newbojeff

Depends. When I'm keeping up with traffic, I usually don't leave enough room for someone to pass and move in. If I notice someone making a bonehead move to pass and there is no room or there's oncoming traffic, I'll try to signal "slowing" or "keep back" with a look and a downward bent left arm.

donnamb 

Oooh, that is so deliciously evil... I probably wouldn't do it, but it's ok to fantasize.

bigpedaler

since i'm so bloody slow on my AM bike, this only comes up in the lineup at a stop. generally, i don't let 'em in. if they try anyway, they get THE LOOK.... (not the one Armstrong gave), and most of them squirm and let me proceed when the time comes.

Bekologist

come on! y'all have never had a driver FORCE cut you off? the force the bicyclist into the parked cars move?

like someone else posted above, you might 'suggest' they don't cut you off, but if the driver is ragin' and the cage is used as a weapon against you, they WILL 'cut you off'

I had a ragin' cager do the 'force the bicyclist into the parked cars' feint just last week, AFTER I'd asserted my place at a stop sign. Started yelling at me thru the closed window, then pulled the feint.

yes being assertive in traffic does help minimize cager cut ins, but it won't eliminate them.

unkchunk

That's basically what I do.

donnamb 

You're spot on, Bek. That's just my general tendency. I will say the construction flaggers have done quite a bit to curtail general bad motorist behavior, though. And there's 2 more years to go.

ItsJustMe

I've never had anyone follow through and actually hit me. But drivers around here are really quite courteous in general. I've had a few go to pass me as I was coming to a stop sign and then try to squeeze back into the lane, but I just stay where I am and they have always stopped with at least a foot of space between us.
If I lived in a different area, probably I'd have to give up sometimes.

Cyclaholic

This one time a cager used the side of his front bumper to push me into the parked cars as we approached a red light while honking and yelling at me to get out of his f###ing way, fortunately at no more than a fast walking speed. He almost pinned me between his bumper and a parked car and as I fell off the bike he started pointing and laughing.

I got up, kicked in every panel except the hood as I made my way around the car, kicked the mirrors off, smashed all his tail lights with my lock, and was about to smash the drivers window with my lock to drag him out for a beating but the lights changed and he took off. I managed to smash the rear passengers window on the drivers side instead.

The driver in the car behind him witnessed the whole thing and didn't make a move untill I got back on my bike and rode off. Not my proudest moment.

cerewa

I haven't had anyone do quite what you described. What happens to me regularly is that the motorist has enough room in front of me, but not necessarily to the left of me. They pass anyway, and when the front of the vehicle is ahead of me they are looking forward and behave as if they've forgotten i exist. They pull over to the right and I'm forced to slow down and/or pull into the door zone next to some parked cars. Since they're not looking, I don't try to hold my lane position as a way of letting them know it's my spot, I just let them have the spot. If the motorist is in a position where they can see me easily, I don't move over for them even if it looks like I'm "playing chicken". In that situation I behave as if I have a right to a full lane and the motorist picks a spot that isn't already taken.

enure

I tend to try and make eye contact or get some indication that the driver is watching what I'm doing, and then go from there. If I can't tell they're paying attention to me I let them by. And I usually just veer to the far left of the lane to make sure that they realize they have to pass me properly, and not pass with half of my lane. I find that discourages some people, and not others.

squeakywheel

You guys are all faster than me. I can't keep up with traffic unless the traffic is heavy. That doesn't happen much on the routes I take.

jamesdenver

No. I especially don't let cars cut in front of me if I'm almost to an intersection or light. They don't realize how fast I'm going, and them getting their first would mean cutting me off and making me wait behind them.

One long roads I just stay 1/4 in the lane and don't even think about it. If they want to gun past me that's fine, if they're comfy behind me no problem either.

ax0n

I got run off the road by one a few weeks ago. Changed lanes right into me, so he could avoid stopping behind 3 cars at a light that had just turned green.

banerjek

It's happened but is very rare. I won't block a car unless I can see a way of bailing out just in case they call my bluff.

kemmer

That would easily be my proudest moment. Even more so than when I got first place in the regional pinewood derby race, I got married, my kids were born, I graduated college, bought my house etc...

jamesdenver

Pretending to be oblivious works in these situations too. I don't use a mirror, but I'm aware by sounds and glances who and what's creeping up behind me, and I've been doing the same commute for years so I know the tight spots for potential dangers.

But - A driver isn't going to run you off or challenge you to a duel if he doesn't think you see him. Even the stupidest as-hole driver knows he can't just plow into someone. But once you make contact then they'd be more at will to take offense.

Drivers will often blow through an intersection just as the light turns red. But if a driver sees a cyclist inching forward, not aware of the speeding bullet, they may choose to slam on the brakes and actually stop at the now red light.

Ignorance, (or feigning ignorance), is bliss. I do it often.

fat_bike_nut

Geez, Bek, you make it sound like Puget Sound isn't very friendly for cyclists at all

I've never been run off the road before in Orange County or LA (knock on wood?), and I just assumed that it mostly occurred to people riding on rural roads with rednecks in pickup trucks. But I have a feeling that if it happened to me, I'd probably end up reacting the same way Cyclaholic did. That just isn't cool to scare and possibly injure a cyclist like that and then laugh at your utter psychopathic stupidity.

jamesdenver: advice noted. I'll try that next time some ******bag honks or yells at me on the road.

dbg

I saw a TV special about a bike messenger who wore gloves with spiked knuckles that he kept very sharp. On TV he claimed he never used them.

Shiznaz

I try not to let cars cut me off, but if they want to cut me off, theres really nothing I can do to stop them. I often get cut off right before a stop sign, even if I am taking the lane, so I just ride around infront of them to regain my rightful spot in line. Most cars ignore me waving them back and get really aggrivated when I take the lane.

In heavy traffic a car will often pass me half way between lanes and then either remerge with me next to them, forcing me into parked cars, or they will complete the turn badly or hit the brakes giving me barely any chance to avoid rear-ending them. Situations like this are usually the ones that get me yelling and screaming.

I give taxis a bit more lenience because they WILL DRIVE DIRECTLY IN TO YOU.

I agree that if you let one car cut you off or pass you unsefely, everyone else will. There is one section of one way road on my commute where it is too narrow to pass me safely (cars on right, I ride biased to the left curb), and if one car manages to squeeze/force themselves by me by going in an empty parking space, the cars behind it will inevitably try the same, regardless of how safe it is to pass or if there is a parking space for them to pass me in.

jamesdenver

I have a few narrow streets where folks try and zoom pass and beat me to the corner. I simply remain in my lane and my pace (not acknowledging them as I mentioned above). They speed up to pass but don't have enough room to merge back in front of me (I'm at the corner already), so then we're both at the intersection, but they're taking up the middle and left side of the street. Another car needs to make a right INTO "our" street, and my hero must cumbersomly reverse and scoot BEHIND me.

Here's where I'm talkin about

And, note the nice gridded streets, it sometimes happens AGAIN with the same car!

Shiznaz

wow denver looks easy to get across! There are like 7 continuous east west streets in Toronto and they all suck ass.

rando

I actually have never had this happen to me (due to a route with almost no traffic) but if it did, yeah, I would "let" them in front of me. I'm not going to "fight" with a car!

JeffS

As long as I have an out, I will try to hold my position as long as possible. If I'm truly in danger of being run over, I get out of the way asap.

jamesdenver

For the most part the areas within 5-8 miles are a easy to manage grid so it's easy to find wide light trafficked streets. Further out into the suburbs and exurbs it's typical suburbia, with the best biking routes being trails that don't go anywhere practical unless you're going to your rich friend's horse stables or a megamall.

newbojeff

...and, of course, it happened to me twice tonight in the space of about 1 minute.

Part of my commute is down a street that the T (our light rail) also runs down. The T runs down the left side of a wide lane, leaving just enough space for a car to squeeze through on the right. There is definitely not enough space for the T, a car, and a bicycle. I frequently find myself riding right next to the T. When doing so, I take the lane. It's fun riding right next to a train.

Anyway, tonight I find myself about 15 feet behind and to the right of the T and a young woman in shades (staring straight ahead through all of this, mind you) drives up directly behind the T and starts moving rightward, towards me. I yell "hey!" and stand my ground. She probably got within 2-3 feet then backs off. She tries again, I yell "hey!!" again. She backs off. T stops, I pass it and move to the left to get set for a left turn and she passes me on the right. I glare at her. She continues to stare straight ahead before taking a right off the street.

It's times like these I'm glad I don't still keep a U-lock bracketed to my bike.