Advocacy & Safety - No problems today

Today, I had no problems with motorists.

Is it them, or me? Are they being nicer, or am I getting numb?

HELP!

:confused:

Give it a week or so and see if you can still say the same thing.

Originally posted by Pete Clark
Today, I had no problems with motorists.I had one of those days last week. Mind you, I did stay home all day.

Today was a different story. I hadn't even got out of my own road before a car tried to reverse into me. I turned the corner out of my road and within 10 metres another car tried the same. Did someone swap my multivitamin with a vanishing pill this morning? Why am I suddenly invisible?

Originally posted by MediaCreations
Why am I suddenly invisible?

"There is something uncanny in the noiseless rush of the cyclist, as he comes into view, passes by, and disappears."--Popular Science, 1891

:lol:

Lately, I've taken to pointing at drivers when they are in a position to do something dangerous to me. If their windows are down I'm likely to say something to them like, "You can wait," or, "It's my turn, you know." I won't hesitate to holler to get a driver's attention.

Occasionally, when I'm out riding my bike to exercise, drivers give me an excuse to exercise my profanity, as well. I cursed a blue streak once when a driver I shared eye contact with at an intersection made her turn after I crossed and immediately tried to drive through me into a parking lot. A family in a station wagon saw what happened and checked to make sure I was alright--I was embarassed to realize I was cursing so in front of children, but I was able to stop cursing and politely thank them for asking.

Most drivers are reasonably ok, though, especially on roads with lots of cyclists. An expectation to see cyclists helps drivers be more careful. That's why share the road signs are so important.

Originally posted by MediaCreations
I had one of those days last week. Mind you, I did stay home all day.

Funny, but oh so true! :D :D

Originally posted by MediaCreations


Did someone swap my multivitamin with a vanishing pill this morning? Why am I suddenly invisible?


Isn't it amazing! I dress so colorful when I ride with my flashy jersey, bright red helmet, and all that jazz, that I look like a Peacock rolling down the road and people still do not seem to notice me????? WTF!:confused:

Hmmm its the holidays youare going to find people a lot more friendly with maybe the exception of shopping mall parking lots and perimeter roads. I too point at drivers weho look like they may pull out on me I usually hear "I csn see you" my response is I" I don't know that" still they don't seem to get it, thought (and I know some of you don't think wqe need laws) it shouol dbe a requirement that every one spend at least one year (early in their life time) commuting by cycle, foot, or mass transit so they can just how bad drivers can be.

Being blessed to live in a reasonably bicycle-friendly community, I rarely have problems with motorists. However, today a guy parked his car along Coast Highway 101, jumped out, and started to run across the street while reaching back to push the door closed. When he realized that the door had failed to latch and was now falling open, he turned around in the middle of the northbound lane and started to cross my path, to return to his car. I yelled a warning and made sure he and I were not on a collision path. As I passed him, I yelled an admonition to avoid standing in the middle of the street, and he was actually pretty apologetic about the whole affair. This was definitely a different kind of close call!

Originally posted by SamDaBikinMan



Isn't it amazing! I dress so colorful when I ride with my flashy jersey, bright red helmet, and all that jazz, that I look like a Peacock rolling down the road and people still do not seem to notice me????? WTF!:confused:

A couple of years ago on Rec.Bicycles.Misc there was a lot of discussion on the premise that motorists sub consciously look for horizontal displacement in watching for things while driving - and some research to support the premise - and bicycles have almost NO horizontal displacement - this being one of the reasons that drivers seem to fail to see bicyclists.

(Hmm. I seem to have just written a 57 word sentence - far beyond the readability guidelines suggesed for forums. Sorry!!)

Sometimes, I just wonder how so many motorists make it to 4pm everyday without killing themselves or someone else....

Riding along in Shoreline Park here in Mountain View, on the road that circles the golfcourse. Plenty of room for a motorist to make it past me, between me and the center median, PLENTY OF ROOM.

So what happens today (as it does about every other ride of mine)? An Accord driver decides she cannot make it and rides about a foot behind me and a foot to the left of me. Very intelligent. I wave her past, she won't budge.

So the cars behind her start to honk and all that crap. Great. You know why, too, don't you? Because these impatient drivers behind Ms. Accord are going to yell at me and give me the finger for holding up traffic even though it isn't my fault at all. Blame the cyclist because a motorist doesn't have a brain or any confidence.

I don't get that pissed when I'm driving. Why should I? Beautiful day, nice drive (or ride), why should I?

... and I thought I had issues....

When people tailgate me, I just slow right down to walking pace if necessary. They won't wait all day.

Originally posted by Chris L
When people tailgate me, I just slow right down to walking pace if necessary. They won't wait all day.
i done that a couple of weeks ago when this bloke nearly pinched me up to the curb on a rail over-bridge, i rode in front of him in the middle of the lane for a 100mtrs to the roundabout, talk about road rage, i blew him a kiss & patted my backside ,suddenly he got the message "kiss my arse", got out of his van & tryed to chase me onto the harbour bridge, he suddenly realised he was out in the traffic with no walkway, just a crash guard then the water below, unfortunatly the logging truck missed him but it still made my day.:D :D