For the most part I already do - Unless there is a large clean shoulder, I am a big proponant of taking the lane as I too have found that drivers will give you more room if they have to cross the center line rather than thinking that they can squeeze by, plus we have a lot of on street parking around here and there is no way I'm putting myself in the door zone... the problem is recently people have been squeezing by *anyway* - I believe we have a 3 foot passing law here, but most drivers are not educated about bicycles at all. We also have a law that says you cannot pass another vehicle if there is a bicycle coming towards you (this after a school teacher was killed by a person passing who hit her head on), but no one knows about that one and I've never seen it enforced. And Mimi is correct I rarely coastat least not when I'm out on my own unless I am coming to a stop or going downhill.