[N_C]

I'm posting this here because I think it is a safety issue, if the mods. don't agree then by all means please move it.

Yesterday on my commute home from work, all of which is on city streets, 2 of them being a 4 lane main arterial roads, I decided to time how long a motor vehicle was actually delayed until they could get around me. To do this I used a small stop watch that hung around my neck from the same chain my ROAD ID FIXX is on, this way it was easier to use.

On 2 lane roads I would start the stop watch when I saw the vehicle move all or part way into the oncoming lane to pass, or if a vehicle was on coming I would start it when I saw the vehicle behind me get close & then have to slow down until it could pass.

On the 4 lane roads I would start the watch either if a vehicle did not move completely into the other lane or of they did then they would come back over just to make a right or a left hand turn, in other words the driver was too impatient to wait to make his or her turn until I was further ahead for them to safely do so. Sometimes the drives on the 4 lane roads had to wait until the traffic in the other lane was ahead enough for them to change lanes. There were a few idiots who were behind me in the right lane that wanted to make a right turn from which we were maybe 50 to 100 feet away from. I do believe your supposed to switch your turn signal on within this distance from the turn. There was a lot of traffic in the left lane. Instead of waiting for me to be far enough ahead to make the turn the driver gunned the engine when it was clear to change lanes, got over then cut me off just to make the right turn. I did time this one. The driver was delayed maybe 25 seconds at the most.

Over all the amount of time the drivers took to either get around me, safely or not, or the amount of time they were delayed was between 3 & 30 seconds. The reason I did this is because I have seen a lot of people post about how long the driver trying to get around them was delayed. I decided to see just how long it does take. So those of you that have posted about this in the past the amount of time you posted is within the 3 to 30 seconds.

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[DCCommuter]

Except for rare occasions getting upset at the delay caused by a cyclist is not a rational reaction, it's an emotional one. It's not the length of the delay, it's the feeling that the delay is unnecesarry because the bike shouldn't be there. The reaction of motorists is very situational -- there's the oft-cited example of European drivers who don't seem bothered by sharing the road with cyclists, and the anectdotes here of how a bike with a trailer or a child carrier elicits a very different response from a road bike. I've noticed that drivers are generally better behaved in the city, where they are used to cyclists. I see the most important advocacy issue as educating the public about the right of cyclists to use the road and familiarizing motorists with the concept that bicycles are used for transportation.

In a similar vein, my city has a lot of motorists who run red lights, it's estimated about 300,000 a day! Recently the city started installing countdown timers at every intersection that show how many seconds until the light turns green, which raised my awareness of how short the red lights really are. Most intersections are on a 40-second cycle, I've yet to see one that's more than 60 seconds, and some are as little as 15 seconds. So running red lights is not really about saving time, it's about avoiding a delay the driver considers unnecessary.

[CommuterRun]

I had something along these lines happen to me Friday morning on my commute to work.

I'm traveling south on a two lane, NOL road. I'm approaching an intersection where another two lane, NOL road adjoins the road I'm on from my right. The adjoining road has the Stop sign. Moron Cager is approaching the Stop sign and sees me approaching the intersection. I have taken my lane. Moron Cager, upon seeing me, accelerates through the Stop and left turn missing me by inches. Just had to beat the cyclist through the intersection. Purely an emotional action. If Moron Cager had stopped at the sign and looked for approaching traffic, I would have been through the intersection without delaying the fool. If I hadn't been there this idiot probably would have at least slowed for the stop to check for traffic.

[rando]

Except for rare occasions getting upset at the delay caused by a cyclist is not a rational reaction, it's an emotional one. It's not the length of the delay, it's the feeling that the delay is unnecesarry because the bike shouldn't be there. The reaction of motorists is very situational -- there's the oft-cited example of European drivers who don't seem bothered by sharing the road with cyclists, and the anectdotes here of how a bike with a trailer or a child carrier elicits a very different response from a road bike. I've noticed that drivers are generally better behaved in the city, where they are used to cyclists. I see the most important advocacy issue as educating the public about the right of cyclists to use the road and familiarizing motorists with the concept that bicycles are used for transportation.

In a similar vein, my city has a lot of motorists who run red lights, it's estimated about 300,000 a day! Recently the city started installing countdown timers at every intersection that show how many seconds until the light turns green, which raised my awareness of how short the red lights really are. Most intersections are on a 40-second cycle, I've yet to see one that's more than 60 seconds, and some are as little as 15 seconds. So running red lights is not really about saving time, it's about avoiding a delay the driver considers unnecessary.

I agree that it's not the length of the delay... it's the perception of "bike=slow=unnecessary delay for me" in the motorist's mind. But I think this is true of any slow-moving vehicle as well. the Driver does not want any slow vehicle in his/her way.

[DCCommuter]

I agree that it's not the length of the delay... it's the perception of "bike=slow=unnecessary delay for me" in the motorist's mind. But I think this is true of any slow-moving vehicle as well. the Driver does not want any slow vehicle in his/her way.

This is true even when the reality is that the bike is actually the faster vehicle, which is often true in urban settings.

[recursive]

Sometimes the drives on the 4 lane roads had to wait until the traffic in the other lane was ahead enough for them to change lanes. There were a few idiots who were behind me in the right lane that wanted to make a right turn from which we were maybe 50 to 100 feet away from. I do believe your supposed to switch your turn signal on within this distance from the turn. There was a lot of traffic in the left lane. Instead of waiting for me to be far enough ahead to make the turn the driver gunned the engine when it was clear to change lanes, got over then cut me off just to make the right turn. I did time this one. The driver was delayed maybe 25 seconds at the most.

It took you 25 seconds to go 100 feet? Something seems suspicious about that.

My other point is that the amount of time that a car waits behind you is more than the amount of time they are delayed. If your natural speed is 50% of theirs, if they are behind you for 30 seconds, they are only effectively delayed by 15 seconds.