There is a mile long section that leads out of the next town over that has barely enough room for two cars to pass, let alone two cars and a bicycle, and it is always busy. Also, there is no alternative path that does not require a 4-5 mile detour. Every time I ride this stretch I wait for the largest gap in traffic even if it means waving 20-30 cars ahead of me. Also, there are several side streets that join this section of road through this stretch, and I often duck into one or more of them to allow the cars behind me to pass. I feel that it is the courteous thing to do until the road gets widened because I can't maintain the 35mph speed that is posted along this road.

It doesn't cost me anything, it doesn't take much of my time, and I believe that drivers recognize that I am moving out of their way to allow them to pass. I also believe that many of these same drivers recognize me in other contexts (at the coffee shop, the market, etc), and that they treat me friendlier as the result of the respect that I show them.

Amazingly however, it is usually other cyclist who give me a hard time over my extending courtesy to the cars drivers. I have even had other cyclist caution me not to do this because "then the drivers are going to expect every cyclist to yield to them". Maybe before we try to get other motorist to respect us, we should try to get other cyclists to respect those of us that comply with the law and treat each other with respect.....

What cyclist who ignore the law do reflect on us all, regardless of whether we obey the laws or not.