Originally Posted by
AlmostTrick
...But once the speed differential escalates, a lot of this goes out the window, in my experience. There's just not enough time for fancy communicating. The ONLY thing that communicates anything to motorists in these high speed situations is a solid position well into the lane. This alerts them from a much greater distance, leaving no doubt that they MUST change lanes or slow down. (or run you over, which NONE of them want to do)
Like most cyclists, I'll avoid these roads when I can. But if I do ride them, staying far right has not worked well for me.
In this situation fully taking the lane is how you convey confidence and show that you belong. It also gives drivers more time to react, which means LESS chance of buzz passes or anger..
I think we are all on the same page where we have lower speed differentials. I keep reiterating this, but I am only referring to major through roads posted 45+ mph where traffic is typically ~55+mph, and usually for me, these are two laners (one lane in each direction), with a decent amount of traffic going both directions, and have no shoulders.
That said, your suggestion to fully take a lane on this type of road is something I have never even considered. This guarantees that the line of cars behind me will just have to wait their turn at 15-20 mph until the opposing lane is clear to pass through - but maybe that's what I want to avoid close passes? I'm curious if others do this on major routes that typically moves ~55+mph, and how it works out for them?
When I drive a car, I make it a point to observe other motorcyclists and bicyclists from a driver's perspective, and I have to say this might piss me off, but not quite sure as I've never seen it before. The first time I would give a wide berth thinking I was passing a crazy person, but repeated encounters on my commuting time slot might yeild a different outcome.
I really don't know... but you certainly have a set of large ones.