Originally Posted by
king88uy7
I'm curious how other commuters handle getting close passed.
To get to work, I have to get off the MUP and ride on a two lane street for about two miles. Because I have to cross an aqueduct and a freeway, the road choices are few.
I give myself about four feet from the parked cars and this puts me about a foot inside the lane. This lane position causes drivers to squeeze past me in the same lane. If I move left to take the lane, drivers punish me by passing close at high acceleration. These are both scary.
How do you all handle this situation? I'm thinking the best thing is to just stay as far right as possible and ignore the close passes. Does anyone have any advice? Thanks.
Find a place where you can cross the road the same as a pedestrian and then you have all the traffic in your view.
You are scared because you know you are NOT a car and don't understand why drivers do that.
They are getting out of your way, or they are also impatient but you are there to share the road as much as they are.
But here is a big problem. Cars are not supposed to use part or all of the turn lane to pass you. And they may not have seen you very well. Bikes scare drivers too sometimes. We aren't as visible as we want to think and aren't expected to be there necessarily.
They are probably trying to figure you out as much.
But taking the lane is a poor term. It always seems to assert that it's your right to take it and that all others are to yield and follow.
No. All vehicles and pedestrians share the road and work together to get where they are going. We have to watch and keep safe. If you are not comfortable with traffic the way you are in it now, start simple and work on it. You may want to change your route around some to use some less crowded roads.
An interstate highway is not a place I'd ride. My town is split by one and we have two overpasses spanning it, and two railroad overpasses plus an railroad underpass with walkways. We had two railroad crossings but one was closed so east-west traffic is more concentrated there and is still close enough to the interstate exchange to have heavy traffic there as it goes out to the businesses on the east side and the highway as well as the arterial into Idaho, also heavy in traffic and leading to the interstate a few miles away.
I've been here 38 years and had a lot of time to learn and adapt to traffic changes (a lot of them too). I don't like some of the routes I have to take, so I am even more careful there but I am watching them and staying out of heavy traffic. The bike lanes end on the Oregon side. You are either on the shoulder/curb or you take the sidewalk from the river bridge the sidewalks go all the way. They are not used a lot by pedestrians and you have to be aware of cars entering and leaving the driveways as there are many businesses.
But spend some time and get to know your traffic and get more confidence in your ride.