Actually, in the seven plus years I’ve been riding my handcycle, I’ve had far fewer close passes, right hooks and left turns than when i rode a standard bike. Fewer to the point of being almost non-existant. A trike is more visible by virtue of being unusual and it creates a visual impression of more width than a DF.
I’ve heard that before, but given the amount of yahoos on the roads here, I don’t think being a larger and slower target is ever going to be a good thing. Bike riders do get crippled and killed on a regular basis here, I’m not being paranoid. Well, I’m not just being paranoid. I live in a big city (4 million plus) and traffic here sucks, I strongly suspect that many of the idiots on the roads here got their licences by bribery. I’m not joking.
Oh, and I just looked up handcycles: very cool!
I live in the Central Valley in California. Very un-bike friendly. The main problem is not looking for a target but not “seeing” bikes as a road user.
Cyclists are afraid to ride in the road, and I can identify with that, but the roads do belong to all of us. Motorists have lost sight of that fact, yet they still avoid hitting things in front of them, because really, that is a driver’s foremost responsibility. They can even avoid a short 2x4 (might have nails in it), which is much smaller than a bicycle.
Once you start riding in the road, you and the drivers both get used to it. It does help to make yourself as visible as possible, but the statistics show that running up the backside of a bicycle is not a common type of accident.
One street I sometimes ride on has an irregular gravel shoulder about 18" wide, why would I ride on that when I have 11’ of pavement right there? Yes, I am inconveniencing the motorists a tad (they eventually manage to pass me), but insisting that I ride to the side is much worse: if I make a mistake on that rough surface, I could find myself a target lying in the road, so the drivers’ inconvenience is much less than mine.
Cyclists most often get hurt or killed from riding to the side. Drivers turn in front of them or pass by perilously close because they are just not looking for traffic there. Counterintuitive as it may seem, riding in the traffic lane is actually much safer than cowering at the edge.