| > Most people won't be comfortable doing this for the simple reason that they'll be going slower than surrounding traffic People, in general, aren't comfortable engaging in an activity they don't have experience with. A motorist who drives a car for the first time in traffic is not comfortable. Comfort and confidence come with experience. > it will piss of drivers Based on first hand experience riding a bicycle while taking the lane in traffic for more than a decade is that it's a rare occurance. My estimate is that someone shows their frustration maybe once every several years. On the other hand, riding near the edge or in a substandard width bike lane will result in frequent close passes and frequent close calls with turning traffic (weekly, if not daily). > which is scary when you're on a bike and they have two tons of metal right beside you The same rationale could apply to motorcyclists versus motorists in cars, SUVs, and pickup trucks. In fact it can even apply to the latter versus bus drivers, dump trucks and tractor-trailers. But the way that traffic consisting of vehicles that have different sizes, masses can all share the road is because the drivers follow the same set of rules. It also works for cyclists. > If the safest way to do something is mildly terrifying and generally viewed as antagonistic Based on first hand experience, I don't think these assumptions are really valid. If that were the case, then we wouldn't see cyclists on the road at all. But, there are many locations where cyclists ride on the road without bike lanes or separated paths. > we can't be surprised that most people will avoid doing that thing. Whether most people will engage in a particular activity should not affect the best practice from a safety and efficiency standpoint. For example, the motorcycle safety foundation focuses on bike handling skills and defensive driving. They're not trying to get more people to use motorcycles for transportation, nor are they trying to get infrastructure built specifically for motorcyclists on existing roads. Similarly, we should focus on education for cyclists in terms of how to use the existing road network to get to their destinations rather than focus on piecemeal infrastructure that really makes things more dangerous for them by reinforcing bad riding habits that are unsafe. |