Originally Posted by
Lamplight
Usually doesn't work here! This happens to me fairly often, but today three cars in a row did it, so I need to vent. When riding home my route takes me through a blind curve on a narrow, two lane road with a moderate amount of traffic. Sometimes I can time it just right so that I'm through the curve before any cars reach me, but when I can't I usually try to take the lane. With reasonable human beings this would work just fine, but of course people here are dumber than chickens. Occasionally a motorist will actually wait 4 seconds (which is all it takes, at most) and then pass me safely after the curve. But more often than not, they pass me in the middle of the blind curve completely in the oncoming traffic lane! I've seen many near misses, but today took the cake. Three geniuses in a row did this on the curve. A driver coming the other way had to lay on his brakes to keep from getting hit head on. Luckily he wasn't just a second or two sooner.
If you were not taking the lane, would these drivers have tried to squeeze past you in your lane rather than the oncoming lane and possibly either hit you or run you off the road when confronted with oncoming traffic? I'm just wondering if taking the lane actually did work for you here in the sense of keeping you safer, notwithstanding the fact that the drivers chose to put themselves at risk by passing at an inappropriate time.