Originally Posted by
Prowler
...
I'm, frankly, amazed at the high level of courtesy I've been seeing from the road traffic. Every time I ride this route (15 miles out to the west end then back to the car) I get surprised at the cars that see me/us nearing a road crossing and slow/stop to let us go. I always stand on the pedals and slow or stop 10 to 15 feet back from the curb, planning to let them go (a hole will be along shortly - "yield to everyone") but they stop anyway and wave me across. Very nice. ...
I'm not a rider of bike paths (but for some C&V affairs), and have had the exact same experience. I was shocked, frankly. One of my long-time objections to 'rail trails' is that they typically have one crossing some fairly major/major roads at places that were fine for something big, like a locomotive, but that offer no 'interference' from crossing traffic as one might have at a street intersection.