"Mike Jacoubowsky" I've wondered whether cyclists really need a law that
requires cars to pass
us no closer than 3 feet. I generally don't have too many issues out on
the road, and it would seem that common sense and courtesy go a long way
towards making the world a reasonable place to drive and bike.
Until today.
I think part of the problem is that the car drivers are trying vainly to
stay in the same lane with us! I worry more about getting hit in the back
of the head by a rear-view mirror. That said, I think the closest call
I've had was a guy in a pickup truck pulling a long and empty trailer--the
kind with no sides. Although his truck changed lanes to pass us, when he
pulled back in the lane in front of us, the blankety blank trailer nearly
wiped us out! I don't think he was trying to hit us, but if there had been
a 3-foot law, maybe he would have thought of the trailer as well as his
pickup truck. BTW. our legislator who nixed the proposed 3 foot law, Kim
Brimer, has a challenger this year in Wendy Davis, a cyclist no less!
Pat in TX
I used to train out on the farm roads around my grandparent's ranch in the
Sacramento Valley. Long, perfectly-straight roads for miles at a time, so
you could both see and hear the double & triple-trailer rigs from a very
long way away. The triple-trailer rigs were scary, even for a fearless 16
year old. You just never could quite time when the last trailer was going to
come around, and the drivers would give you very little room, even though
you were the only thing out on the road for MILES. It didn't take me long to
figure out what to do... just ride out towards the middle of the lane
whenever you heard one of the big rigs in the distance. Then, just before it
was on you, move out to the edge. Life was *much* better after I figured
that one out.
Oh, and the suction... nothing you don't know about, I'm sure. Amazing how
much it feels like there's something trying to suck you under the wheels.
You'd just sort of climb inside your frame and hang on. Still, it was a lot
of fun in a 16-year-old sort of way.
--Mike Jacoubowsky
Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReaction.com
Redwood City & Los Altos, CA USA