On Thu, 26 Mar 2015 22:17:35 -0400, Frank Krygowski
wrote:

On 08/03/2015 03:31, Joy Beeson wrote:

On a lonely country road, ride far enough to the left -- this being a
multinational forum, make that "close enough to the center" -- that
you can make a dramatic and visible move toward the edge of the road.

When you hear a car coming, watch it in your mirror until you are
quite sure the driver can see you turn your head as if looking back
before you move toward the edge of the road.

On Thu, 26 Mar 2015 21:47:37 +0000, Andy Morris AndyMorris@DeadSpam
wrote:

Why do you feel you are responsible for the car behind? If they want to
overtake they can change lane, if its not safe for them to do that do
you really want to encourage them to squeeze by?

Then, On 3/26/2015 8:41 PM, John B. Slocomb wrote:

for one thing, the car behind you is bigger, stronger, faster and
harder then you are. The proverbial 600 lb. gorilla, in other words.

It is usually suggested that he gets to do whatever he wants to while
you the smaller, weaker, slower and softer creature stay out of the
gorilla's way.

It is often argued that if the gorilla stomps you into the ground like
a grease spot that the LAW will punish him. Which would seem to be of
little interest to you as you'll be dead.

Well, having tried pretty much every reasonable strategy, I've formed
these opinions:

First, if the lane is too narrow for safe passing within the lane, I
stay pretty much lane centered. As Andy said, I really don't want to
encourage them to pass until they can move over.

But if the lane is wider, and especially if it's of marginal width -
i.e., I might share it with a Geo Metro, but might feel uncomfortable
with a Cadillac Escalade - I find it's helpful to ride lane centered
long enough that the motorists visibly slow. Then I move right, as Joy
said. Almost all motorists seem to interpret that as "Oh, what a nice
guy." And the result is almost always a slow, careful pass.

And speaking of Escalades: It's _finally_ half-decent riding weather
here. Yesterday, riding to the hardware store on the normally busy 5
lane road (12 foot lanes, IIRC), I happened to be almost alone... except
for a white Escalade that came up behind me. Despite the open left
lane, he blared his horn in an unfriendly manner.

I stayed where I was (lane center) and waved a couple times, something
like either "Hello" or "Of course I know you're there." Then I gave
what I hope was an obviously displeased motion saying "So pass me,
dammit!" Which he did. No further trouble. And no conceding anything
on my part.

But what happens if he doesn't see you or just decides to run over
you? Country road, no traffic, pain in the arse, who's to know?

Something similar happened here in Thailand. A foreign couple
apparently riding side by side on a fairly wide two lane road were hit
and killed by a pickup truck that ran into them from the rear. The
Thai driving the pickup said that he dropped his phone and was
reaching down for it and didn't see them.

Obviously the pickup driver had to say something, he couldn't just
ignore the fact that he had run over two people and what actually
happened is anyone's guess. But the fact remains that the cyclists are
dead. Had they been riding in a single line on the side of the road
they might not be.

It's like this every spring. The Escalade drivers have had a whole
winter to glory in their supposed superiority and privilege. It takes a
few weeks for them to remember that "Oh yeah, those guys have a legal
right to the road, too."

Cowering at the right just slows their learning process.

Yes, I believe in every state a cyclist has a right to use the public
highway, but does he have a right to impede other traffic? It has been
a while since I drove in the U.S. but I definitely have the
recollection that one was not entitled to impede other drivers. I
remember signs stating "Slow traffic keep right".

I also remember seeing trucks hauling sections of gigantic concrete
pipe that weren't allowed to travel during the day or early evening,
because their load took up more than one lane.
--
Cheers,

John B.