Commuting - blocking

Has any other rider been deliberately blocked by a car in heavy slow traffic.

Yesterday, I was trying to cross the road at the end of my street. Some pedestrians were using the controlled crossing a few yards down the main road, and traffic was backing up, or going at 5mph, so I could have crossed easily, but woman taking her kids to school swerved deliberately to block me in.

I don't get it. Did you have a green light or a stop sign or what?

Sometimes drivers stuck in traffic don't feel like giving up their right of way for anyone, if they feel they have it.

More common, in my experience, are drivers who deliberately block the space between their vehicle and the next lane (or the row of parked cars or the curb) to prevent bikes from passing when traffic is stopped. Some drivers hate the idea of a bike in front of them, probably because they're scared of them.

Since lane-splitting is illegal here (and dangerous anywhere) I can't really argue the point.

RichC

Yes, once.

It was terribly foolish and I am lucky to be here to tell.

A couple of years ago in Taiwan, I was having a particularly BAD several days. Besides work, the whole Taiwan experience was grinding on me; too much stress, too much pollution, too much traffic, too much language difficulty, too much unethical business shenanigans. Just too much crap.

I decided to go for a walk to get some "fresh" air and cool off my head for a minute and left a meeting to do so.

While walking down an alley, some kid in a very expensive sports car zoomed up right behind me and started honking his horn to tell me to get out of his way. That pissed me off.

I walked slowly down the middle of the street. He couldn't get around me in the alley, so he butted the hood of his car against the back of my legs and kept honking angrily. No doubt, I really pissed the driver off. He kept honking and I kept sauntering. Maybe I flipped him the bird, but I won't admit it.

That kept that up for a whole city block. I was lucky he did not run my lily white @ss over in a fit of road-rage. If I could meet that driver today, I would thank him for not creaming me into the sticky Taipei asphalt.

Ugly American, go home.

Blocking...yes.

Or when you are positioned behind a vehicle stopped in the queue and the driver behind you reasons, "This bicycle is narrow enough for me to edge around," so you end up with a car sitting next to you, squeezing you.

I had one lady in an SUV approach me from behind on a fast downhill. She pulled up far enough so that the nose of her vehicle was next to my rear wheel, almost so that I could touch it.
We were travelling about 30 - 35 mph. She didn't pass and she didn't slow down to offer a safe distance between us. Then, after she finally did pass, she stopped and positioned her SUV on the exact edge of the pavement to prevent me from passing her again. I passed her anyway, on the grass.

What are people thinking of? (Or, what are they not thinking?)

Try this:
pass her on the left, and 'rearrange' her mirror as you do!

When traffic is crawling along a main road, approaching a stationary line of cars, its usual in the UK to yeild to vehicle out of sideroads who want to cross the road or make an off-side (US left) turn.
I had been waiting for 2 mins for a gap. As the traffic almost ground to a halt, I forced my nose out. The woman in question, instead of slowing down for a moment or stopping, accelerated, and swerved out around me. I nosed out further and she swerved out further, to prevent me crossing the traffic in front of her. The following driver let me out, and the woman who blocked me met the stopped line of cars 10 yards past my sideroad. This was just bullying, and in no way did it speed her journey.

pass her on the left, and 'rearrange' her mirror as you do!
HAHA
If traffic is slow enough I generally stroll around them on the left too and smile enough to rub it in but I've never thought to rearrange their mirror.
I recently had a vehicle sauntering up beside me at a slow pace a little too close for comfort. I thought about how nice it would be to install those little studs that I have on my winter tires into the fingers of my glove for those times when I have to push myself away from their car to keep a safe distance.
From time to time, I'll carry my lock in my hand and let it hang outward a little bit for when the cars are getting too close and forgetting that steering wheel thing that they're supposed to use to pass obstacles in their way. Amazingly, it tends to work. I really need to put some reflective tape on the thing though.

The most annoying one I've had of late is going down a hill one side of a valley at about 30-35 mph, when a bus overtakes, only to immediately pull in at the bottom of the hill, so that I had to pull round him, robbing me of the momentum I needed to get up the otherside without turning puce. :(

Regularly on my way home queueing traffic blocks the right turn (think left if in US etc.) I need. :(

Alternatively I'll find a car edging out of a parking bay with his nose across the cycle lane leaving me stranded, without getting off the bike and waking it round the back. :(

If I'm overtaking a queue of almost stationary traffic, then frequently I'll have one vehicle pull into the middle of the road to minimize my opportunities to pass. :(

That's before you get on to the idiots who don't know what a yellow box with a diamond grid in it means :mad:

Richard

All the time.

Cars deliberately move closer to the kerb so there is no room. This is even going up to pedestrain crossings and T-junctions.

WHY ?

I don't know what it is about where you guyz live. I have biked 10000s of km here in Montreal and cannot think of a single incident where somebody has been malicious to me. I have been honk at a few times (a couple of them with just cause), but people don't intentially cut me off or anything like that.

Am I the only one like this?

Originally posted by Spire
I have biked 10000s of km here in Montreal and cannot think of a single incident where somebody has been malicious to me. I have been honk at a few times... Am I the only one like this?

My experience over two decades in San Diego County, California, USA, is similar to yours, although occasionally a motorist queued up for a near-side turn has moved prematurely into the bike lane, and a few people have honked me for taking a travel lane.

Some motorists are TOO nice; for example, if I approach a 4-way stop sign, some will try to give me their lawful right-of-way, which can create a hazard for other road users. Also, when I look back to check traffic before signalling to merge across for a far-side turn, some motorists will slow down, even though I would prefer that they maintain speed, so that I can tuck into the gap behind them.

Originally posted by Spire
I don't know what it is about where you guyz live. I have biked 10000s of km here in Montreal and cannot think of a single incident where somebody has been malicious to me. I have been honk at a few times (a couple of them with just cause), but people don't intentially cut me off or anything like that.

Am I the only one like this?
Most drivers are very accomodating. But it's sort of like being President or Prime Minister: you can do a wonderful job 99% of the time, but all it takes is one major mishap to ruin your career.

No rude drivers en Motreal??? Are you nuts???
I remember those awful drivers on the Autoroute Chomedy or on the Transcanadien vividly!! People would pass you on the left, the right, the shoulder, they would use an on-ramp merge lane as a passing lane, etc., etc.

Originally posted by John E

Some motorists are TOO nice; for example, if I approach a 4-way stop sign, some will try to give me their lawful right-of-way, which can create a hazard for other road users. Also, when I look back to check traffic before signalling to merge across for a far-side turn, some motorists will slow down, even though I would prefer that they maintain speed, so that I can tuck into the gap behind them.

I get that a lot here in vegas, although I try not to get frustrated with these people (at least they make an effort!) it does make things a bit confusing.