The discussion of different riding contexts in the "Being Seen" thread got me to wondering about how often I get passed by cars and how that compares to where other people ride.

Most of my commute (10 miles each way) is either on very low traffic residential streets or on arterial roads with bike lanes. Having cars buzzing past when I'm in the bike lane really doesn't bother me at all. I'm aware that the cars are there, but as long as there's little chance that they'll turn in front of me I don't consider them a danger.

Anyway, like I said, I was curious so last Friday I decided to count how many cars passed me on my way home. I only counted the cars that were on the same road I was on, going the same direction as I was while I was moving. I guessed it would be around 100 but then that seemed kind of high, which is why I decided to actually count them.

The actual total: 205

One of the more useful things I noticed was that there's a short stretch of side street with no shoulder that I think of as a residential street where around a dozen cars passed me. I think I'm going to try a different option for that part of my commute.


So now it's your turn. How many cars pass you on a typical commute?