>There is also a subset of drivers who will not cross the yellow line for >any reason. I suspect that some of these people would blithely run over >a person, dog, or tree just to make sure they don't edge into the wrong >lane when there are no other cars in sight. Most of my road miles are >in darkness, so I can't assess the demographics of this group.
The above "won't-cross-the-yellow-line-under-any-circumstances" set of folks are a real problem. To me, they often seem to be either (A) seniors who came of age before the tumultuous 1960s/70s, and therefore don't know when rules SHOULD be broken :-) or (B) testosterone-fueled youngsters (and/or cranky prozac-deprived oldsters ;-) ) with a chip on their shoulder who want to scare you. In any event, I run into the yellow-line-phobic set enough that I've adopted a different strategy. I too run at night plus use reflective strips. When available, I always run on sidewalks assuming they're in good repair. However, otherwise what I do is run right down the centerline of the road until I see/hear a car coming. (Obviously these are residential side streets--I do all my running there just about; you obviously couldn't do this on busy main thoroughfares.) For oncoming cars I move clear over to the right side of the road (after checking that no cars are sneaking up behind me). For cars coming up behind (depends on good hearing and always keeping your ears peeled), I'll move over to the more normal left side of the road for pedestrians. This puts as much air space as possible between mortal flesh and smooth metal. Side benefit: Most of the time this way you aren't running on the slant of the road near the edge, which helps avoid overuse injuries due to ongoing torque to one leg. In my opinion, runners who too slavishly follow the "pedestrians on the left" rule are just asking to get hit one day. Even if it isn't a huge number, there are still too many rigid-minded rule-followers who simply won't move their cars over that imaginary yellow line for fear of what must be demerits in heaven or something. It is amazing to me to see runners where I live running on major thoroughfares with less than ample lane widths. A few true idiots (machoness, exhibitionism, or just sheer stupidity?) I have even seen doing this in packed rush hour traffic), facing traffic on the left, when cars have little room to move over even if they wanted to. (I hate to admit it, but sometimes I have even found myself wishing--well, not really :-) --they *would* get hit for such arrogance or stupidity.) The cars either have to choose between increasing their odds of a wreck by edging into the adjacent lane to their left, or else give the runner only 2-3 feet of breathing room. It ain't much and people sometimes make mistakes. Oops. Roadkill. :-P Herb
