America has an auto-centric culture. In the century since the first popularization of the motor car, the industry, its fellow-travelers, and "safety experts" have used the convenient political fact that the vast majority of Americans own and drive automobiles to inculcate the idea that the roads belong to automobiles and all others are interlopers. In his book Effective Cycling, John Forester relates how this has given rise to the "cyclist inferiority phobia". Forester also holds that cycling is learned activity, and that those with better training have fewer accidents. He cites statistics that children average 1500 miles per accident (severe enough to require bicycle repair or medical treatment), college associated adults 2000 miles, and club cyclists 10,000 miles. This training can be acquired guided by the principle that "Bicyclist fare best when they behave like other users of the roadway."
Trained cyclists respect and obey traffic law; they also have a pretty good grasp of the laws of physics. Those who say the "Right of Weigh" theory makes it unsafe for a 200 lb. bicycle and rider to share a roadway with 3-5,000 lb. automobiles violate the principle when they drive their 3-5,000 lb. car on a roadway with a 44,000+ lb. behemoths hauling gravel or steel. Cars, trucks, (and tractors) can coexist on our roads; automobiles and bicyclists can coexist too.
