Originally Posted by Helmet Head

Earlier, in response to my statement, "fortunately, it is easy enough to test this for yourself.", you wrote:

What were you referring to by "this", and how exactly have you tested it?

What I was referring to was testing whether drivers discern between a cyclist an eighth of a mile ahead who is riding in the motorist's lane/path from a cyclist an eighth of a mile ahead who is riding in a bike lane. Have you tested for this, or not?

When JJ asked: "So when you ride six feet to the left of the white line, ...", you replied, "Why would I want to force overtaking drivers to have to slow down and/or change lanes when it's not necessary".

Whether you would want to force drivers to have to slow down and/or change is beside the point. The question is: would riding there force them to do it, implying they discern a difference.

Your response implies:

a) You have not actually tested it (because you wrote, "why would I ...").
b) You believe if you did test it, motorist's would discern the difference, despite all your finger-width differential statements to the contrary.

I believe that is your genuine impression. I don't believe you've actually tested this. I don't believe you've ridden 2' to the right of the stripe, and watched the paths of approaching motorists in your mirror, and actually counted how many adjusted laterally, and how many did not. I believe you have noticed some motorists adjusting once in a while, and have mistakenly concluded that "most" do this. I believe if you actually counted, you would find it is much less than "most". I believe what I believe based on your lack of specifics about the test you supposedly ran.

Again, it's easy enough to test. How about the handful of us still paying attention to this thread actually go out and do it, and report back with the specific results?

a) What road were you on (or link to maps.google.com).
b) date and time
c) Describe the road (# of lanes, bike lane or shoulder, how wide are each, etc, straight or curved, etc.)
d) what direction were you traveling.
e) When you tested BL riding, how far to the right were you riding?
f) when you tested riding in the lane during gaps, how far into the lane were you during the gaps?
g) what type of mirror did you use?
h) during each run, describe the type (all BL or in-lane during gaps, move into BL when motorist is 5-10 seconds back) how many cars approached in the outside lane, how many did not adjust at all, how many adjusted a few feet, and how many changed lanes.

We should all try to test on a fairly long intersectionless straight piece of road, with traffic moving 25-40 mph faster than the cyclist, at least 2 lanes in our direction, plus a bike lane or striped shoulder.

Make your observations/counts using the two methods:
a) stay in the bikelane/shoulder the entire time
b) riding in an assertive "centerish" lane position (near the grease mark) during gaps, and moving aside into BL/shoulder if approaching motorist/s is/are not changing lanes and is/are 5-10 seconds back.