Originally Posted by sbhikes
Drivers should only slow down and take extra care if I'm a child. Otherwise it simply isn't necessary unless we're on a collision course.
I certainly don't slow down to pass other vehicles, why should anybody else?
Just to be clear, are you saying people in cars should pass people riding on bicycles with the same indifference that they pass people in adjacent lanes in cars?
Do you think that none of the following factors should be taken into account when a person in a car is passing a person on a bicycle?
- the tendency of most cyclists to ride near or on the BL or shoulder stripe due to rubble/debris collecting in the BL/shoulder as opposed to a few feet from the stripe where most vehicles are normally driven in normal traffic lanes.
- the usually high relative difference in speed between the passer (the motorist) and the passee (the cyclist)
- the need for cyclists to balance to say upright and their vulnerability to being knocked off course/balance due to wind from high speed passes
- the cyclist's relative vulnerability due to "lack of cage"
- the need of cyclists to sometimes swerve to avoid an object that they did not see soon enough
- the tendency of many cyclists to suddenly merge left without remembering to look back first (as you admitted to doing recently)
None of these factors should be taken into account, and people in cars should pass people on bicycles in adjacent space with the same indifference that they pass people in cars in adjacent lanes? That's your position? How do you advocate for cyclists from such a position?