Originally Posted by
BoSoxYacht
This is what I do.
At this moment I'm still in the hospital recovering from being hit by a passing motorist. I was riding on a road with 5 foot wide bike lanes, and I usually ride about 1 foot to the right of the line. This gives me room to move right if needed, and keeps me out of most of the flat causing road debris.
I always thought this was the best way to stay safe, but it only takes one motorist error to seriously injure a cyclist.
I doubt moving left as much as possible when there's a 5ft shoulder will increase your safety on a bike. If anything, it maddens the cars and some of them will intentionally buzz you to push you into the shoulder.
If you want to truly take space to prevent this squeeze you have to go INTO the traffic lane and completely block it so there is no squeeze possible. Otherwise, be prepared to be squeezed (dangerously) in the majority of situations when the car can't go into a 2nd left passing lane.
I see riders doing this left-shoulder hug all the time on my rides and it's absolutely no safer. You're better off riding in the shoulder, away from the cars. (Yes, I know there's more debris, crud on the road, and sometimes you can't ride in the shoulder due to it, but otherwise if it's rideable, go as far right as possible AWAY from the cars.)