The law in my area says I need to be about 3’ (~1 meter) of the edge of the roadway, can ride two-abreast, and the edge of the roadway is defined as that white line that separates the road from the shoulder. Cars also need to give me 3’ (~1 meter) of space, and since lanes are 10-12’ wide, and cars are ~6’ wide, that’s not enough room for me and a car to be in the same lane, nor should it be. So me being “in the middle of the road” is just me following the law and encouraging other cars to obey the law to keep me safe. If I stick to the very edge of the roadway, cars will try to pass me, giving them very little space to the next lane over and encouraging them to violate that 3’ of space, increasing my risk of getting hit.
When I hear of someone getting hit by cars, it’s usually because the car didn’t see them, meaning they were off the roadway (to the right of the white line). That doesn’t mean it’s the cyclist’s fault or anything, but there are usually things the cyclist could have done to be more visible, and the most important of those is to take up more space where drivers are looking.
When I ride my bike, I either avoid traffic entirely (prefer separated bike paths), or I take as much of the lane as I can. This forces cars to either change lanes to pass me or wait for me to pull over/turn, which I do periodically to allow faster traffic to pass when there’s only a single lane. I get that it can piss off drivers, but I maintain that if they’re honking, they can see me, and that’s more important than saving them 10 seconds on a restricted roadway (which are usually slower speeds anyway, like 25mph/40kph, and I’m usually traveling at 15-20mph anyway).
Some cyclists overdo it and don’t move over when they’re blocking cars. That’s also legal, but I think also kind of a jerk move. But most of the time I see these complaints are when the cyclist is being considerate and the driver just doesn’t want to wait 10 seconds or whatever.
Pfft.
The law in my area says I need to be about 3’ (~1 meter) of the edge of the roadway, can ride two-abreast, and the edge of the roadway is defined as that white line that separates the road from the shoulder. Cars also need to give me 3’ (~1 meter) of space, and since lanes are 10-12’ wide, and cars are ~6’ wide, that’s not enough room for me and a car to be in the same lane, nor should it be. So me being “in the middle of the road” is just me following the law and encouraging other cars to obey the law to keep me safe. If I stick to the very edge of the roadway, cars will try to pass me, giving them very little space to the next lane over and encouraging them to violate that 3’ of space, increasing my risk of getting hit.
When I hear of someone getting hit by cars, it’s usually because the car didn’t see them, meaning they were off the roadway (to the right of the white line). That doesn’t mean it’s the cyclist’s fault or anything, but there are usually things the cyclist could have done to be more visible, and the most important of those is to take up more space where drivers are looking.
When I ride my bike, I either avoid traffic entirely (prefer separated bike paths), or I take as much of the lane as I can. This forces cars to either change lanes to pass me or wait for me to pull over/turn, which I do periodically to allow faster traffic to pass when there’s only a single lane. I get that it can piss off drivers, but I maintain that if they’re honking, they can see me, and that’s more important than saving them 10 seconds on a restricted roadway (which are usually slower speeds anyway, like 25mph/40kph, and I’m usually traveling at 15-20mph anyway).
Some cyclists overdo it and don’t move over when they’re blocking cars. That’s also legal, but I think also kind of a jerk move. But most of the time I see these complaints are when the cyclist is being considerate and the driver just doesn’t want to wait 10 seconds or whatever.