Having ridden, trained and raced bicycles for 19 years, I thought I knew everything there was to know about cycling on the open road. Up until recently, I rode mostly in a static lane position on the right side of the right tire track. I looked back a lot to check on traffic but was still peeved at getting close-passed without warning.
After hanging out in the Forum a while, I figured I would try the rear-view mirror and a more active approach to traffic management. I must say I was pleasantly surprised. I can generally tell the approaching boneheads from the normal drivers long before they get close just by how they behave behind me. I consciously take more lane when there are oncoming vehicles and hand-signal vehicles approaching from the rear to slow in these situations and most vehicles will oblige and the operators are grateful, especially on blind turn situations where I can see around the turn further than they can. And, by being farther in the lane I have afforded myself more space to the right to maneuver and make the 'close pass' not so close if I have to. Now I even use the mirror on fast group training rides to keep my mates aware of traffic conditions.
So I think I have learned to be a more pro-active and also safer cyclist.
Bike lanes are by and large just dumb. Out west, they may have improved them but not around here. I was just a beach town in Delaware where they have bike lanes painted everywhere. Right in the middle of town with tons of parked cars, they have the 3' wide bike lane painted right up against the parked cars. A zillion kids riding up and down the street. Further out, they have bike lanes but no sidewalks. So, the pedestrians (rightfully) walk down the bike lanes so I ride out in the street! So what good is the bike lane?
Just to show how much respect the state of Delaware affords cyclist, after Ernesto subsided, the shoulder of Ocean Highway was covered with tree debris and sand. I was riding my bike up the shoulder/bike-lane/ped lane and stopped to discuss the condition of the road with a Delaware State Policeman who was monitoring Labor day traffic. I mentioned to him that the entire shoulder was covered in sand for several hundred feet making riding hazardous and asked him if Del DOT was aware of the situations. He said 'oh yes, Del DOT knows about it, but they are not going to do anything about it until after the holiday. They don't want to pay the overtime". Sure enough, before I left today, I saw the street cleaner going up the shoulder of Ocean Highway.....