A cyclist has ZERO obligation to give cars more room in the lane. Zilch. None. Doing so only gives the motorists the feeling of having power over you as the cyclist.

I personally would NEVER ride on that shoulder, even when it's 3 feet wide. For one reason the shoulder is full of debris, and second because it's just not wide enough, really, and also varies in width as we saw in the video. When I was riding the white line on 2-lane roads in my area, I would get buzzed every now and then. Since I started getting out in the right tire track or even closer to the middle of the lane, NO BUZZES whatsoever. I have also started wearing super-bright high-vis orange or yellow bike jerseys, in addition to my flashing lights, which I think helps.

Here's a really good graphic from Cycling Savvy aka I Am Traffic.org illustrating the best lane positioning:



Also this video I posted last week here in this forum really shows why lane positioning AND high-vis clothing help cars give you the space you deserve as a user of the road:

http://vimeo.com/album/1881848/video/17300276 Notice the camera vantage point from the car following far behind the cyclist in the video. Notice how much earlier he is visible to cars farther back when he rides out in the lane instead of hugging the curb.