Originally Posted by Widsith

I don't do any of those things (where cycling is concerned, anyway) because I don't feel any burning need to make sweeping changes. I just do the things I was taught to do when I started riding in the '60s: Try to stay in a two-foot-wide stripe on the far right as much as possible, stop at lights and stop signs, use hand signals, stay aware of traffic around me, and regardless of who has the right of way, always be ready to yield if a driver does something dumb. Except for keeping to the two-foot-wide strip on the right, that's pretty much the way I drive too. It's always worked for me, and I've never lived anywhere that had dedicated bike lanes except inside parks and recreation areas. None of the bike accidents I've had involved cars, and though I've had to slam on the brakes or run off the edge of road onto the grass to avoid cars a few times, it always appeared to be due to driver negligence or inattention rather than maliciousness. So as I said, I don't feel a need to be agitating for change (though it would be nice if some of the busier roads around here had shoulders wider than an inch or two, or in some cases, no shoulder at all).