ride vs drive

[ostap77]

Here's an extract from a dictionary

#1 ''ride a bus American English
Ann rides the bus to work.
! To talk about someone controlling a car or other vehicle, use drive not ride: Lizzy drove the van and we kids rode in the back.''

Here's an extract from another dictionary

#2 "3 [+ obj] chiefly US : to travel over or on (a road, railway, trail, etc.) in a car, on a train, on a bicycle, etc.
▪ He spends hours riding the back roads in his truck. ▪ riding the rails ▪ We rode the bike trails for hours.'

In the second extract there's a sentence "He spends hours riding the back roads in his truck." which contradicts information given in the first one "! To talk about someone controlling a car or other vehicle, use drive not ride." If a man rides the roads in his car he's most likely the driver and not a passanger. Could you give me advice on this use of the verb "ride"?

 

[SoothingDave]

He's driving his truck. He's riding (on) the roads. The object of the verb is different.

To say someone was riding the roads is not a very common, everyday thing. It seems more of a poetic use to me.

 

[Raymott]

Here's an extract from a dictionary

#1 ''ride a bus American English
Ann rides the bus to work.
! To talk about someone controlling a car or other vehicle, use drive not ride: Lizzy drove the van and we kids rode in the back.''

A motorcycle is also a vehicle. The correct word for this vehicle is "ride".
In AusE, "ride" is not common for "drive", but is used a lot for passengers, eg. "Can you give me a ride?"