Seeing a bike on the road in Nashville is still a relatively rare occurrence. One of the most frequent comments I get from people when they find out I cycle for transportation is that they just don’t know what to do when they encounter a bike on the road. Generally I’ll mention a few of the most frequent car offenses (veering ahead of me just to turn right; dooring), and say that an easy rule of thumb is that they should behave as they would if the bike were another car—or a tractor or other slow-moving vehicle.

But. If you or someone you know is a driver who’d like further instructions on how to behave when you encounter a cyclist, this article from the blog of the UK site Car Buzz is an excellent resource (just be sure to swap “left” for “right” since they drive on the other side of the road). It urges drivers to put themselves in the cyclist’s place as the more vulnerable road user and informs them of instances where accidents between cyclists and drivers are most likely to occur (which makes it a good read for new cyclists, too).

Posted just yesterday, the article has been making the rounds on bike blogs. It’s refreshing to see a site that focuses on helping people find cars treat cyclists as legitimate traffic and not a nuisance. My favorite tip:

Get on a bike!
Not until you experience what it’s like to be a cyclist on a busy road will you truly be able to empathise with them and realise how careless drivers can be at times. Cyclists can too be careless, but it usually ends in them getting hurt, not you!

Not to get too touchy-feely on a Friday, but the world could use more instances of people being willing to put themselves in someone else’s shoes.

Last week I had to go to a friend’s house that I couldn’t bike to after work. There was a drizzle, it was rush hour and the maybe 10-mile drive took more than half an hour. By the time I got there I was doubly ready for that glass of wine (and I know a lot of people have longer commutes than that). It made me grateful to have the option of cycling or even walking to work, and sad that it’s something so many people don’t have. This feeling [. . . there's more!]

I see things on the road that strain my credulity pretty regularly, but today’s traffic rudeness took the cake. There I was: riding Kermit Allegra at a moderate pace in the bike lane in front of Belmont University, just around 5:30 in a misty drizzle that has a Pacific Northwest feel. As I approach the corner by the Circle K, I notice a car stopping for a ped a few car lengths up. I slow, even though the ped has plenty of time to cross the bike lane before I [. . . there's more!]