Where you ride, do you feel safe? Do you enjoy it? Why? What would you like to see different?

I feel safe. I enoy it. Most of the roads I use have minor shoulders; some have the shoulder wider than the prevailing lane for traffic. Drivers are almost always courteous and move to the left, even when I am standing by the side of the road answering a call of nature.

I'd like to see more roads with good shoulders. In urban areas where parked cars and narrow streets make this impossible, i'd like to see a more sophisticated approach to to transportation, adopting ideas suggested by many people on these forums at one time or another. Closing some streets to traffic; making some roads one way with parking only on one side; etc.

I'd also like to see cycling more effectively marketed as a healthy form of recreation.

roughstuff

I (currently) ride in calgary, on city streets, minor arterials and MUP's. I enjoy it rain, snow or shine. What I would like to see is: a) fewer 1-way streets downtown, b) fewer on ramps and dedicated right turns where cars don't have to stop, c) better parking facilities, d) some bike cops cycling through the city - on the paths, on downtown streets, on suburban streets, and e) lots more cyclists enjoying the ride. Some of these might be harder to achieve than others, but any or all of them would improve life for me and other cyclists here (of which there are many).

I have extended my bike commute season into the fall because I continue to enjoy it, even in a little bit of cold rain. I wouldn't do it if I believed that every ride was a dance with death. So, I guess that means I feel safe, but there is a short stretch that makes me nervous.

I feel safe most of the way. About 1.6 miles is on a MUP--which is delightfully empty early in the morning, and it runs along the river and across a bridge, so it's lovely, too--and the rest is on a 2-way 4-lane arterial with a bike lane. The drivers are pretty mellow, and used to bikes, so I haven't been the recipient of any road rage or dopiness (yet--*knock wood*) on that stretch.

The 4-lane arterial dumps into a 2-lane, skinny-shouldered road for the last 1/2 mile of my commute, and that's the stretch that worries me. It's a construction zone right now, littered with debris, and traffic barrels through over the 50mph limit regularly. Plus for some reason the drivers seem more PO'd on this road than on the other. I've been buzzed a couple times. Even so, I just stay on high alert. It doesn't keep me from going through there. But if there were a way to avoid it, I would.

I feel safe taking my space in the lane cycling along with heavy traffic at rushhour. Sure, there is the occasional nutjob but they are by and large few and far between. We have no bike lanes and very few shoulders and that's fine with me. Better to have nothing than have inconsistency. It's safer and easier for everybody.

Depends on where I ride... sometimes I feel safe, and those rides are fun, other times I feel like I have to be super vigilant, and those rides are more work than fun... especially when in my vigilance I can't ride flat out fast, because I am busy watching for motorists to make mistakes.

Funny thing happened last Sunday evening. Thought I would go for a quiet, near sunset, cruise in and around my neighborhood. Figured no one would be out and I would just relax... wrong. I encountered 4 cars, three of which were doing something kinda odd. Now really it was no big deal, these are quiet residential streets, but there they were, each doing something other than just going to some destination.

One was backing up a trailer... and too engrossed to see anything else but that task. No big deal. Just watch out.

Another had just made a left turn, but probably presumed no one would be on the road, so they had made a sharp turn clipping the turn... and narrowly missing me... who was riding down the middle of the road onto which they turned. No big deal... just keep the eyes open.

And finally the last... they had pulled into curbside parking moments before I arrived, but I did not see them actually arrive, what I saw was the driver door suddenly swinging open before me. But again no big deal, I was in the middle of the road, well outside door range.

So you see, while I would love to go "whistling down the lane," one still has to keep vigilant.

Edit: "What whould I like to see different?" I'd like the roads to be in better shape, I'd like the stop lights to respond to my bicycle, I'd like the road engineers to ride bikes and see what it feels like to be a cyclist in 50MPH traffic. I'd like to see motorists treat me just like a driver of a vehicle, albeit a fragile vehicle. I'd like the motorists to treat each other with respect and to understand that inspite of Hollywood movies, there is no "reset" when you make a dumb mistake.

I'd like to see motorists actually stop at a right on red and look twice.

And I'd like to see a lot more people on bikes.

What I would like?

Better road conditions. Cracks, potholes and the like are a problem for bikes and cars alike. I can deal with bad roads, but it is much nicer to not have to.

The only time I feel really safe is 6:00 o'clock on a Sunday morning. All the other time, I feel kinda safe.

On Sunday at 6, I usually don't feel anything.

I don't feel safe at all. I'm terrified every second of the way. Those mean bike lanes are going to get me killed. People are going to run me over because I'm not darting into their path and demanding a response. I'm so terribly irrelevant. There's no hope for me.

I generally feel safe... I would like to see fewer drivers talking on cell phones and I 'd appreciate it if they were taught cycling laws in Driver's Education.

+1

On fast roads, I concur.

... and transportation

That would be my first priority, along with traffic controls at merges, so that I do not have cars merging from the right into my path at 50-60mph/80-100kph.

I feel relatively safe, but less safe than I would like. Where possible, I choose my routes, weather conditions, and travel times with an eye toward maximizing safety. I wish motorists were more attentive and less frustrated by congestion.

Where you ride, do you feel safe? Yes.
Do you enjoy it? Yes.
Why? Satisfaction and fun of traveling under my own power.
What would you like to see different? Better bike detection at traffic signals. More cyclists. Fewer pot holes. No bike lanes. Most cyclists acting like vehicle drivers rather than rolling pedestrians.

You are a fluke
Of the universe.
You have no right to be here.
And whether you can hear it or not
The universe is laughing behind your back.

Of course I feel safe. Why wouldn't I feel safe?

It makes no sense at all...

...but yet...

Where you ride, do you feel safe? Yes.
Do you enjoy it? Yes.
What would you like to see different? Fewer pot holes. Better paved streets. Storm drains recessed under sidewalk edge. No on-street parking - then there would be fewer cars on the streets and more space for the remaining traffic.

I ride on the roads in Baltimore county mostly. I feel relatively safe.

I wish road maintenance was better here (potholes etc.), and this is an election year!

The longer I ride the safer I feel. I'm getting better at anticipating trouble. I think it's also important to ride in a way that lets the driver behind you know you're a cyclist - - and not just some guy out pedalling around for a few minutes to work off dessert. Hold your line, smooth cadence, etc.

Why is there a difference between "official cyclist" and "some guy out pedalling around for a few minutes to work off dessert?" Are they not both a cyclist?

The latter is more likely to so something suddenly and unpredictably than the former, like briefly signal and swerve...

Would you feel safe if you approached the end of a residential street only to come upon about 10 men in their late teens/early 20s, each one wearing one piece of Raiders paraphrenalia, each one wearing Raiders colors, and one of them stands directly in your path? Where would you position yourself then?