Deacon, I'm pretty much the only bicycle commuter in my little neck of the woods here in southwest Missouri. I very rarely see another adult riding a bicycle in any circumstance. The roads I ride are either two lane asphalt/chip seal or gravel. Shoulders? Ha! Anyway, I'd estimate 95% of the automobile drivers given me a very wide berth when passing but the occasional driver comes somewhat uncomfortably close or, when passing me, the encroach on oncoming automobile traffic. My riding habits are to ride as far to the right as I can safely ride and only take the lane as I approach a turn giving very deliberate hand signals. I also go to great efforts to be seen using flashing lights, reflective flags, and high visibility clothing. The 5% of the automobile drivers out there strike me as just being impatient and no willing to wait a few seconds for a safe passing lane. I don't have any idea how to teach a person to be more patient. If they did not learn it as children, they'll not likely learn it as adults.
On Saturday, February 20, 2016 at 1:22:25 PM UTC-6, Deacon Patrick wrote: > > On narrow mountain roads we take the lane, riding in the right tire track. > Thus, cars no longer run us off the road, but instead pass us after going > to the oncoming lane. That works great when there is clear sight line and > no oncoming traffic. Far too often, entitled drivers pass us anywhere, when > it is either a blind curve or there is clear oncoming traffic. This > happened 4 times this morning just getting out of our small mountain town > on y ride with our two eldest lassies. Four times oncoming traffic was > forced to stop and/or pull over for selfish drivers. > > Whenever I see this situation is about to happen, I try to signal the > driver coming up behind me (I always ride at the end of the bike line) by > putting my left hand out in the "Caution, slow" signal and if I hear them > still passing, I wave them back. This has caused a driver to slow down > exactly once out of countless times. > > Any ideas how to help the situation be smoother/better? > > With abandon, > Patrick > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
