Leebo

Had a driver give a few light honks with her horn on this AM's commute. yes, taking the middle of lane. As is my right. Heading into downtown Winchester on rt 38. Maybe 25 mph zone with lots of people going in and out of cars, donut and bagel shops etc. Not gong to ride in the door zone. She goes by me with less than 100 ft to the rotary. I follow( going the same way) to her hurry, starbucks. I wait a few bike lengths behind her after parking and we talked a little, no shouting. She was concerned for my safety, riding in the middle of the road. I let her know that it is my right, allowed and safest for me to ride in the middle of the lane, not the door zone. Seemed convinced I was in the wrong, I pointed out that we arrived at her destination at the same time. I asked to give the next rider 10 seconds of her time, as I only slowed her down by 5 seconds. Wished I had my short copy of MA driver laws, as I sometimes give them out. Did not occur to her that she could just stay behind me.

Chris516

Typical aggressive motorist. Who can't stay behind a cyclist. Just to go 50ft. to their destination.

El Cid

My dad used to be a driving instructor -- did it for thirty years. He called this the 'hurry up and wait' mentality. It happens in town and on the freeway; people rush as fast as they can, only to be stopped at the next delay. Nobody ever saves any time, but people do it anyway.

JoeyBike

And there you go. In my neighborhood we call that "They MUST pass!"

When traveling on public roadways, by any means, it is a good thing to keep in mind that most human beings do not have the mental capacity for things to magically "occur" to them because...they are dumb as stumps and likely preoccupied in the cockpit.

JoeyBike

Not always true. I often watch what happens to motorists speeding and changing lanes a lot when I am also behind the steering wheel. Roughly half the time they will catch a green light that turns red before I get there. If you speed, the worst thing that can happen is you will catch the same red light you would have caught anyway...but sometimes you will make the green or amber light and be reinforced in this behavior. It does not have to pay off more than once or twice for the speeder's brain to rewire itself for speeding.

I think it is called "single instance behavior modification" or something like that. Keeps the suckers going back to the slot machines even though they do not pay off very often. But eventually they DO pay off. You likely won't profit, but the brain does not care about debits and credits at that level.

Matariki

Don't know which irritates me the worst. Passing aggressively when there is no advantage to do so (e.g. I'm going the speed limit or there is slow traffic ahead, or they turn at the next street) or not passing me and hanging behind when it is easy for them to pass (e.g. wide street with no traffic, I'm going slow, etc. I think in the first case, they need to pass to check me out. In the second case, they are really checking me out.

Seriously though, these things happen so often that I find that just brushing them off is best for my psyche.

Essex

My wife and I drive a Prius. I will ask her if she was anywhere near Winchester yesterday.

On serious note - to get to Starbucks - really. Some folks will never get it and especially entitled Massachusetts drivers.

Hypno Toad

Echoing JoeyBike - This reminds me of the "MUST PASS BIKE" attitude on the parkways in Minneapolis. Minneapolis has the Grand Rounds, all parkways with 25 mph speed limit, perfect for a fast ride. However, it never fails that a driver will squeeze a pass on me while I rolling at 25 mph and there is on coming traffic and traffic ahead and... you get the point. Sadly/ironically, I typically need to slow down after the car passes me because they are going slower than I was.

Other have pointed this out too, this is not unique to cars passing bikes, I've see this same behavior too many times driving my car. People simply don't think beyond their tiny world.

Blue Belly

Cyclists & Cars in the same lane will never get along. It's too bad that we can't have a completely different road system for both.

ItsJustMe

I just think it's amusing when a car decides they have to pass me, then wind up hanging halfway into the other lane because I was already only about 15 feet from the car in front of me and doing the same speed, and no, I'm not moving over for you. If you can't go faster than I am going anyway, why did you decide you had to pass me? When it happens at a stop sign and someone wants to come in the other way it's double amusing.

Rollfast

Let's see, if you put a Thrush muffler on that Prius' gas engine it would still sound like your cat had gas...

Since you were out they just a-gallivanting, maybe she just didn't wanna rhumba if you had two left pedals.

The diner's coffeemaker break down again? She realizes it's a Cheshire Car.

AlmostTrick

Many cyclists are quite slow and/or hug far off to the right, attempting to stay out of the way of overtaking motorists. This encourages and promotes "Must Pass" motorist behavior, so even a 'fast' cyclist in the lane will sometimes (certainly not always) be treated the same.

The good news is that you arrived at your destination safely, yet again, thanks to your technique. Since the driver claimed to be concerned for your safety, you may have wanted to point this fact out to her.

Rollfast

A Prius still has about a ton of batteries in there...

So YES, it will hit you like a TON OF LEAD.

(Okay, LITHIUM)

Leebo

I clearly stated that the middle of the lane was the safest for me. Wasn't really getting the whole share the road thing. One of the more civil conversations I have had with cagers in MA.

howsteepisit

referring to auto drivers as cagers is certainly a great start to an uncivil conversation.

Leebo

I did not call her a cager, only here.

howsteepisit

Your obvious distain for auto users will doubtlessly shine through.

Leebo

Only ones that endanger my life. And drive like idiots. No shortage of those here in MA. I own a car as well.

loky1179

Getting between ANYOne and their coffee is a dangerous place to be

demoncyclist

I don't understand the need to spend 5 bucks on a paper cup of burnt coffee, never mind driving like an asshat to get there.

AlmostTrick

It's only 5 bucks if you like (and choose) the fancy favored with sugar, cream, and who knows what else, drinks. Regular SB coffee is only 2 bucks, is never "burnt" and is 100 times better than any gas station or convenience store coffee which almost costs the same. Straight up dark roast black for this cyclist. Just sayin.

kickstart

I know its cool to harsh on Starbucks, and I only purchase coffee drinks from them on special occasions, but they are one of the very few corporations that still have free coffee, and beverages for truck drivers at their operations facilities.

randomgear

THIS is why I choose Dunkin!

And that I really don't have a proper indie coffeehouse, let alone a SB, in my neighborhood. although that might be changing. The indie coffeehouse, that is.

Juan Foote

Actually had read a pretty interesting study done concerning this. It talked about people who followed the law, vs the people who stretched or outright broke it in traffic situations such as cutting parking lots, roll stopping, last second merging. It showed that without an accident these behaviors actually helped traffic move along faster for everyone.

genec

Great, so let's encourage poor behaviour. Actually, I think the key phrase there is "without an accident... " so one has to therefore wonder if said aggressive behaviour resulted in more accidents...