Regardless of whether or not they WANT to share it, a higher percentage of motorists recognize that a 9 or 10 foot lane is not share-able because they can visualize it. I find that most motorists pass safely without comment when I take a narrow lane.

As Mighk says, that perception does change as the lane width increases. A lot of roads seem to have that ambiguous width that motorists visualize as share-able, but would be unsafe or uncomfortable for us to share.

It’s helpful to recognize that we do have a right to take that lane! To borrow from a recent FBA blog post (http://flabicycle.blogspot.com/) “I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggone it, I deserve to be passed safely!”