On Dec 15, 4:53*pm, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On Dec 15, 4:07*pm, Duane Hébert wrote:





On 12/15/2010 3:43 PM, James wrote:

I tried a bit of lane taking last night. About 8pm, still light thanks
to daylight savings, and we were two abreast on a road with two lanes
each way. Traffic was light. We had stopped at a traffic light, then
rode off, still two abreast. I was furthest from the gutter, about
middle of the lane.

Yup, there you have it. Some utter prick decides to buzz the tower. They
don't make rulers short enough to measure such small distances as he
left between his car mirror and my handlebars.

To top it off, the ass hole beeped his horn as he skimmed passed.

So much for take the lane, it makes them leave bigger gaps!

Or will Frank say, lucky I wasn't skulking in the gutter, he probably
would have hit me - nah, impossible. Fear from the rear doesn't exist,
right Frank?

Oh, I know the fear exists! *James and Duane have stated their fears
quite frequently!

Aren't you happy that you had that extra distance to the right to
maneuver in the split second that this happened?

Vehicles don't pass in "a split second," Duane. *Once again, don't
exaggerate.

I tried to ask for personal opinions about this and Frank jumped in with
his stats and I didn't really get an answer. *

I thought I've answered everything, so I don't know what "this" you're
referring to. *But my opinion generally matches the data quite well,
unless I have good reason to believe there are problem with the data.
When that's true, I try to explain the problems.

To me, it seems that
drivers do exactly what you describe more often when I'm further to the
left and when I'm toward the right they seem to be more cooperative more
often.

Measurements have proven you wrong. *See if you can read this chart:

http://commuteorlando.com/wordpress/...2009/04/passin...

Here's more detail:http://www.cyclistview.com/overtaking/

Or try the video he

http://commuteorlando.com/wordpress/...motorists-with...

Again, this matches my experience. *It matches the experience of my
best cycling friends, and of many other cyclists I know well and ride
with.

It doesn't mean that no close passes will ever happen. *Nothing will
be 100% effective with certain drivers. *But it certainly helps, as
shown by every investigation I've seen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5pCmUY8SV8 We seem to do just fine
around here, even with bicycles going 50mph. Note the section just
before the tunnel. Rider is on the right (even further over than I
usually ride), and the truck goes way around -- over the double
yellow. That descent, by the way, goes right downtown NW -- on to NW
23rd where you were riding around. On the way up, there are trails
around the tunnels.-- Jay Beattie.