On 09/10/2007, at 3:52 AM, Dan Minettte wrote: > > I have a question about your trip around Australia. Did you only > travel on > low traffic roads, or multi-lane roads, or roads with wide > shoulders that > can easily accommodate a bike?
Most roads in Australia are what you'd call "low traffic", and anyway, there's absolutely no choice about which way you go for much of it. But when I had a choice, I'd take the route that trucks were less likely to take. > > The reason I ask is that I was thinking about bikes and traffic as > I drove > to up to Austin for a funeral. There were a number of bikes on a > two lane > road that was on the first part of my trip and they coexisted well > with > traffic, driving on a paved shoulder that was, for all practical > purposes, a > bike lane. Yes. If there's a shoulder, cyclists will take it as long as it's in good condition. Even a foot of good shoulder can be enough for a bicycle to get far enough to the left (or right in weird wrong countries) so that cars and small trucks can safely pass on an open road. > > However, if they road in the main lane, they would not have > coexisted well. > Instead, there would be very long lines forming behind them....at > least > scores of cars long, if not hundreds. On the road I was thinking > of (FM > 1488 from I 45 to US 290 for you Texans), if a cyclist were to ride > the > entire way at, say 20 MPH, the line would stretch for miles behind > them. If they were to intentionally make it impossible to pass, but really it wouldn't, because like every other slow vehicle, cyclists will pull over and let a line of traffic through when it's safe to do so. > > Virtually every cyclist I've seen picked routes in which they > wouldn't cause > massive problems, so I've not seen this as a problem. But, if they > did ride > in the main lane of a number of roads, traffic on those roads would > be a > nightmare. Sure. But cyclists tend to not want to cause undue irritation to motorists, and with the exception of one couple I met as a result of touring who seemed to rub everyone they meet the wrong way, all the cyclists I've met out on the open road have been well aware of how to ride sensibly. Charlie _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
