datakoll writes:

its take the lane

or get out of their way...


pick

And of course I always do... pick.

Generally, it's best to be out of their way - unless there's a reason
to be in their way. There's the issue: What is reasonably necessary
for one bicyclist is not for another. And that's just bicyclists -
what is reasonable to a bicyclist may not be to the motorist, who has
a very different set of incentives. Heck, many (most?) motorists don't
think riding a bicycle for transportation is reasonable!

And then Rules of the Road factor. The Rules of the Road are mostly
geared for motor traffic. When I do something that is altogether
reasonable but deviates from the Rules of the Road, motorists observing
this think it's unreasonable (because they do not share my incentives
and perspective, but they nonetheless "put themselves in my shoes" to
judge my actions... and their perspective in this little foray into my
shoes is that *they* wouldn't ride a bicycle on the road at all - duh -
that's why they're in a car; and if they *did* ride a bicycle on the
road they'd damn sure stay out of the way of cars.) So my "violation"
of the Rules of the Road - even though it had nothing whatsoever to do
with getting in their way, and completely without trespass on anyone
else, makes me a Bad Person in their mind, deserving of ill regard,
and they proceed to treat me so _even in violation of the Rules of the
Road_ (in their ~"defense", they often don't even know the rules they're
violating, because they pertain to cooperation with bicyclists which is
simply an abstract, foreign concept to them and they can't understand
how this issue actually even exists because why in the hell would anyone
think riding a bicycle on the road for transportation is a reasonable
thing to do... but they feel justified anyway because it is not them who
is the aforementioned Bad Guy).

I use the lane whenever it suits me, but get out of the way of others,
unless on balance (there's that word :-) the situation (and that one)
reasonably calls for me to use the lane anyway, in which case we need
to apply the Rules of the Road and Social Interaction (it would be nice
if they have Situational Awareness of e.g. the broken glass on the
shoulder or in the bike lane or whatever my "reason" is for needing to
"take" the lane, but they generally don't - at which point Monderman's
wisdom - "When Grandma steps into the road you stop, because that's what
decent human beings do" - should kick in. (Okay, I'm no Grandma, but I
*am* the more vulnerable road user).

As each individual bicyclist's idea of what is reasonable can vary, I
do tend to defer more and tolerate the less than ideal shoulder or bike
lane or whatever ~reasonable option will allow me to get out of their
way, when other bicyclists would never consider it reasonable and demand
the lane (which is their right and no mistake) - in part because, as I've
said, I'm bound to pull some **** any minute now, and even though I'm
not going to need their cooperation for it, it just wouldn't be cool at
all to set the stage with a context of, "This according to the Rules of
the Road".

Know what I mean?