I liked the anti-LLM bit at the end, and calling it “Grand Theft Autocorrect” was just beautiful.
Why the hell would anyone want to literally ride a bicycle right in car traffic? Bicycles are inherently slower than cars, even at halfway racing speeds. Even if you’re riding at 30mph, the asshole behind you going 55mph will just as soon run your ass over, because well, car-brain…
Nobody wants to, but there is no bike lane, so…
Nobody wants to
Literally the whole video is about how one guy really did want to, and he was able to convince an entire country (or two…or four) his way was right.
You should actually watch the video, because the entire thing is about cyclists advocating against bike lanes.
Ride the white line on the edge of the road like I do. It’s just foolish and dangerous to ride in the middle of active car traffic lanes.
Umm, edit for the downvoters, we don’t have bike lanes in my area. Where else would you have me ride? The middle of the highway, where I’ve already lost 2 friends that got hit by cars while riding bicycle?
I’ll stick with the tactic that’s kept me alive all this time, don’t ride in the middle of the road.
Umm, edit for the downvoters…Where else would you have me ride?
In the middle of the lane. Vehicles are more likely to hit you while trying to squeeze past you. Don’t let them.
I’ll stick with the tactic that’s kept me alive all this time
Middle of the lane? Why? Like seriously why?
You might as well be a deer in the road at night, the douchebag behind you driving 20 over the speed limit while texting his hooker ain’t gonna see you…
Middle of the lane? Why? Like seriously why?
I just finished explaining why in the comment you just replied to.
ain’t gonna see you…
What makes you think you’re any more visible on the white line?
Being on the white line might not necessarily improve my visibility, but hear me out…
If you’re riding right in front of the vehicle driving like an ass, you got a 100℅ chance of getting hit or run over. But if you keep your bike on the edge of the road, you significantly reduce your chances of getting run over by an idiot.
if you keep your bike on the edge of the road, you significantly reduce your chances of getting run over by an idiot.
Quite the opposite. This has been statistically verified many times. You can verify the verification with a simple web search, if you really want to know.
Nah you’ve got that backwards. If you’ve got separate bike paths, that’s the best, and it’s what 100% of advocacy should be aimed towards. But when there isn’t separate bike infrastructure, Forester’s advice actually is sensible. You should ride in the middle of the lane. The risk of someone thinking they can squeeze past and failing is far greater than the risk of someone deliberately riding into you from behind.
To your point, I have ridden literally thousands of miles, and I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve witnessed a car run a stop sign or red light. But in nearly every ride, countless cars veer out of their lane and into the shoulder, especially on left-hand bends.
I will usually risk hugging the shoulder on long straight roads with good visibility, the feels like the best mix of personal safety and sharing the road with others, but never take my chances in the twisties. I want to be seen.
I’ll keep over to the left when there’s a shoulder that’s wide enough to act as a bike lane and there’s no cars parked in that shoulder for a long stretch. And on roads where the lane is extra wide and a car can comfortably pass me at well over 1 metre gap without leaving the lane. If neither of those is true, keeping left really doesn’t help with “sharing the road”, because others can’t overtake safely. The only thing it does if I keep left is to make drivers think they might be able to squeeze past without leaving the lane.
Did you miss something? We don’t have bike lanes in my area.
So, considering the lack of bike lanes, I ride the white line on the edge of the road. Like, who in their right mind would ride a bicycle in the middle of vehicle traffic?
I ride the white line on the edge of the road
This is incredibly dangerous, unless you mean that you’re riding on the other side of the white line (sometimes called a “fog line”), on a road with a nice wide shoulder. All it does is encourage drivers to overtake at dangerously close distances when they’re unable to do so safely. Taking the lane keeps you safe, because it makes you easier to see (it puts you right where drivers are already looking, instead of off to the side) and it provides an obvious indication that the only way they can overtake is if they move into the other lane. Which requires that they’re able to move into the other lane. No incentive to squeeze past when it’s unsafe.
I’ve been riding this way for 33 years, never been hit. My main bicycle is basically a mirror anyways, known by the entire county as Silver. If you can’t see Silver, you don’t need to be on the road anyways.
I’m also smart enough to know that whenever traffic gets too busy, it’s probably a fine time for me to take a riding break and let traffic settle down. As a bike rider, to me, rule #1 is watch your own ass…
I’m gonna continue riding the way I ride as long as I ride, because I’m still alive and never had a traffic injury.
I’ve done that before and that only leads to every car passing me at 65 km/h (41mph) only 45cm (1.5ft), rather than moving to the other lane, passing and then going back. Outside American city cores where shoulders are wider, there’s often trash and debris there. So I’d rather get yelled at by a few impatient drivers than risk my life passing closely, or risk a flat tire from glass shards or flipping over going over a broken chunk of concrete.
I’ll take my chances with a potential flat tire, which doesn’t often happen to me thankfully. If you have a problem running over glass shards or lumps of concrete, then that’s on you, you’re supposed to look where you’re going.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/a8Ej4VfeCkTLFJ7TA?g_st=ac South Hill, WA, USA where I biked last year.
Even closer to town where the shoulder lane ‘looks clear’, you can clearly see the difference in road condition where it looks coated in a layer of sand/gravel within which glass pieces can conceal themselves. and swerving into car lanes to avoid larger obstacles is even more dangerous, anyway.
That day I took my bike on the bus from Federal Way, so I didn’t ride in the city that time, but look at the shoulder width in Bellevue., you get 30cm (1ft) of space on the shoulder. If you ride on the side here, you will be treated by drivers the same as a garbabe bin out on collection day.
Maybe your local government takes care of your suburban, exurban and rural arterial roads to a point they are pristine enough and there’s plenty of space for you to bike on the side. I’m happy for you then, but don’t put the failures of infrastructure on the individual.
Wow, you got lots of riding space there!
In my area, some roads only have like 3 inches of pavement past the white line. Yes, it can be scary as fuck, but when there’s no bike path, where else to ride?
Yes, it really can be scary riding the ~6 inches on the edge of the road, definitely not saying that’s ideal, it most certainly isn’t. But with no other option on some roads, I’d rather ride the white line than ride in the middle of traffic.
but when there’s no bike path, where else to ride?
That’s in the vehicle lane, which is the point I’m making here. It’s better to be in people’s direct line of vision. If they were distracted on their phone and couldn’t see you in the middle of the road, they won’t see you on the shoulder.
I’m trying my best not to antagonize you for your choices. Ride however you feel safest and comfortable. Riding in the road isn’t safe for everyone, and riding on the shoulder or sidewalk is safer depending on your bike, what your roads look like, and the local rules. Often times like you say there’s no ideal option. All I ask is you don’t chastise other people just for making assessments for what is the safest option in their circumstances, based on your own generalized assessment.
Why the hell would anyone want to literally ride a bicycle right in car traffic?
Maybe because there is no alternative?
There’s no bike lanes in my area either. 33 years and counting, I ride on the white line on the edge of the road, not in the middle of the road…
I misunderstood your point. I thought you were talking about generally riding on roads open to traffic, but I understand now you were talking about “vehicular cycling”. I agree with you then
Why the hell would anyone want to literally ride a bicycle right in car traffic?
Ask them next time you see them riding down the road right next to the bike lane.
Depending on the bike lane I’d rather use the street, especially if I know the bike lane ends and I’d have to use the street anyway (bike lanes are patchwork around here).
I live in an area where there are no bike lanes and very few sidewalks.
I don’t know why. The point is that they can and do.
Bicycles are inherently slower than cars, even at halfway racing speeds.
I’ll race you from my house to the Saturday market in the city center. I’ll go by bike, you can go by car. Bet you €100 that I’ll beat you there by at least 5 minutes.
Peak speed is not the same as travel time. A car is faster in terms of peak speed, even if it isn’t faster in terms of travel time.
Not in the city it isn’t.
No bet, I don’t have a car. My roommate does though.
Either way, I totally get you, from my own riding style though. On bicycle, I avoid red light car intersections as much as is humanly possible. Bicycles can go through the median, whether it’s legal or not…
As long as there’s no immediate traffic, I’ve found it safer and faster to just cross through the median, rather than try to mingle through an intersection with vehicles.
Not exactly saying that my riding style is best or safest, but I can get you a pizza in less than 4 minutes on a bicycle, skipping all the red lights and utilizing random median crossings (paved or not).
But, back to the main point, we don’t have bike lanes here in my area, and sidewalks are sparse and incomplete. I simply do not ride right in the middle of the road, I ride on the edge, I avoid intersections, and when traffic is clear, I cross the medians.
Oh, and I ride brakeless. My shoes are my brakes. But that’s besides the point, my basic point is if you have no other option, don’t ride in the middle of the road, ride on the white line edge of the road. Fuck, that’s the law in Mississippi.
Fuck, that’s the law in Mississippi
This website doesn’t agree:
Full lane use is allowed when…avoiding hazards or unsafe conditions, traveling in a lane too narrow to share
As a cyclist, you never, ever, ever want to ride right on the white line. If you can go over into the road shoulder that’s often best, but assuming no shoulder, give yourself a good 50 centimetres. That gives you room to manoeuvre if you need to avoid an obstacle. When the law says “bicyclists are generally required to ride as far to the right of the roadway as practicable” (also quoted from that law about Mississippi), that’s what they mean. Because being right on the line is not practicable for safety reasons.
But most cars are at least 1.8 m wide, and most lanes are no more than 3.6 m (according to this, the vast majority of roads in Mississippi have lane widths of 12 ft or less). With a cyclist riding 0.5 m from the edge, having handlebars that are 1 m wide, and the requirement to overtake being 0.9 m in Mississippi, you’re looking at a minimum lane width of 4.2 m before it’s not “too narrow to share”. When the lane’s that wide, I’m with you: ride close to the edge (close, again, being about 0.5 m). But most of the time, you’re keeping yourself safer by preventing drivers close passing you.
As long as there’s no immediate traffic, I’ve found it safer and faster to just cross through the median, rather than try to mingle through an intersection with vehicles.
I’m Dutch. We don’t generally mingle cyclists and car traffic outside very low traffic / low speed areas. There will be a separate bicycle path with its own traffic lights. Or even better: you can just take the bicycle highway and not encounter any traffic lights or level crossings with cars at all. Straight shot into the city center.
Also, you can’t drive your car into the city center at all, it’s a car-free zone. You have to park your car at the edge of the city center, in a parking garage or other paid spot (€3,80/hour), then you’d have to walk from there. On Saturdays it’s basically a traffic jam all the way from the ring-road to the parking garage. Meanwhile I can ride my (e-)bike straight to where I need to go and park it basically anywhere.
Oh, and I ride brakeless. My shoes are my brakes.
You’d be pulled off the road so quick if you did that here. Your bike is required to be roadworthy, which means working brakes, lights, reflectors, etc.
Sounds like actual good proper bicycle friendly infrastructure, awesome!
Honestly, I’m more of a BMX flatland rider, so my bike ain’t gonna pass any of those checks, no brakes (flatlander’s choice, my shoes are my brakes), no reflectors, no lights, no kickstand, no chainguard…
In BMX flatland, all that stuff is just extra weight and more parts to break. But also, flatland bikes aren’t exactly intended for everyday road transportation.
Bikes meant for regular road use really should have all those parts, plus even a mirror for an extra point or two of safety.
no reflectors, no lights
Apparently Mississippi doesn’t require you have brakes, but it does require you have lights and/or reflectors.
