Depends on where I ride... sometimes I feel safe, and those rides are fun, other times I feel like I have to be super vigilant, and those rides are more work than fun... especially when in my vigilance I can't ride flat out fast, because I am busy watching for motorists to make mistakes.

Funny thing happened last Sunday evening. Thought I would go for a quiet, near sunset, cruise in and around my neighborhood. Figured no one would be out and I would just relax... wrong. I encountered 4 cars, three of which were doing something kinda odd. Now really it was no big deal, these are quiet residential streets, but there they were, each doing something other than just going to some destination.

One was backing up a trailer... and too engrossed to see anything else but that task. No big deal. Just watch out.

Another had just made a left turn, but probably presumed no one would be on the road, so they had made a sharp turn clipping the turn... and narrowly missing me... who was riding down the middle of the road onto which they turned. No big deal... just keep the eyes open.

And finally the last... they had pulled into curbside parking moments before I arrived, but I did not see them actually arrive, what I saw was the driver door suddenly swinging open before me. But again no big deal, I was in the middle of the road, well outside door range.

So you see, while I would love to go "whistling down the lane," one still has to keep vigilant.

Edit: "What whould I like to see different?" I'd like the roads to be in better shape, I'd like the stop lights to respond to my bicycle, I'd like the road engineers to ride bikes and see what it feels like to be a cyclist in 50MPH traffic. I'd like to see motorists treat me just like a driver of a vehicle, albeit a fragile vehicle. I'd like the motorists to treat each other with respect and to understand that inspite of Hollywood movies, there is no "reset" when you make a dumb mistake.

I'd like to see motorists actually stop at a right on red and look twice.

And I'd like to see a lot more people on bikes.