XPost: or.general, or.politics   
   From: CorkyK@yahoo.com   
      
   Suddenly, "Paulapalooooozaa" , blurted out the following:   
      
   >Something that I've always wondered about, a habit of bicyclists I've seen   
   >across the country. In most states there are bike lanes next to the road.   
   >You would expect that people would ride in the middle of them, like cars   
   >ride in the middle of the car lanes. Often I see people riding on the   
   >outside edge and are often very close to cars as they pass. Is this   
   >something they do on purpose? Is it just lazy bicyclists? Or is it that   
   >these people are just ignorant?   
   >   
   >I would think that people would want to stay as far away from traffic as   
   >possible.   
   >   
      
   I cannot speak for the people who ride in groups, side by side on a busy street   
   taking up half of the lane, but the reason I ride closer to the white stripe   
   doesn't just have to do with the fact that often accident debris is simply   
   swept   
   in the bike land and left there. There is also the fact that often, bushes and   
   tree branches aren't maintained and can be dangerous. Plus when a road is   
   repaved, often that aggravating chuckhole in the bike lane is left as is.   
   Depending on the obstacle, be it road debris or a branch, the sudden movement   
   of   
   a bicyclist into traffic to avoid the obstacle can be much more dangerous than   
   if the rider is already 'on the stripe.' Sudden movements by bicyclists cause   
   motorists to adjust suddenly as well. We all don't have the same reaction time.   
   The answer to your question is that if the bike lanes were as well maintained   
   as   
   the road lanes, more bicyclists would probably stay in the middle of them, but   
   that just isn't the case.   
      
      
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