Originally Posted by
eepok
Education, Experience, and a Role Model. That's what you need.
Education is more than just knowing facts (laws and stats). The League of American Bicyclists and Cycling Savvy both have great curricula to help you become a genuine competent road user on a bicycle. Most people I've known to go through those courses also say they're better drivers as a result. One of the most important things you learn from either course is that YOU INFLUENCE YOUR SAFETY. In many instances, you can nearly CONTROL the safety of a situation. Once you have that with you, most of your road fear melts away.
After that, you need experience. You need to see your education implemented.
Lastly, most people need some sort of competent on-road role model. See how it's done. Learn a little nuance. Someone to instill bicycle wisdom as much as bicycle competence.
Originally Posted by
Cycle Tourist
Well said. Occupy your space in traffic and be seen. Riding with traffic is easy and relatively safe if your seen. Communicate with drivers with gestures, eye contact
and the like.
Riding with RVs on narrow shouldered roads in a fully loaded touring bike can be daunting but the usual commute in heavy traffic on city streets is pretty safe. Be seen. Occupy the space you need and let drivers know your intentions. You'll be busy so fear won't have as much chance to enter in.
+2
A common mistake those with fear of traffic make is to ride meekly, doing everything they can to "stay out of the way of cars"...
even when there is not enough space to safely do so. This could be called the "ride the right edge all the time and
hope for the best" technique.
The problem is this increases the chance that drivers won't see or properly take these cyclists into account. The law allows for using the lane, and many times it's the safest way to handle certain situations. For safety, there are times where drivers are going to have to slow down behind us for a bit, and we have to be comfortable with this. But it only comes with training and practice. Ride Large and Take Charge.