This morning I was a bit late for work so decided to take the dual carriageway (70mph limit).
For the first couple of miles I rode on the carriageway (no shoulder) until I got to the bus/cycle lane and then moved onto that.
At the end of this lane there are 3 traffic lights, one for busses, and two over the dual carriageway. Just past the lights, the bus/cyclelane merges onto the dual again.
The idea is that all of the busses have transponders which change the lights on their lane to green and stop the dual and the merging road beyond the lights so busses don't have to stop.
I'm bowling along 20 mph, and notice that all three lights are at red, as traffic ahead is merging from the side (beyond the lights).
Glancing behind, I see a bus in the distance approaching fast, so, knowing that it will be difficult for him to pass me when the near lane is chock full of traffic, I check, and merge in front of a Mercedes as the traffic is crawling forward at 8-10 mph to the stop light.
The guy in the Merc tries to pass me!!. Nearly forcing me back into the bus lane. I hold my line and give him a "Paddington" stare and then the bus flies past, changes it's light to green and I take off back into the lane behind it.
As I do so I look back and see a sudden flash of realisation on the Merc driver's face!! Ah, that's why I did that, so as not to hold the bus up.
Point is, Why was he so p'd off about me merging when he was crawling anyway? Is he so unobservant? Or is it just the "This is my 16 feet of road, don't come near."
Just to clarify, he didn't have to brake or change direction, I was well in front of him, behind the car before him.
The BikeForums Team
-adv-
This is an archived thread, you can find the full version of this thread, with images, links and more content here.
Maybe he didn't like the idea of his Mercedes induced superiority usurped by some bloke on a bike. Just a theory
bac
Originally posted by chewa
Point is, Why was he so p'd off about me merging when he was crawling anyway? Is he so unobservant?
That has been my experience with the bulk of the "drivers". :mad:
RonH
99% of Atlanta drivers are like that. :crash:
Brillig
Wow. It seems like drivers all over the world are just the same. I thought it was just american drivers.
I haven't seen that behavior while on a bike, but I've seen it a lot driving. Some drivers get obsessively territorial about that space in front of them. To the extent that I've seen people:
- Many times almost cause accidents by accelerating up into the space while someone is changing lanes.
- A couple of times ACTUALLY cause an accident by accelerating up into the space while someone is changing lanes.
- More than once pull out onto the shoulder and pass the person (dangerously and illegally) to get that space back.
Definitely some sort of instinct gets involved.
HalfHearted
Back in the mid-eighties I was living in California but spending a lot of time in Binghampton, NY on business. I was used to CA freeways, where drivers would give you just enough room to merge. They'd give you a car length, and no more, regardless of whether traffic was moving 20MPH or 60MPH.
Well, in NY, I routinely encountered drivers on almost completely empty freeways who would leave the left lane to come over to the right lane and match speeds with me as I'm coming down an onramp. The thing they didn't realize is that I'm a bigger jerk than they are, and I was in a rental car ;) On many occasions I litererally got door-handle to door-handle before they realized that I was going to hold my line. This happened so often that some of the guys travelling with me made up a big sign that said, "caution, California driver" and they'd hold it up in the rear side window whenever one of these idiots would play his stupid game :lol:
The curious thing is, I've seen all kinds of bad behaviour all over the country, and defending that ten feet in front of your car in heavy traffic seems to be real big around here, but I've only seen that peculiar brand of "let's block the guy merging onto this empty six-lane highway" in New York state.
Oh, the other thing I've seen that seems to be real common in NY state is stopping at the end of onramps to freeways for no reason. First couple of times I had some idiot stop in front of me when the freeway was completely clear I 'bout filled my pants.
John
D*Alex
Oh, the other thing I've seen that seems to be real common in NY state is stopping at the end of onramps to freeways for no reason. First couple of times I had some idiot stop in front of me when the freeway was completely clear I 'bout filled my pants.
Believe it or not, but the state of Pennsylvania actually endorses this idea. I guess it goes way back to the days of the first divided highways (like the PA turnpike). I've been all over the US, and out of all the times I've had somebody do this to me, 95% of the time, it was in Pennsylvania. The other 5% was evenly distributed between the NYC and the Boston areas.
John E
Originally posted by HalfHearted
Oh, the other thing I've seen that seems to be real common in NY state is stopping at the end of onramps to freeways for no reason.
Since I have traditionally driven underpowered cars, I always dread this scenario. If no one obstructs my progress, I merge smoothly onto a freeway at the prevailing speed of the outer-lane traffic.
This is also why I hate cycling through freeway-style free turns, merges, and diverges on other roads. If traffic is calmed to, say, 25mph/40kph, I can merge smoothly into it, but this does not work well when there is a huge speed disparity.
HalfHearted
Originally posted by D*Alex
Believe it or not, but the state of Pennsylvania actually endorses this idea. I guess it goes way back to the days of the first divided highways (like the PA turnpike). I've been all over the US, and out of all the times I've had somebody do this to me, 95% of the time, it was in Pennsylvania. The other 5% was evenly distributed between the NYC and the Boston areas.
Wow, that's just plain wierd. You'd think maybe they'd know it's called an acceleration lane for a reason ;)
John
VegasCyclist
it's odd, for some reason when drivers see a cyclist they think that they must pass them, even when the situation does not dictate it. This is especially a problem in las vegas, drivers will pass and then make an immediate right turn, effectivly cutting the cyclist off. The driver saves, .2 of a second but then endangers the cyclist? oh well :rolleyes:
D*Alex
You'd think maybe they'd know it's called an acceleration lane for a reason
Well, not really. On the older highways, like the PA TPK, the entrance lanes are quite short, with very little merge room. When they were first built, there was very little traffic, so entering from a dead stop wasn't as hazardous as it is today. My father actually had a chance to drive the PA TPK when it was still fairly new (like about 1944, during the war...), and he said that large trucks would often stop way back, look for an opening, then gun it. Of course, the speed limit was 35 mph during the war, but the road used to have an no speed limit for the first year of it's existance (1939), except for the numerous 2-way tunnels. Later, the limit was dropped to 75.
Spire
I know what you mean. I was on a street in here in Montreal and it is one lane my way 3 the other way (for rush hour) and the lights pretty much force a crawl speed on everybody so I merge into the lane and ride at a speed that does not force to stop and start, just going at constant speed. The traffic pics up for about 50 meters and a small gap appears in front of me. The small minivan behind me guns it out into the opposing lane of traffic (because i still have the lane) across a double solid (dashed because of the switching rush hour lanes but illegal nonetheless) zooms past me just to come to a dead stop right in front of me.
Pete Clark
Originally posted by chewa
... I check, and merge in front of a Mercedes as the traffic is crawling forward at 8-10 mph to the stop light.
The guy in the Merc tries to pass me!!
The basic motorist mentality (which is created by the traffic environment) is not to let anyone else get ahead of you. The reason for this is valid (somewhat.) People that race ahead of you in traffic will block you and put you further back in the traffic queue (which is long enough already!)
It's hard for motorists to break out of this mindset and think like a cyclist. A cyclist knows he will get to his/her destination at about the same time everyday, barring headwinds or flats. The cyclist
thinks much further ahead than the average motorist, who seems to think that every problem is solved by going faster, even if it means waiting longer at the next light.
Overall, I'd say the cyclist mentality is much more relaxed.
(Yes, I've had people try to nudge in front of me as I waited for a traffic light!)
Chris L
Originally posted by Pete Clark
It's hard for motorists to break out of this mindset and think like a cyclist. A cyclist knows he will get to his/her destination at about the same time everyday, barring headwinds or flats.
And even they aren't really major obstacles. I can fix flats within 10 minutes, and when I was riding to work into 70km/h headwinds a few weeks back I still managed to get to work on time everyday. Unlike some of the car commuters in my office, but we won't go into that right now....
AndrewP
I find motorists in Montreal are generally considerate in merging traffic lanes, with cars from each lane proceeding alternately. I believe this is because our roads are poorly constructed and they take a real beating in the winter, so in the short season for repairs, traffic lanes are closed all over the place. This gives the motorists plenty of practice in efficient merging technique.
Portent
I agree with what Pete Clark says 'The basic motorist mentality (which is created by the traffic environment) is not to let anyone else get ahead of you. The reason for this is valid (somewhat.) People that race ahead of you in traffic will block you and put you further back in the traffic queue (which is long enough already!)'.
I also think that when in a car a person's personal space is extended to 10ft of the front and back of a car, so when someone overtakes close to the car they feel violated. Doesn't excuse it though.