I literally share the road for most of my bicycle commute.  I don’t get to ride in a bike lane most of the way.  The only real section of bike lane I ride in is for a few blocks on East Burnside; the rest of the time, I’m on residential streets (or, for a few blocks, on NE Glisan without a bike lane).

I even get to make a semi-scary left turn across Glisan, at an unsignaled intersection.  I’ve gotten used to this; I can make the turn just as easily and quickly as I can in a car.  Once in a while, I get surprised by drivers, though.  For instance, on Friday, someone waiting behind me honked at me as I pulled out into the intersection.  Sorry, dude, but I would have waited just as long to make the turn in my car.  And maybe you still would have been unhappy.

Occasionally, someone will also stop in the middle of Glisan to let me through.  I know they’re trying to be kind, and I do appreciate that.  But it’s really not a very safe move for either of us.  Often, when the person in one lane stops, no one in the other lane stops anyway, so it doesn’t make any difference.  Or worse, people behind the stopped person will try to dart around them.  So it’s not really a safe situation for me.

Similarly, it doesn’t really help for drivers to wait for me to go at a stop sign, even if they got there first and have the right of way.  You see, I don’t know if you’re really waiting for me, or if you’re going to suddenly pull out at the same time I do.  Even though I am a proponent of the Idaho stop law, if a car gets to the stop sign first, I expect to stop and wait.  It’s OK, really.

Even people in the wilds of eastern Washington are thinking about these things.  Here’s an excellent article from the Spokesman-Review with thoughts on sharing the road.

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