How much traffic is present when you ride?

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sgtjiggy

Active Member
I ride when I can, meaning when it fits my family's schedule! This is usually around 5-7 pm central time US. I don't live in a big city but when I ride it is usually the early evening rush hour. Everyone is in a hurry to get home. I try to take bike paths when I can but the vast majority of my route is on city streets and highways. It frustrates me beyond belief how little room some cagers will give when passing. In the states a bicycle is granted the same rules of the road as motor vehicles. It is technically illegal to pass a vehicle in the same lane. In other words cagers must use another lane to pass. I can't tell you how many times I've almost had head taken off by the mirror of a passing car!

So for those of you cagers that live on my corner of the earth, beware I write tickets and arrest people for living! I never forget a car or a license plate!

Alrighty then. I've vented. Lol!


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summerdays

Cycling in the sun
Location
Bristol
Depends on the routes I take - back streets can be lovely and quiet, though some routes are known rat runs so not so quiet. Other times I'm on main A roads so fairly constant passing traffic, and if in the centre of the city then it can be multi-lane stuff and I'm normally going at a similar speed to the cars.

I used to what non-cyclists would class as close passes, though I do occasionally get some motorists who do give the recommended amount in the Highway Code, but that would be rare enough to be noticeable when it does happen. Then you get the motorists who come closer into my space, I couldn't even tell you what it is ... but the ones that make you hit the brakes, shout or heart go thump.

The amount of passing space I need also depends on the speed they are travelling at, the faster they are the more space I would like.
 

Globalti

Legendary Member
This is my favourite ride; you can see how busy it is:

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defy-one

Guest
Commute : From Uxbridge to Shepherds Bush, Earls Court and along the Thames. Busy busy London City.
Fitness and recreational : semi rural and outside of rush hours
 

Sandra6

Veteran
Location
Cumbria
When I cycle to work -particularly coming home - it's busy, town roads. When I cycle for fun I choose country lanes with fewer passing cars -and generally they give more room, although not always.
 

cyberknight

As long as I breathe, I attack.
Depends on what shift i am on , coming home at 3 am on a saturday morning i might see the odd taxi but thats about it.
 

ianrauk

Tattooed Beat Messiah
Location
Rides Ti2
how much traffic?
I would lose count of the number of vehicles within 200 yards of leaving the house in the mornings
 
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GrumpyGregry

Here for rides.
On my commute, not much, gaz probably passes more vehicles in 200metres on his way in and out of the smoke than pass me in 20km between two small market towns.

So, first and last 2km or so are in town, rest on single carriageway A- B- and C- road. Last km on way home is always fraught, the drivers just don't want cyclists in primary or secondary and 'in their way' during rush hours. Bit in the middle? About one in 10 vehicles does a close pass, two of us have been keeping tabs and comparing notes this year, usually on the A- or B- roads and about one in 100 gets horny and shouty. We reckon about 1 in 10,000 gets confrontational; winding window down to dish out abuse, getting out of car, driving at you, reversing at you, that sort of thing. Feck 'em all, I say, these days I flick 'em the 'call me!' sign and ride on/away.
 
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Andrew_Culture

Internet Marketing bod

4F

Active member of Helmets Are Sh*t Lobby
Location
Suffolk.
I tend to pop out into the countryside and back when commuting to avoid centre of town when commuting, but this morning I fancied a change and went right through the centre of town. My reward was cycling at 9mph and stopping every fifty metres, which was actually quite handy because it gave me a chance to try and properly expel from my lungs the black smoke billowing from the exhaust of the bus I was stuck behind.

Tomorrow morning I'm going to go the prettier way again.

With you there, when I first started I used to go down Bishops Hill, Star Lane and head up the "cycle lane :stop: " death lane" on Norwich Road before fine tuning.
 
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