A view from a truck driver

[Crankin]

That was an excellent article; I don't ride in the city (Boston), either, Helene, but I am facing more and more city like riding situations out here in the the suburbs, almost country. Especially on my commute to work. I can mitigate it a bit because I work slightly different hours than most, but on Tuesday, I had a situation on what is essentially a country road that people use as an alternative to a main road that backs up at an intersection. I left work earlier than usual (5:30, instead of 6 or 7:00). I even waited a bit and did some work. The traffic was backed up on the country road, which has no shoulder. Some of the cars were way over to the right, others, not. The road is a slight down hill and then flat, with a slight up before the intersection. I made the choice to get in the lane, because I didn't feel competent enough to ride along side the right of the cars, essentially on the lawns meeting the street, with my bike that has a packed pannier, which skews my balance a bit. The line of cars was moving, and at one point when I was stopped behind a car, another cyclist whizzed by me, on the edge of the grass. I could see up ahead that cars were blocking his path, and they did. He had to stop for a bit. He was turning right at the intersection, so he eventually got moving. I was going straight, which involves a lot of dumb people who don't know what to do at a 4 way stop.
My thoughts were that I was pissed I had to wait in a line of traffic on my bike, but I also felt safer. The drivers were most likely confused by the other cyclist's behavior compared to mine.
I never assume anything, always make eye contact, and watch and wait.

[BethG]

Thanks for the article, I'm going to share it as well. I'm always astounded at how often people - in cars, on foot, on bikes - put themselves in harms way around trucks. And as much as we like to sing the praises of Dutch cycling and cycling infrastructure, what most of us bikers seem NOT to pick up on is that they focus on cyclist behavior and training as well.