cedo

As many people have noted, that vast majority of drivers are courteous to bikes. However, I have repeatedly experienced a situation where a driver is stopped at a light or a stop sign and just as I approach the intersection, they lurch forward. Since I cannot tell if they are actually going to pull out, I have to slam on my brakes in an emergency stop. Saturday, I was riding with my daughter on the trail-a-bike and a small SUV "balks" me. I jammed on the brakes and, feeling provoked, I screamed at him. I noticed that the driver was an old man, who seemed genuinely puzzled that I was yelling at him. I realized that he probably had not done it on purpose. He was just inattentive and doesn't understand the effect of his rude driving behavior. I cannot afford to take the chance that he might pull out, particularly with my daughter on the back. Does this happen frequently to others? Any riding tips to avoid it?

DiSrUpToR

It's bound to happen from time to time. No way to avoid it, just make sure you can see and be seen, and you'll be OK.
If this occurs 'repeatedly' like you say, maybe motorists can't see you. Where in the lane do you normally travel?

CRUM

When I took the UPS 40 hour safety course for temporary Christmas drivers back in the 70's, I came out of it with one good tactic when dealing with traffic. Establishing eye contact. Sounds simple and not too important. But it is. Over the years, I have noticed that once eye contact between myself and another driver, pedestrian, cyclist,etc has been made, that "balk" you speak of is no longer an issue.

Yesterday on our road ride, a woman came screaming down her driveway with the obvious intent of not stopping when she got to the road. We were in the middle of a 3 mile climb and into our rhythm. Her trajectory would have taken us all out. I pointed at her and made sure we locked eyes. She stopped. I did not have to slow down.

oboeguy

I dislike it with passion, but it's not going to change, so I deal. I guess riding as far out into the lane as possible gives you tiny bit more reaction time. Dunno what else to suggest.

amahana1

I agree, making eye contact is probably the most important saftey device you need to use as a cyclist. When you do make eye contact, usually there is silent communication on what the drivers intentions are as well as yours. Sometimes eye contact can stop someone from trying to be stupid to a cyclist....just give them the stare and they will just sit there......hey that rhymed.

Orikal

Fantastic advice. If I approach an intersection/driveway while a car is positioned to turn, I make sure to look directly at the driver until they make eye contact.

Even still, I had a car lurch at me yesterday, even after I made eye contact with him. I made sure to yell as loud as possible, but I think he was just doing it to startle me, which it did.

va_cyclist

When I'm approaching an intersection where I have right of way and a car is stopped waiting to either turn or cross in front of me, I move well out into the lane and keep pedaling to make it clear that I am neither stopping nor turning. In my experience, balks like these occur when a cyclist is either too far to the right or appears to be slowing for a turn, and the driver isn't sure what they're going to do. I'm not saying this will work every time, but it seems to prevent these types of situations for me.

scarry

I was thinking you were talking about a situation were there is a 4 way stop and a motorist is all ready at the stop as I approch. The driver has the right of way, having arrived at the intersection before me. But the driver waits until I come to the line and then waves me through. If the driver had just taken their proper turn, I could just coast through behind them, but they insist on causing confusion thinking that they are being courteous. Sometimes I'll go around behind them anyway.

cedo

I think it has more to do with the bad behaviour of the drivers than my position, because (a) I don't hug the curb and (b) while it happens more frequently than I would like, it don't happen everyday - maybe once a month. Nonetheless, I will make even more of an effort, particularly with my daughter on board, to "take the lane." Also the eye contact tips are good. I usually try to do that, but when this last occuredon Saturday, I think I was focused on something else, mostly likely the road ahead. I bet if I had made eye contact with the older gentleman, he wouldn't have "balked" me.

brokenrobot

UPS does safety training for their drivers ?!

I-Like-To-Bike

Uh Oh! Another new nom de plume for the bike lane guy?

CRUM

Big time. I drove tractor trailers for 17 years. When I was in between driving jobs, I took a temporary feeder(Trailer driver) job during their Christmas crunch. Even though the job was only a couple of months long, before I could step into a truck, I had to complete the 40 hour course. Say what you want about Buster Browns, but that company pushes safety like no other company I ever drove for. Next time you see one getting ready to back up, notice whether they beep their horn first. The process of backing up is clearly dictated in the manual. Look in the left mirror, then the right mirror, honk the horn and then back up. If you want to create a hassle for any driver, just call UPS and tell truck # so and so did not follow this procedure.

genec

Eye contact is a wonderful overrated thing. Glare and sunglasses can make true eye contact very difficult. Couple that with the fact that a motorist can be looking right at you and not see you... may in fact be looking beyond you or may just be metally filtering and only looking for big boxy things known as cars.

Don't be fooled by what you believe is good eye contact unless you have some other positive confirmation that the motorist actually sees you... head nod, wave, firm stop... something.

chocula

I agree that eye contact is important, but not always possible.

It's at these times that I'm glad I bought an air horn. For instance, last night I was approaching an intersection from the south as a motorist approached from the east. He had a stop sign, I did not. He never fully stopped, but instead started to execute a left turn with his neck craned over his right shoulder, looking for traffic coming from the north. Would he turn his head back to his left in time to see me before continuing his turn? I couldn't afford to gamble so I gave him a blast with my air horn to get his attention. Stopped him in his tracks. Then his passenger started laughing hysterically because:

A. My air horn startled him and perhaps he made a facial expression, which she found comical.

or

B. The idea of such a loud noise emanating from a bicycle tickled her.

or

C. She was amused by the ridiculous Hawaiian shirt I was wearing.

Not sure what was so funny to her, but I made it through the intersection unscathed.

genec

D. They thought it may have been from something you ate.

CRUM

I agree. But by attempting to make eye contact, at least one of you is paying attention and will have a better chance to avoid the potential accident. Too many times accidents happen because the cyclist assumed that the car saw them and they made no attempt to look for a way out. I know I used to. I don't anymore. I was a hood ornament once. I do not plan on it happening again.

genec

I was a hood ornament too, after good "eye contact." I want more of a confirmation these days... hospitals smell funny.

The flip side is that it is far too easy for a cyclist to become complacent... to go for speed, or to "just make the light," or take a shortcut... any and all of which can lead to a painful conclusion at just the wrong moment... and all it take is one.

Riding on the street demands full attention all the time... period.

Just as a side note to the readers out there: Forester got the theory right; Hurst got the practical side down pat.

CB HI

What a fantastic term “Balking” for such poor driver behavior. I see it all the time in Honolulu both when cycling and when jogging. Some of the jerks are just trying to intimidate us into giving up our right of way and others are just careless.

I agree that the eye contact thing is over rated except in one situation. When jogging, I normally carry a small set of iron weights. As I enter a crosswalk with a probable balker, I will swing the weights out away from my body. When the driver makes eye contact with the swinging weights they manage to somehow put a solid foot on the brake real fast (don’t want to get a dent in the shiny baby).

On a bicycle in the day, I just yell WAIT, and at night I use a helmet mounted light to shine at the driver. Both tactics work pretty well.

Dchiefransom

I've always thought that that "balk" was because they saw you after they started to pull out, and stopped. I think the alternative, not stopping, is less desirable.

lilHinault

CB HI I learned eye contact is not to be relied upon over there in that island "paradise" if you're one group and the driver is another group, they'll make eye contact then do their best to run your ***** ass over.

My rule was, what CAN a driver do, they might just do it. Physical intimidation devices like your weights are a good idea at least over there too. My older brother used to be quite the skater on traditional type "quad" roller skates, he found they worked well with "karate" kicks too hehe.

CB HI

My kind of guy. I would love to see the drivers eye contant with that!

lilHinault

CB HI the quad-skate-kicks were generally applied to a moke's face ... :-)))))

77Univega

--- When I was driving my car in Houston, I noticed the "balk and lurch" trick was a common ploy of drivers entering from a side street or driveway. I finally dealt with it by laying on my horn as soon as I saw the front bumper of an approaching vehicle come into view. Ha ha, no more balk-'n-lurch.

lilHinault

I'm sure 99% of the time the drivers simply have no idea what to do, are in a hurry to get to the krispy kreme, etc.

chocula

That was probably it.