In addition to the fast roads of the Czech Republic, I also picked some busy roads when cycling through some parts of Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Serbia. The combination of fast traffic and the road being not-quite-wide-enough felt dangerous.
There were large stretches of road used by lorries with shipping containers on the back, which would often be towing a trailer with another shipping container. Typically, the roads were built of a width just wide enough so as two lorries travelling in opposite directions could pass each other comfortably and safely. Sometimes there would be a margin of tarmac at the side of the road, beyond the white line, which had enough tarmac for me to to ride my bike on, so I could use it as a bike lane. But often, this would be filled with debris, vegetation, or it wouldn’t exist at all, in which case I’d be forced to cycle on the main part of the road. This would be ok mostly, but whenever I saw a lorry coming from the opposite direction I would need to check to see what the traffic behind me was like to make sure a truck wasn’t coming from that direction also. On a slow road vehicles would have time to see me, slow down, and wait to overtake. However on fast roads I didn’t want to bet my life on the chance that they would see me and have time to react. On quite a few occasions I’d dive off the side of the road, and wait for the traffic to pass.
There were a large number of roadside memorials. These often included a photo, typically depicting a man in his late teens or twenties, dressed proudly in motorcycle gear. It was a constant reminder to stay as safe as I could.
