Near miss with a garbage truck

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Originally Posted by Jewell

Why is it always bus drivers who do that? Goodness. I've had similar experiences of bus drivers thinking they own the road and laws don't apply to them.

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Actually, I should have added that bus drivers in Vancouver are otherwise quite courteous. I have had only this incident in four years of riding the streets. In Montreal it would be a weekly problem.

Another reason to take the lane? I like to have an "out"--somewhere to go when the cars try to pass to closely. This is my determination on whether to ride the shoulder--do I have room to bail, if a car gets to close. Believe it or not, "taking the lane" alleviated my fear of riding on the roads. To get the hang of it, I bought one of those bright orange flags that stick out the left side of your back wheel. Cars won't risk scratching their paint..........

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Originally Posted by cunninghamair

one of those bright orange flags that stick out the left side of your back wheel

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WHERE oh where did you find such a thing?! I keep swearing I'm going to take one of those recumbent flags and mount it sideways. I haven't seen one that's actually meant to mount that way!

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Originally Posted by cunninghamair

To get the hang of it, I bought one of those bright orange flags that stick out the left side of your back wheel. Cars won't risk scratching their paint..........

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I've recently thought about getting one of those flags attached to my bike, but putting a key on the end. "Do you feel lucky, punk? Wanna pass me too close? Your car will get keyed if you do, punk."
We just passed the 3 ft. law here and nobody seems to know it (duh-it's not been very publicly announced and only the cyclists seem to know about it). I thought a sideways flag would be sure to make them aware of the 3 feet. That or a yardstick taped to my bike. :p