Originally Posted by UniChris

I've become a creature of MUPs and similar who mostly avoids roads. However, one of my paths has a couple of miles explicitly placed on the at least half (and often full) lane wide shoulder of a state highway signed at 50 mph or so. Initially I hated this, but I've come to be reasonably comfortable there - speeds are fast, but someone would have be be negligently driving *fully* in the shoulder to put me in danger.

I was doing a little virtual tourism of a ride I probably won't do, and noticed a stretch of a similar state highway with a wide shoulder, though in contrast to the bike signs on the one I am familiar with, I don't know if it's actually legal. When I went looking on Strava, it seems people take a winding, woods-edged country road instead. I don't think I'd be comfortable riding that, as it requires drivers to recognize my presence, wait for an opening with good sight lines, and then pass with enough space.

This is mostly an academic question as I'm probably not going to ride either (especially as in the last 1/3 of a mile the country road stops and the highway loses its shoulder).

But is my thinking reasonable, that faster traffic not normally in the "lane" I would be riding in, is perhaps less of a risk than somewhat slower traffic traveling in the same space I would be occupying? I realize there's a lot more energy in being hit at say 60 mph vs 40, but I feel like the probability is much lower.