri]

Vehicular cycling advocates recommend a number of ways to increase passing distances between cyclists and overtaking motor traffic.

One is defensive driving on the bicycle; if the travel lane is narrow, then riding closer to the center of the lane encourages drivers to "unstick" from the lane and move into the next lane. I ride near the center of the lane for about a third of my commute, and rarely get passed closely. This kind of defensive driving is not a "rule of the road" for cyclists, but exploiting it requires that cyclists be treated as drivers equally entitled to the travel lane as other drivers, and thus is related to vehicular cycling advocacy against regulation efforts to force cyclists to stay out of the way at all times.

Another is education and enforcement of motorists about safe passing distance.

The third is wider lanes. If the lane is adequately wide, close passing is rare. I never get passed closely in a 16' lane, and rarely in a 14' lane.

[Roody]

Yeah, the law in Manitoba sucks. I see they also have a mandatory helmet law.