Monday, March 31, 2008

Driver's Ed

If you are driving down a road, even if it doesn't have much of a shoulder, and there is a runner on your side of the road (they should be coming at you), you don't need to pull all the way over into the other lane. In fact, I personally find it insulting when people do that when I'm running. I have no interest in getting hit by you, I promise. I guess it's not entirely the same as crossing the road to walk on the opposite sidewalk if somebody of a different race is coming toward you on the sidewalk, but there's some analogy there. Anyway, you don't need to pull all the way over. For most cars and most roads, you should be fine to just put your left set of wheels on, or just a little left of, the yellow line.

The same thing goes for passing cyclists (of course, they should be going the same direction as you). They don't want to get hit by you, but you don't need to get all the way into the other lane to make sure that doesn't happen. Your left set of wheels a little over the yellow line should be plenty.

Of course, if you've got a bigger truck, or a trailer or something, you'll need to move over a little more. I probably wouldn't be insulted if you did move all the way over. If you are big enough, you're generating lots of draft, so moving over more helps that not be as big a deal.

Also, don't honk!

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