Staying alive in traffic!
 

NEVER EVER allow two cars to pass you at the same time on a narrow road! When you pull your bicycle over to the side of the road as much as possible, you are inviting the half-wit driver behind you to kill you!

There are a lot of stupid drivers that think they should slow down and pull over to the side when they see a car trying to pass a bicyclist in the same lane as the cyclist. That is an invitation to the fool behind you to murder you.

The only way to avoid this is to pull your bike out into the lane so that the car behind cannot pass until it is safe.
Also a 12” flag to the side helps keep me alive. I also recommend video cameras!

Be aggressive; don’t let drivers run you off the road! When turning left stay in the CENTER of the lane, even through the turn!

And write the county commissioner letters to get more bike lanes! DO IT!

Ride like you belong there, and you will be treated thus. Ride like you're asking permission and be eaten alive.

Almost all of my ride is on roads with one lane in each direction, no shoulder and 60+ MPH traffic. I hold the right tire track if there is not traffic in both directions, but if there is, I move over. 5 years so far and no real problem. The lane is wide enough that if people hug the center line (they always do) I get a good 3 feet of space.

I have tried taking the lane - it makes people pass VERY CLOSE to me and run the oncoming car into the ditch.

I'd say at least 9 out of 10 cars passing me does it with no oncoming traffic, I hold my line and they change lanes to pass.

I love these take the lane discussions. How many people here been squeezed between car and curb? Last I tried out my hard knuckle gloves on a van that was doing just that.

This is the best answer I've seen yet! Yes, from my commuting experience so far it seems that drivers can tell an experienced and confident cyclist and react differently. It just never occurred to me entirely until TRaffic Jammer's comment. If I ride fast, take the lane, signal my turns, I never gent honked on and cars give me space. If I squeeze to the right I get honked at and violated several times on each commute.

These bear repeating. I've tried appeasing drivers in the past and was thoroughly punished for it.

Perfect summation.

I'm not a naturally assertive person, so it's taken me a while to get used to the idea that I shouldn't go out of my way to make things convenient for motorists, especially if it means risking my own neck. Now, I bike my way, not the way the motorist behind me thinks I should (what does he know about riding a bike anyways, right?). With experience, I've learned to take the lane if:
-yielding my position will mean I won't be able to merge back in (i.e., there's a clump of cars coming up behind me, and time for the first couple to pass, but not enough time for the whole clump to pass before I would need to stop for a car parked on the shoulder)
- there's an intersection coming up. I hate the confusion and danger of being passed just before or at an intersection. Plus, it's just rude to hop the line.
- there's a blind curve coming up
- when there's not room to lane-split
-when I'm travelling at the speed of traffic. The best is when I'm travelling faster than the speed of traffic (i.e., a bus, or transport truck is stopped/stopping). I'll merge left to pass slower vehicles. Fun!

I've also gotten a lot more assertive about merging left to make a turn. I signal, check that there's time to move over, and I go, even if it means the driver behind me will have to slow. I'm not going to cut anyone off, but I'm also not going to miss my turn just because I'm not speeding.

To Itsjustme, it seems to work for you (you're here, right?), but your method sounds pretty scary to me. I'd want more than 3 feet at those speeds, and I don't think asking motorists to slow for a few seconds until it's possible to move over the center line is asking too much, especially in your case, since it sounds like oncoming traffic is infrequent. If it were me, I'd be riding in the center of the lane, even left of center, until there was no oncoming traffic. Only then would I move right (slightly) to signal to traffic behind me that it's okay to overtake. If you think you're taking the lane but people are still buzzing you, you need to take more (I found that out the scary way one time when I was riding in the right tire track and 3 motorists all co-operated and moved left to overtake me, such that we were 4 abreast in a narrow 3 lane road, with just inches to spare, and a red light just 500 ft ahead). Now I take center, or center-left. I haven't been buzzed in ages. Honked at, yes, but that's not going to break me.

I'm not always taking the lane, and I will move right to accomidate sometimes, we are sharing here afterall. BUT, when I see a parked car up ahead, or any number of possible reasons to not be glued to the curb, I simply won't be. I generally position myself so I can crash on the roadway and not land on the elevated sidewalk and compound fracture myself or drive my head into a mailbox, planter or light pole. Not looking to block traffic, because when I do that I slow to a crawl and weave on the lane. :lol: The legal onus for safety is for the overtaking vehicle to do it safety, no matter where they might have to pull out to do it.

I left edge the curb lane at the intersections, never sitting there for a right hook, and often carve left around a turner/half turner. If I'm turning left I'm in the left lane, period, cars don't like it.... too bad...it's where I'm supposed to be.

I'll ride the way I want to ride and you can keep braying about murderous motorists and half-wit killers. Not going to write the county commissioner either, thank you very much.

Peace.:)

Be courteous but decisive. Pretend you're wearing tweed.

Stay glued to the curb and you may end up glued to it.

People just getting into commuting in traffic should follow the mantra: The curb is not my friend. It provides me no safety. When I am right beside the curb it and my enemy the automobile form a prison from which there is no escape.

;)

Sure, I don't advocate taking full lane all of the time, no matter what, that's just being a jerk. But majority of my commute has curbside dangers of all sorts (mostly debris, potholes and broken drains) so I need to take the full line most of the time, except for streets with bike lanes. But I am aware of the traffic behind me and sometimes let them pass me when I see a safe gap or before an intersection; I slow down and let the traffic clear, cars usually move in "packs" between lights. I'm also trying to be visible: bright colors, blinkers, signal my turns, etc.

some lunatics will still cross a double yellow line and gun it to pass you not knowing that they can be causing a fatal head on collision with an unseen car about to enter from the left and not knowing about the oncoming moron will only look toward their left for oncoming traffic, and then WHAM!

this is my worst fear. well, that and dancing ...

Of course, or even pass you on the right through the parking space. But you can't eradicate all the dangers. Although, being in the middle of the lane it'll give you some room to escape in case a head on happens.

Unless you ride in Ennis, TX, then the police will harass you and put you in jail for "impeding traffic".

On one stretch of my commute, I feel like I'm a traffic cop going up and in an all out race going down. It's probably a little less than a mile, but no shoulders whatsoever. Jagged rocky outcroppings on the one side and guardrail on the other with lots of blind turns. Going up I'm doing 6.5-10mph, depending on the bike and going down even my slowest bike can easily coast down at 30mph. The posted speed limit is 20mph. Going up, I wave motorists by if I can see it's clear around the next bend and hold them back if I see oncoming traffic. I go out of my way to be courteous, even getting out of the saddle and climbing fast if I see a car in my mirror so I can get to the next bend quick enough to communicate the status. It all goes pretty well.

At night, it's a different story. There is simply no room for a car to safely pass me going down, so I don't allow it. The speed limit is 20, I'm going 30, so there's no reason for it either. If I have to raise my speed to 40 and move all the way center to thwart a pass, I'll do it. You have to see this road to know it's the "right" thing to do.

Go to 238 Lincoln St, Waltham, MA and use Streetview and tell me if you don't agree.

Jtgyk ~ so if he was on the shoulder he would not have gotten arrested? did he give the cop some lip?

RaleighComp ~ that's a tricky looking stretch, no doubt. you might be safer taking a different route even if it adds 1/2 mile to your commute. how about Wyman St. or Lexington St.?

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&sour...,0.033088&z=15

Absolutely the opposite of mouthing off. He is extremely courteous with the officers he encounters.
He's been stopped by state troopers on the same stretch and not had a problem (the trooper even encouraged to take a route that put him on the road in question at an earlier point that would cut a rougher section out of his ride). It's the Ennis police that seem to have a problem with his riding.

I don't know about the state of the shoulder on that stretch, but here in TX they are highly variable, often strewn with glass and debris, and tend to disappear with some frequency.

Thanks for the alt route suggestion RR6, but after 15 months including two Winters, despite it's challenges, Lincoln Street works the best for me. There's just far less traffic on it and I find it pretty easy to control the traffic going up and now that I know every twist, turn, and road imperfection going down it's not really a problem to keep traffic back going down, mostly they can't even stay with me. I only make exceptions when there is fresh/falling snow on the roadway, then I'll take the straighter, longer, Lexington to Lake St going up, Lake to Lex going down (I work very near to where Lake and Lincoln meet). Also when there's snow, the speed differential between myself and the cars is a lot less to sometimes nil.