Todzilla

Sometimes in hairy traffic conditions, as a suspicious vehicle (giant SUV, texting teen driver, swervy beat up car) approaches from behind, I'll imitate a novice ride and jiggle my handlebars a little to appear erratic. I won't drift beyond the right side much, just enough to cast doubt in the driver's mind as to my predictability.

Every time I do this, they give me a wide berth.

superslomo

Nope. All my dodgy wobbling is purely unintentional and non-strategic.

Todzilla

LOL!

MAybe I'm self-deluding that my wobbling is intentional.

jwarner

I do... I have a lot of different little tricks like that -- I call it "owning my space." You are right, that one seems to work well.

genec

No, but I do put out my hand to convey that they should slow down. It usually works. I do the same thing walking too... when I am about to cross and some dodgy motorist is about to make a right on red and cut me off, I signal a stop with an open hand... they seem to always stop.

Now in either case, I wait for some reaction before I go forth with my action that might put me right in front of them... I wait for a visible stop, or nod or some acknowledgement. Even a honk of a horn or a flip of a bird tells me they have seen me. (they may not be happy, but they've seen me. )

I do other things too, to clarify what I am about to do to the motorists closest to me... such as the other day at an intersection where one road also turns into a double on ramp... I wanted to be in the outside lane and stay off the on ramp... I gave some gestures to the motorist next to me that indicated I planned to turn and follow the curve. (I point to myself, and then do a big round motion in the direction I plan on going.) I got a nod from the driver and she stayed back and to my right as I rounded the turn, just the action I needed.

FBinNY 

Other than when changing lanes or entering pinch points, I rarely check behind me for cars. I periodically do a quick spot check and/or if I hear one I'll adjust, but I don't remember instances where I could make a judgement about a passing car or truck (except that it's a car or truck) in time to do anything special.

I focus on what's ahead of me, and trust God (or whatever) to take care of what's coming up behind.

-=(8)=-

I have to do that anyway, dodging all the potholes on my route. Really, they range from mildly annoying to spine/rim busting. I have them memorized and slalom them.

kickstart

Yes,
And motorcyclists do it too, its called the SMIDSY weave. Using lateral motion to draw attention to yourself and give warning.

rydabent

Yes I have alway done that when I see a driver I dont trust. And yes they usually give me a wide berth.

B. Carfree

I don't do the safety wobble very often, but my wife is a master. However, most of the time she does it we're on a tandem, so I guess I am involved. It does seem to buy us another foot or two, as near as I can estimate. Then again, maybe it just allows motorists to see that the bike they're overtaking is actually a tandem with a female captain and that causes them to give a bit more space.

Mark Stone

I don't do that, but I read about the tactic in one of my many Kindle bicycling books - perhaps Just Ride - but I don't remember. It's one of those things I think is a good idea, and that I want to try it, but then when I'm out on the bike I forget all about it

Chris516

I don't 'wiggle', I 'take the lane'.

Rollfast

NO. Wounded duck is a lame duck.

And you need to put the lane back for the rest of them.

You don't 'take lanes', you flow with traffic.

OP, you are exhibiting poor cycling manners and gaming drivers is a losing game.

jwarner

Depends where you are at. In my town, depending on what road you are on, you don't "take the lane" or "flow with traffic." You become the lane and traffic flows over you until someone manages to stop it long enough for the meat wagon and the cop to show up to scrape what's left of your sorry bones off the road surface and pin a ticket to the zip lock bag they put you in.

To give you an idea of the climate here, we recently had an lady who had just smoked a couple of doobies to cut her hangover from the night before, go through a red light, and run over and kill a 19-year-old kid legally riding across a crosswalk with the little green dude shining away in the crossing signal. The lady got off scot-free. I'm no lawyer, but summarizing from the reports in the papers, cyclists and pedestrians must yield the right of way to automobiles here, even in situations such as I just described. Welcome to oil town. I know it isn't like this everywhere (and that is kind of my point).

I'm all about cyclist's right to the road, and ride in the road a lot, although I would say I still have a lot to learn as I've only been doing it for about 30 years on two continents in multiple cities, and sometimes (often) in weather that would have a lot of folks holed-up in the house.

I'm not trying to pick a fight with you, am not looking for drama, and am quite possibly misunderstanding your intention. I do think it is unwise to marginalize the risk one takes when riding in the road, especially in a public forum such as this. I also think it is unwise to marginalize any tool or technique that someone might find helpful when it comes to cycling around traffic. As I said, I ride in the road often. I also ride on MUPS, on the shoulder, in gutters, and am not above hopping up on the sidewalk if it is the safest place for me to be and it isn't hurting anyone else. In a perfect world, I wouldn't have to do this. It isn't a perfect world, but I'm not quite ready to check out of it yet because I let a concept overrule common sense and situational awareness. If I see "bubba" rolling along in his General Lee commemorative model F-350 climate changer with black smoke roiling out of twin stacks to the beat of Charlie Daniels singing something about rednecks... I darn sure consider all my options before hopping on out in front of his IH8BIKES license plate screaming "I HAVE A RIGHT TO BE HERE." Not saying I wouldn't do it, or don't do it, but it has to the best of my options at the time. This isn't always the case.

warrior4130

Never done this on a motor or bi cycle. 4-wheelers are too big to mess with. BUT...I have been known to driver a bit erratic when in a 4-wheeler....keeps the crazy drivers at bay.

dynodonn 

I just keep riding in a predicable manner, but still keeping a wary eye on them.

genec

I'd like to think that would work... but just enough motorists think that cyclists are "always unpredictable" that I like to add more.

I have ridden in a very predictable manner and had motorists just react in totally goofy ways as they did not seem to understand that I was just another vehicle.

So I try to enhance their understanding with good signals and even gestures and looks, and the rare horn signal, just to convey that extra bit of what I want them to do. (which is usually, just treat me like any other vehicle... which some folks just can't seem to wrap their brains around. )

BobbyG

"No, but I do put out my hand to convey that they should slow down. It usually works. I do ..." +1

Paul Barnard

I haven't done it under those circumstances, but I will often do a weave if I am approaching a left turner coming at me or any other time I am concerned someone may pull out in front of me. I do it on my motorcycle too. I am a proponent of enhancing conspicuity. It's just another tool in the box.

Digital_Cowboy

Todzilla,

Nope, never, what I will do at the most is to display the slow/stop hand signal. Maybe “pushing” backwards for emphisis.

Digital_Cowboy

Gene,

I have to agree with you. When I signal my turns, I seldom have difficulty in being accommodated.

It works especially well on wide multilaned roads. I have one where the left hand turn lane starts a good distance away from the actual intersection. As with any other road user I signal and start moving to the left in advance of where the turn lane starts and as I said I have no problems in getting over to the start of the left hand turn lane.

As most of us know it’s about predictability and communication. Being visible i.e. wearing a safety vest, and “loud” spandex bicycle clothes probably doesn’t hurt too much either.

genec

Biggest problem I have on some roads is the speed of traffic... if it is too fast, the motorists can just speed by and ignore you... but at speeds below about 35MPH, and certainly where traffic is otherwise moving slow, such as slowing for a light or turn or just moving on a new green, a cyclist can communicate.

JoeyBike

A friend of mine bought a kid seat (cheap at a garage sale) for the back of his bike to carry a book bag to college so he does not have to wear the book bag on his back. He claims this has changed his life with how much room passing cars give him. Also thieves seem less interested in stealing bikes with kid carriers on them. I would try the kid seat trick before the wobbling trick. Kid seats are visible from afar and are universally recognized easily.

Rollfast

Your semantics are a bit strange. You do not become a lane, you make the turn or crossing according to the traffic pattern and safety concerns. I don't even try to turn in some instances where traffic is just too heavy, instead coming around the corner to cross at the intersection or the crosswalk.

While it is incredibly sad and misfortunate than a cyclist was killed by a lady smoking marijuana, it's not what the topic was about, nor is the current state of the topic based on it either. The OP was alluding to playing head games with drivers and that's not cool. It's circumspect and adjunct.

We've covered that point succinctly and for all intents and purposes the need for this thread has passed it's useful life. Like many of these kinds of threads it has turned into a rant about drivers habits. The OP's habits were not very good in the first place and remain uncondoned.

kickstart

LOL, but...

An important thing to remember is the eye keys on movement, flowing with traffic or even worse "taking the lane" makes the rider a static object relative to their surroundings, thus harder to be noticed.

Weaving is just a way to communicate your presence.