General Cycling Discussion - Feeling Kind Of Guilty

Normally I try and avoid riding on highways but I made an exception. I wanted to take a spin through the Wildlife Refuge and look at the lake and wild geese. I was riding on a 2 lane highway when I heard a car coming up behind me. Then I heard a car that was coming toward me running off on the shoulder with gravel flying. It was a State Trooper! I thought what in the world is he doing?!? Then the car behind me passed with about a quarter of his car over the yellow line in the cops lane. The Trooper about did a doughnut turning around and flooring it after that car! Up the road aways I passed them,the Trooper writing a ticket and the driver giving me a dirty look as I passed. What can I say,I was riding on the white line as far over to the right as I could. :p

Consider it a public service! :D

You feel guilty for give a trooper a chance to educate the ignorant?

Good job! Too bad the jerk will probably only get a fine for endangering your life and the troopers.

Good job! Too bad the jerk will probably only get a fine for endangering your life and the troopers.

Seconded.

i don't understand you guys.... what would have been the proper thing for the guy to do? stay behind the cyclist the whole time? stay in his lane and nearly clip the cyclist?

i don't understand you guys.... what would have been the proper thing for the guy to do? stay behind the cyclist the whole time? stay in his lane and nearly clip the cyclist?
Wait untill the cop was out of sight. Then pass giving the cyclest lots of room.

Joe

You forgot to mention if it was a passing zone or not. If so then the driver should have waited for a clear chance to pass and properly done so in a safe and legal manner. I think the motorist was definately at fault. If it wasn't a passing zone then the motorist should have just sucked it up and waited until they got to some broken yellow lines and a clear oncoming lane before attempting to pass.

ok guys, maybe one of the few times i "speak up" for the motorist...

IF it was a no-passing zone but it was still relatively safe to pass you by going quarter into the lane, then maybe the cop overreacted, but that's his decision, not yours.

but IF it was safe to pass as he did (i.e. lots of clear sight and the car probably going double your speed was around you in no time) then should he get a ticket? i'd certainly rather have someone crossing the yellow line to give the bicyclist space than "squeezing" by at 60mph or whatever...

on the other hand, maybe it was not safe to cross the double yellow so the ticket was justified (apparently what the cop thought)

again: in any case what you did was fine. if the trooper made a "weird" decision or was ticket-happy it's not your fault/responsibility.

on the other hand, maybe it was not safe to cross the double yellow so the ticket was justified (apparently what the cop thought)

It seemed to me from the description that the cop was oncoming and was forced off the road by the passing motorist. I would say the passing attempt was done in an unsafe manner double-yellow or not.

I don't know. It sounds to me like the guy was giving the cyclist plenty of room. Maybe he was speeding or passed with the cop approaching at an unsafe distance. It sounds like the cop just wanted to be an ass from the way it looks here. I cross the double yellow on a regular basis to give a wide berth to people on the side of the road like police who already have someone pulled over. I don't think I should be ticketed for that and I don't think the driver above should be ticketed for crossing the double yellow in order to give the cyclist plenty of room.

I thought it was perfectly clear. The guy passing, did so in an unsafe manner. Not unsafe necessarily for the cyclist, but for the oncoming traffic (the Trooper). You are supposed to wait for oncoming traffic to be clear before passing on a 2-lane, regardless of whether there was a double yellow line or not. I'm sure the Trooper would have allowed the pass if he'd waited for the trooper's vehicle to be clear.

Actually I read it again and you're right. Amazing what the lack of coffee can do to your mind. On the second read it became apparent that the car forced a trooper of the road. Not a good move.

It won't every happen, but what needed to happen was for the idiot to touch the brake pedal. There ain't nobody going to slow down to cycling speed waiting to pass until appropriate. If anyone banks on this, they are going to get run over.

OF all the options going through the motorist's head, touching the brake is way down the list. :rolleyes:

OF all the options going through the motorist's head, touching the brake is way down the list. :rolleyes:

Hopefully for that particular motorist, it will now get elevated above the "Receive Traffic Ticket" option.

This is unfortunate for everybody. The motorist was trying to give the cyclist the right of way, and was penalized for this. Sure, a smart person would slow down, and not cross the double yellow when a cop is coming. Obvisously you're not dealing with a genius. The motorist is at fault, and the cyclist should not feel guilty about this.

More importantly, what will the motorist do next time he encounters a cyclist? Either he'll slow down and wait for a safe passing zone, or he'll not give the right away at all. The moral of the story; everyone needs to watch their step when a ticket happy johny law is around.

Sure, a smart person would slow down, and not cross the double yellow when a cop is coming. Obvisously you're not dealing with a genius. In any case, what will the motorist do next time he encounters a cyclist? Either he'll slow down and wait for a safe passing zone, or he'll not give the right away at all. The moral of the story; everyone needs to watch their step when johny law is around.

It wasn't clearly stated that there was a double-yellow. And I think either way it wouldn't have mattered. The driver crossed directly into oncoming traffic that forced the other driver off the road. The fact that the other driver was also a trooper just compounds the error. I think the moral of the story is that everyone needs to avoid creating a dangerous situation. Passing without a clear passing lane definately does not qualify in that respect.

I can't say 100 0/0 that it wasn't a no passing zone but its a clear stretch of highway for miles so I don't know why it would be. He was definitely taking a chance of hitting the cop head-on. I don't think I did anything wrong .I just hate that it happened. I haven't riden this section of the highway in about 2 years because of another incident: I was riding in just about the same dang area when I heard a semi diesel motor come up behind me moving slow. I thought it was kind of strange because there wasn't any traffic up ahead. Then when he passed me he went way over in the other lane as far as he could. I'm thinking 'You don't have to give me that much room buddy' then about that time a semi I didn't know was behind me passed within literally INCHES and moving slow. I freaked and rode my bike off the road. I had to ride over big chucks of gravel going off the shoulder. I was on a roadbike with racing 23s and all I could think was 'I going down and I hope I don't fall his way'. I didn't crash though. By the time I stopped he was too far up to get a license plate number. It takes a lot to rattle me but when I got home I ordered a Delta rearviewmirror. I think I'll stay away for Illinois Route 148 :D

Hillyman. As a truck driver, its a general rule of thumb among drivers to give as much room as possible. It doesnt matter if its a pedestrian or motor vehicle, its an unwritten rule we practice to give as much room as we can. The draft off of a semi can knock you over or even suck a smaller person under the truck. Its happened many times. Not all drivers observe this stuff, but its a common rule among the curtious to do so. The last thing we want on our minds is the injury to an innocent person. I travel roads that have alot of cyclists on them and if i have to wait to pass, I wait. I dont want to injure, or kill a fellow cyclist. Some of the roads are rather narrow and leave little room to pass. Most of the time the cyclist will stop, after following them for a bit, and let me pass safely. I do wave in appreciation and I hope they appreciated my not doing something foolish to put their life at risk.
You should not feel quilty for the stupidity of someone in a hurry. No one is in that big of a hurry that they need to put anothers life in jeopardy. It doesnt matter what highway you ride on. If there is pavement, you will find an idiot.

headn4thehills,
I don't hold anything against truckdrivers or any driver for that matter. This highway is used by trucks that are dodging the scales on I57 so I was dealing with the 'cowboy' type truckdriver that decided to have a little fun with a cyclist.
As close as he was I don't think he cared if he killed me. Come to think of it there was a ride this on this highway before that a semi behind me started blowing his airhorn way before he was anywhere near me. A truck heading the other way slowed way down as was pointing for me to get off the road and I did . The truck whizzed by way over the speed limit as close to the shoulder as he could. This is just on Sundays. You don't even think about riding down this highway weekdays with the gravel trucks going back and forth . They hate cyclist. This section is a Wildlife Refuge but they don't care. I drive a breadtruck so I know somewhat truckdrivers deal with, but I'm not dealing with their Deathrace 2000 mentality :eek:

The moral of the story; everyone needs to watch their step when a ticket happy johny law is around.

Ticket happy? He was driven off the road by an idiot not patient enough to wait an extra 5 seconds to pass a cyclist. In my book, that's definitely ticket-worthy.

Ticket happy? He was driven off the road by an idiot not patient enough to wait an extra 5 seconds to pass a cyclist. In my book, that's definitely ticket-worthy.

We don't know the whole story. How far over the line was he? How close was he to hitting the patrol car. I'm not sure how close the driver really was to hitting the officer's car. The driver was yeilding the right of way to the cyclist. To me, it sounds like the driver that passed the cyclist was "following the spirit of the law, if not the letter" by yielding the road to the smaller vehicle(cyclist). A responsible police officer would ask the following question: who was in more danger in this situation? The cyclist if the driver had passed too closely, or the police officer if the driver crossed the center line.

I cant be certain how much danger the officer was in, but did he think about what he was doing? Too often police officers will write tickets more because of their ego, than with a mind for public service. I agree that the driver was at fault, he should have slowed down, but ultimately I think the officer did cyclists a disservice by penalizing someone for yeilding to a cyclist.

I agree that the driver was at fault, he should have slowed down, but ultimately I think the officer did cyclists a disservice by penalizing someone for yeilding to a cyclist.

I disagree. I think the officer did the cyclist a service by forcing the driver to consider more options in the future... such as slowing down and waiting for it to be safe to pass. To be honest, I think this whole situation has little to do with the cyclist and more to do with someone [the driver] who exercised bad judgement and then got called on it.

What if I were driving down the street and there was a cyclist ahead of me... so I decide to give him a wide berth by hopping the curb and driving down the sidewalk? While I "yielded" to the cyclist, I did so in a very unsafe manner. BTW, I don't consider what the driver did as yielding at all.