Originally Posted by tndrbstr
Originally Posted by smokepole
Originally Posted by JeffA
So you're saying a kid on a bike or a older person on a bike or a impaired person on a bike that can't maintain consistent lane position or direction of travel looks completely different than Paul on a bike.



I sure would hope so.
I do too. I think I could tell the difference pretty quick. Just like I can tell that 95% of the riders around here don’t have the courtesy or shared space mentality that Paul seems to project.

On the road, I absolutely take a cooperative approach with motorists. I do when I drive and I do when I am on bicycle paths as well.

This is the kind of road I love to ride when I can. [Linked Image from i.postimg.cc]


I ride in the middle of the lane to make myself more visible to vehicles that come up from behind. As they approach, I regularly glance over my shoulder. This should communicate to them that I am aware of their presence. What normally happens is while they are well back, they start moving left. I gravitate right. We have a mutually respectful, safe encounter where the whole of the burden on either of us is easing over.

It was on this road that a tractor trailer rig was coming from each direction. They were going to arrive at my location at about the same time. I pulled over, picked my bike up and moved it about 4 feet off of the road. For most of this 60+ mile ride, no driver had to do anything more than ease over for me. At one point the road started winding. I was approaching a bend in the road. I had a car coming from behind. I could hear a car coming from around the bend. I didn't have a place to get off the road. I held up my hand as if to say "wait." the car behind me waited until we cleared the bend, then passed. They probably lost 10 seconds. Most drivers are okay with me doing the best I can in that situation. A select few will be enraged.

On the other hand, there were a couple of instances where motor vehicles had a number of vehicles stacked up behind them. When those packs got to me, I got out of the way. That was a courtesy that the driver at the front of the pack wouldn't extend to those behind them, despite the fact that there were many places along the way to pull over.