Bekologist

On yesterday morning's commute, I was waiting at a light, in the center of the narrow righthand lane of a four laner, and a cop in a squad car pulls up next to me, then merges into my lane and cut me off after the light. One of those classic passive-aggressive motorist manuvers. He got going slower than me in the right hand lane.

So I pulled into the left lane, passed HIM, merged back into the right hand lane, and took the lane back from him for the next half mile of traffic signals. Fokker!

Why are cops in particular such control freaks? But more importantly, why do some motorists feel the need to 'herd' or 'educate' bicylists?

Wheels4

good for you.

not sure of the need for motorists to "educate".... the other day I was out for a joy ride on my new road bike and some older guy buzzed me kinda close. right after he passed me, I shook my head in dissappointment and looked at him. to my surprise he was pointing to the right side of the road, as to say "get completely off the road, it's mine". I got alittle irritated... but, I didn't give him the california wave(the bird). most cases like this make my blood boil, but I try to keep my composure.... never know who the real psycho is....

cgchambers

BEAUTIFUL!!!!! Very good way to show that we have just as much right to the road! No aggressive actions that get us in trouble or can get us hurt, just using rules of the road to show them we have just as much right to the road

TuckertonRR

Some cops round where I am would give you a ticket!

queerpunk

now there's an interesting question

rule

I had a cop do that to me on my commute in one morning. He pulled ahead of me, same deal, then slowed so that I had to pull around take the outside lane to pass, then hung back behind me but now matching my speed. If I had been driving, I would have figured that he was running my plates. As I approached the next light, he swung out and pulled up next to me. It was weird because it was 5:30am and we were the only things remotely out on the road. At the light, he rolled down his window and started asking me questions about my lights. Turns out that he was trying to get some stuff for his kids and liked how safe I looked. We pulled up into a parking lot and under the street lights I gave him the once over on all my gear. I see him every now and then still and he always gives me the thumbs up. He may be the exception but it is pretty cool. If anybody ever gives me crap on the road, I definitely know who I am going to be calling too.

balto charlie

This AM I had a nice cop at an accident scene hold up traffic for me to get through. I was lucky because there was a lot of snow and ice at this intersection(why the crash happened). However this cop had to stop all kinds of cars thus he needed to be a "control freak" . So the moral of the story...sometimes it helps us sometimes not. Charlie

Roody

Sometimes cops need to be control freaks. I think the good ones have the judgment to turn it on or off as needed.

truman

I always figured control freaks tend to gravitate toward LE careers.
For the other point, there's lots of cyclists on here that seem to like to educate motorists, as well.

CastIron

Exactly. That need is rooted in their desire to go home at the end of their shift.

Farmpunker

I was pedalling around one day, doing a very relaxed grocery run, and I saw a motorcycle cop parked by the side of the road.
I pulled over and asked him traffic related questions. He wasn't all that helpful, didn't seem like he wanted to talk to me. I will say that cyclists are rare where I ride, very. I live in the country and commute to small towns to get food, booze, books, whatever. No one rides bicycles around here, other than a small group of townie spandex roadies who drive to ride, and kids. So I wondered what the cop would say.
When I asked him where I should ride, he told me that I had to be as far as possible to the edge of the pavement, and that was "the law".
Then I asked him about whether it wouldn't be safer for me to ride in the middle of my lane, or to the right side of center, because transports buzz past at 100km\per while I'm pinned to the two inches of pavement alloted by the law. Cars and trucks are worse, if not as menacing, I told the cop.
He shrugged and gave me the tired cop routine: "There's a lot of bad drivers on the road."
Ah, public servants, gotta love them.
I still keep to the side of the road because these people are lunatics, and are liable to run me down if I dare to invade the road with my slow speed freak show. But once in town I break all the rules I can, whenever I can. It might not be the right thing to do but damn, serious fun.

DCCommuter

Why did you feel the need to educate the cop?

Bekologist

Educating a cop is pointless, and didn't even cross my mind- the guy cut me off, and I was travelling faster than him, so I retook the lane. No 'education' from my end, I was just commuting.

I was more worried about getting pulled over because some cops are like that. maybe when he was behind me, he was calling HQ to see if he could pull me over, but I wasn't going to go slower than the cop with 2 full travel lanes to work with.

If you commute often, I'm asssuming you've passed slower motorists before, DCcommuter?

DCCommuter

Every day, yes.

KrisPistofferson

I think cops have to go and bring order to chaotic situations as a regular part of their job, and often, they end up treating the average citizen with disdain because they begin to see everyone this way. It's sort of like most long-time bartenders I know have a pretty dim view of human nature, because they have to deal with pathetic drunks all the time. Just an observation, and no, I'm not one of those people who hates all cops.

Eggplant Jeff

I also think that the default assumption when you're driving is that you are going faster than a bicycle. I mean, cars are faster than bikes, right? So if you're driving and there's a bike on the road, your natural inclination is going to be to pass 'em. Of course in this case it turned out not to be true, so you passed the cop again, but hey, it happens. I've had it happen when I'm driving lots of times... Especially with cruise control on. Some dude'll pass me on the left, then get in front of me and slow down. Hello, I know MY speed didn't change...

curt in denver

+1 Would it have been an issue for you if you had not passed the cop?

BitterCoconut

It seems to me if the cop was such a control freak, he would have pulled you over after you took the lane back. I think there could be many reasons why he pulled out in front of you and then slowed down. I'm not saying there aren't cops that are control freaks, but as several people responded in this thread, it's part of that job. I have seen many people that are not cops that are far more controlling than any cop I have ever dealt with.