I agree with regards to city vs highway traffic. What do you call the bit of pavement that USED to be the highway but isn't anymore because something more direct and faster was dynamited into existence? Here in the land of soybeans and deer, I'd much rather do 55/45 mph on the lightly populated county roads than 75/80 on the highway. I'm sure taking defensive riding classes will influence that opinion, but that's where I am right now. Bike lanes will kill you. They hit a critical amount of mileage denoted, and do sketchy shit becomes the default reaction in any area where there aren't bike lanes. Once that happens, I've still got to get to the bank that's located down the arterial. People are going to whiz past me regardless, and I'd rather that they do it next to a sign that says "3 FEET PASSING". I'm mostly excited to be moving back to a location where the daily ridership is non nil. A comparatively high share of cyclists and pedestrians has more perks than drawbacks for me.Highways are substantially less dangerous than city streets. Highways rarely intersect with traffic, there are no driveways, and all traffic is moving in one direction. From a systems standpoint the dynamics of highway travel are substantially less complex than city riding.
Those signs will kill you, by the way. They generally mean "there is no bike lane here and there never will be and traffic is free to roar around you and then do sketchy shit."
Couldn't disagree more. I'm over 2500 miles in the past six months on separated path, bike lane, sidewalk and street and aside from the sidewalks in el barrio, the "may use full lane" part of the world is the scariest by far. I've been closer to death on those passages than anywhere else. As far as "country roads" it depends a lot on the country road. Around where I was in LA, those "country roads" are world-renowned.
The Greater KC Metro area has one of the highest ratios of highway miles per person in the nation (over 1 mile per 1000 people iirc), which has to be shaping driving habits around here. At the very least, I'm riding with drivers are less pissed off that I'm in the way because the infrastructure is more than able to absorb the maneuvers needed to pass if I have had to take the lane.