Ok, maybe it is not always fancy asphalt but paving for some parts of the whole route, but still - it is way, way safer.
I really rarely touch main roads. Like out of 1.5h trip I'm on main road maybe for 2mins at best.
I'm not sure where you're from so this answer comes from more of a USA perspective. In places like Copenhagen/Amsterdam, it's almost always easier/safer to just ride in the bike lane because they are so amazingly well made. But in most other places, you sometimes need to take the lane. Car drivers should be more grateful. We're taking cars off the road and reducing auto traffic.
Well, people have rights to do many things, it itself doesn't make it safe and I've been just talking about safety.
>We also do so because you're more likely to get hit by cars turning or pulling out or opening their door when you ride on the sidewalk.
I meant something like bike roads where there are no cars on the road or around it. e.g roads sorrounded by meadows
Well, have you considered that people on bikes are actually trying to, you know, access things that aren't meadows?
you go thru them, not to them.
At closed circuit tracks you may find they segment drivers or vehicles based on average and top speeds. But why would that matter when even the slow guys are going >100mph down the straight, and everyone there has opted into driving in such an environment? Because speed variance is the real danger.
A car driving down a country road with a 50mph speed limit is going 2-5x faster than a cyclist depending on the slope. And there's no shoulder or bike lane in the countryside so they have to block the lane. Coming over a blind hill even below the speed limit may not leave the driver enough time and distance to come to a full stop. If the oncoming lane has traffic in it there's not even an escape path.
I grew up biking and I love it, but I also grew up and recognize the dangers and how being a cyclist on a fast road is imposing your risk onto others. It's sociopathic to believe a driver who hit a cyclist feels no remorse, but some people seem to prefer martyrdom over adjusting their preferences a little, like picking up mountain biking or going to the velodrome. I liked riding around on 2 wheels so much and I didn't want to compromise on where I could go so I pulled my pants up and learned how to ride motorcycles. Now I can go anywhere I want on something that keeps me outside of the cage and gives me more power and agility than any car.
edit: perspective of a bike fanatic (I have 7 bicycles/scooters/motorcycles in my garage) living in the self-proclaimed "Bicycling Capital of the Northwest," where there's an astonishing 2 paved bike paths that are so swarmed with pedestrians as to be unrideable
This depends on the state, e.g. in Montana you can legally ride on all interstates. See https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-motorized_access_on_free...
* the bike lanes, while nice in though, are poorly planned out:
* they’re only on one side of the road
* they start and stop in weird locations and either foist you back into the main road, or onto a busy footpath. Getting from “where you are” to “where the bike lane is” is a multi-minute exercise in walking and crossing lights for 100m of lane.
* People - including cops, park in them frequently
* the city makes no attempt at cleaning them, so they’re filled with the detritus from the road and the footpath: gravel, wet leaves, broken glass, sand, tire-shreddings, these are a hazard to ride through.
* because they pack both directions onto one area, each lane is super narrow, and you end up stuck behind casual commuters (I love to see people riding, don’t get me wrong) and there are few chances to cleanly overtake
* in the city speed limits are pretty low, and between traffic lights at intersections and slow moving traffic (due to volume) it’s shockingly easy to outpace cars. Combine that with lane slipping, and you can often clear whole blocks at pace.
Going almost a mile out of the way to have less than half the trip on a bike path isn't a great combination.
This is why I hate bike routing apps they will always pick bike road or smaller street even if it is on the other side of the road or if it just like 100 meters long.
Those short bike paths. Unfinished fragments acting like real deal. If you use them you lose your initiative because when it ends you need to return to the road giving a way to the traffic on that road.
Often even continuous bike paths creates conflict points at crossroads and junctions even if it goes along main road.
Also if we are talking just about main road vs side streets. If prefer main road. It is safer because there are less crossroads and you have right of way. Cars that are going your direction are backing you in this right.