Digital_Cowboy

About 2-years ago now I guess I was riding home from the library. Going home I take the access road south from the library to 62 Ave N then merge with traffic at the driveway coming out of small shopping center. On this particular day school had gotten out and there were crossing guards down at the intersection of 9th and 62 Ave N. I'm waiting patiently to turn right onto 9th street.

When all of a sudden some dumb blond pulls up on my left side signaling to make a right hand turn. A black pickup truck on 9th allows her to pull out. At this point I throw up my hands and ask "Am I invisible or something?" Dumb blond replies with "I thought that you were going straight."

Uh, IF she thought that I was going straight, why the bloody hell did she pull up on my left side? I mean if I was going straight and she's turning right isn't she going to oh, I don't know run right into me???

So now at that driveway I position myself so that there is no mistaking what direction I am going, and that it is all but impossible for someone to come up on either side of me.

bmclaughlin807

I'd have left a boot-sized reminder in her passenger door so she won't forget I'm there next time.

bluegoatwoods

And now people will get mad at you for blocking/taking the lane. You can't win. You just gotta live with it.

Her answer to you was nothing but a red herring or non sequitur. People do that all the time. They don't seem to have the ability to say, "yeah....you're right. I shouldn't have done that. Sorry." Some people are able to say that, of course. But they seem to be in the minority. So many others will grab at some idiotic justification so that they can imply that "it's not my fault. It's yours."

One thing that helps is to remember that, deep down, it's not a car/bike thing. We're just more exposed. It's really a civilized/uncivilized thing that we run into in all walks of life.

Digital_Cowboy

Fortunately that is the first and last "encounter" at that driveway.

fordmanvt

I had a motorist pass me close on a part of the road that is on a hill and a curve, and honked at me as he went went by. I motioned for him to come back, he pulls over. We had a nice little discussion, but I had to end it telling him that I knew I wasn't going to convince him, so he just needs to look up laws online or ask a cop.

His idea was that since my bike isn't motorized, it belongs on the right of the white line. He didn't have a good answer as to why he decided to pass me anyway, he could have easily caused a head-on accident with his gf and a toddler in the car.

gcottay

No motorist can make you wonder what they are thinking. You decide. I decide to avoid the futile and useless activity of guessing out the mental process of miscreant strangers.

bmclaughlin807

Had a truck (big dually w/ a shell on it) on the way home from a ride pass me with about 1 foot between us with no oncoming traffic at all. I would have just gone on with my life and not worried about it, but less than a half block later, he crosses all the way over to the other side of the road to avoid some rough pavement. Yeah... I don't get it, either.

I caught up to him pulling into the grocery store a block later and asked him:

"You went all the way over to the other side of the road to avoid some bumps, but you couldn't give me MY three feet???"

His response? "F*** you"

I hate people.

ItsJustMe

That rough part of pavement might have resulted in suspension damage. If he'd hit you, well, a little garden hose would take care of that mess.

cooker

I can see what she was thinking. She figured you were going straight and were waitng for both directions of cross traffic to clear, and she only needed the traffic from the left to clear.

I often have to pass cylists on the left to turn right (on my bike). There are a couple of intersections with traffic lights where I want to turn right on red, but when I get there other cyclists are at the curb, waiting for the light to change so they can go straight. I pass them on the left and then turn right, across their front wheels.

Dchiefransom

That's because the bumps could damage his truck, and he figures you won't. It's the "Thin Veil of Civilization".

tatfiend 

Any time I see a driver trying to multitask I have to ask myself WTF?

A large part of the accident rate in the USA would be eliminated IMO if drivers would pay attention to their driving and not try to telephone, text message, apply makeup, shave, eat, drink, read the paper etc while driving. If they are doing ANY of these then they are not paying full attention to their driving and are an accident waiting to happen. Multitasking while driving is DUMB.

mandovoodoo

I suspect we have a goodly number of people who don't know better. Either they've gradually forgotten or they never learned. A surprising number of people don't have licenses.

We do little as a culture to promote cooperation. All our ads are about owning power, owing the road.

Our cars are more and more occupied by things other than supports to driving.

Cyclists tend to confuse drivers. They don't know what a cyclist is. The performance. The rules (not that they care). What the cyclist will do. So there's a little frustration, which is all that some people need to get mad. The morons aren't necessarily sane.

This stuff all comes up nicely when people are on vacation. The worst driving I've seen lately was in the tourist town of Pigeon Forge, TN. Lots of visitors, many attractions (junk shops & thrill rides) along the main drag. Kids in the car pointing and talking. Drivers looking for this and that weaving around, mixed with people racing to get to the mountains. All the usual jerk plus distraction stuff amplified. I motorcycled through Pigeon Forge the other day. Disturbing. I realized I couldn't really be on the main drag, got to the left lane quickly so I could make a left turn, scooted into a gap in traffic, and got off within a few blocks. Had I been on a bicycle, I couldn't just whip up to 45 to hit a gap in traffic!!! Normally perhaps 75% of the folks seem to see me on a moto, it was down to about 30% there.

Lack of driving skill, lack of knowledge, lack of patience, multitasking, and our tolerance of personality defects.

frymaster

in fact, everything about our culture stresses domination or obedience over co-operation... so why should we be surprised when people around us fail to play well with others?

cooker

I don't know about the OP. Where I ride, in an older urban area with a high volume of cyclists, it's most common to see the cyclists cluster to the right, near or at the curb, even if they intend to go straight.

crhilton

I agree. She probably saw him and correctly assumed he would be a push over and let her go around him.

For this reason, and to be polite, I move to the left side of the lane at intersections. It gives drivers a clear signal that they can pass me on the right to make a right on red. It also gives them a clear signal that they can't pass me on the left without killing me.

I'm not trying to fault the OP. Just some friendly advice. Stopping at the right should be a perfectly reasonable thing for a cyclist to do. But, in the real world, it seems to invite bullies. Be the bully.

crhilton

If he did this lady was just nuts .

crhilton

The bumps had no choice. You chose to be in his way.

That's what I would guess is going through his head.

TRaffic Jammer

Thinking...? I'm sorry but the whole concept of this thread gives waaay too much credit to motorists' brain functions whilst driving..

TRaffic Jammer

Truck truck truck truck truck truck WTF oh it's gone truck truck truck truck truck.

shmily_dana

I love the people that get mad at me when they are doing something wrong. I've had wrong way drivers honk at me in parking lots. I had a lady pull in front of me so she could park. (Pointing the wrong way). She said "this is my house". How am I supposed to know that? I've been honked at by people running stop signs. I almost got hit because this truck stopped 1.5 lengths passed the stop sign. He saw me, but this lady decided to roll the stop sign to make a right turn. She almost hit me.

TRaffic Jammer

Well at least being honked at by folks failing to stop is a good thing... they are announcing something rather than just flooring it and hoping they get through unnoticed. I had a jackass on Saturday go through a red so he could do a left hand u-turn, in the intersection, (cross traffic is 6 lane major arterial) going back the way he came, and his reasoning was because he'd gone the wrong way a few blocks ago. Bear in mind they're no hospitals or police stations nearby so no emergencies save for possibly over shooting the grocery store or Burger King™. Just 'cuz he could...or at least thought he could get away with it. Three moving violations, 600bones, and 6-8 demerit points..almost half the points on the license, just to turn around. OH and to add insult to injury, there is a very busy bike path running parallel to the cross traffic, this guy gave a s**t about nobody else.

Digital_Cowboy

In your diagram, yes her actions make sense, but I wasn't were the bikes were I was at the non-existent stop sign and was waiting for a brake in traffic.

Digital_Cowboy

I couldn't agree with you more.

Digital_Cowboy

It's a driveway coming out of a smallish shopping center. Only two-lanes wide in and out.

TRaffic Jammer

Oooooooh I just HATE it when some visitor to a shopping centre wants some special what-it's. Wha..you're going shopping...then wait your frikkin' turn. It's getting to the point they're building extra turning lanes and sometimes exits just for churches of retail these days.