Originally Posted by
Chaco
Great video! It raised a question for me, though, down here in much less bike-friendly territory.
There's a stretch of Hwy. 101 in Leucadia(surfer town north of San Diego) that has two lanes and parking alongside the street. There is no bicycle lane at all, and the side of the road is often filled with parked cars. The lanes are big enough for two lanes of traffic, but not bikes too. Cars typically travel between 35 and 50 mph along this stretch, which lasts for about 3 or 4 miles.
If I followed the advice of this video, especially about keeping 4 feet away from parked cars to avoid dooring, I would be taking the lane. This would piss off a lot of motorists, but there's no doubt I would feel a whole lot safer. Am I doing the wrong thing by clinging to the right and hoping that no one doors me?
I think I have ridden the stretch you are talking about. Two lanes of traffic, either way, parking for cars, no "bike lane?" Take the lane, ride strong and decisively. You
have to take the lane and as others have pointed out, people will pass you. Also, if you do indeed take the lane, and take it by a definite margin, people will pass you with more room, more safely. If you hug the cars, not only do you risk dooring but people in your lane will try to squeeze by you, sometimes will millimeters to spare and if you are unlucky, you will get hit in the squeeze; not good.
And it is courteous for slower traffic to move over periodically to let faster traffic pass, no matter what vehicle you ride/drive.