For like the 5th day in a row, rubberneckers on the 101 have rear-ended each other. What happens is one guy slows down to look at the mudslides in La Conchita and someone behind, not paying attention, rear-ends someone in front. It may be the car behind the guy or a couple cars back. Today the rear-ender was fatal to the rubbernecker.

I don't doubt that the car behind me while taking a lane can see me, but what about the car behind him? I know that while I'm driving if I was on a fast road and suddenly found myself behind somebody going like 15 miles per hour, it would be a shock. Somebody going 35 on the freeway is a shock. I haven't hit anybody in a situation like that (ok maybe way back when I was 16), but it wouldn't be that hard for some cellphone junkie or drunk to hit somebody in a situation like that.

It probably doesn't happen very often, but is a real danger. I would prefer not to ride a narrow road that would put me in the situation where I was in front of a car that then got rear-ended. The force could push them into me.

In my area people also ride on the freeway regularly. There's one bend in the freeway out at Gaviota that seems to be a magnet for cars killing bikes. It's always a drunk driver, too, who drifts into the shoulder and plows into the cyclist(s). There was a guy in town you'd see riding around with a prosthetic leg from one of those accidents.

I just don't think high-speed traffic and cyclists are a good mixture. It's not about VC or bike lanes. It's just not a good mix. There's no way I'd take a lane on a 65 MPH road. It's not worth it, whether the risk is death or merely abuse, or even just the noise. I don't ride a bike to be some kind of saint or to support any kind of cause or prove I have rights. I do it because it's enjoyable. If it wasn't enjoyable I wouldn't do it. If I lived in Houston, well, I'd move out of there. Sounds unlivable. 65MPH city streets sound unlivable.

That doesn't answer the question, though. It doesn't sound like VC advocates or Forrester would ever change their opinion just because there are more driver distractions and faster roads because VC is probably the only way to negotiate an unlivable city.