bikedaddy

Usually on this board we talk about the reckless or clueless or aggresive cagers but I think we have all had encounters with dangerously courteous cagers. At least weekly, after coming to a complete stop at a 4-way stop sign a cager will have me through despite the fact that they were there ten years before me. Sometimes I motion to them to go and sometimes I just go. It is usually not a huge deal altough I wish they would treat me as a vehicle.

Today on my ride home I had a similar incident except this was the first one at a stop light. I was turning left from a two lane neighborhood street onto a 4 lane fairly major road. There are no turn lanes at this intersection. I was the first in line and in the center of the lane. A car pulled up across the intersection and seemed to be planning on going straight through the intersection. When the cross traffic signal turned yellow I made the left turn signal with my arm to indicate to the car my intentions. The light turned green and they just sat there. I began to roll into the intersection waiting for them to clear it. Howver they still weren't go. I started waving and yelling for them to go. I know they saw me and were waiting for me to go despite their right of way. After about 30 seconds of this I just went. However, I feel like this was a very dangerous situation. What if when I decided screw it I'll just go they decided the same thing? Or what if the car behind them went around them?

I know a lot comes into play in this situation. Maybe they have encountered scofflaw cyclists or maybe they are pro-cyclists and think they are doing me a big favor. I appreciate people being kind but not when it puts in danger.

I was wondering if anyone has similar issues or even if anyone has had a wreck caused by similar situations.

Kinetikx

Happens to me all the time. I just go. It happens when you're in a car too- some people are just very courteous.

unkchunk

Yeah, I frequently encounter this and think it's a problem too. And I don't know what to do about it. If you don't go, they only get pissed at you. Also, they don't check to see if the other direction is clear. I'm sure bikes wrecks have happened that way. The "courteous" drivers make things more unpredictable and therefore more dangerous.

bikedaddy

I have never had this happen to me in a car at a traffic light - at a stop sign yes - not at a traffic light

robtown

I find it dangerous and inconvenient. I often have to push harder to make the intersection because the cars are patiently waiting at a stop. Many times they have more than enough time to clear the intersection.

I've had cagers wave me through at a MUP / street intersection/crosswalk - as they should. Unfortunately the road is two lanes each direction and I can see cars in the inside lane approaching at 40+ mph.

anastrophe

I live in a very cycling-aware area and this is a frequent problem for me. While I appreciate the fact that they're not trying to run me over, it really boils down to the same problem: when you ignore the rules, it puts everyone in danger. We have a fair number of whoever-gets-there-first 4-way stops and it becomes very confusing for the other 2 cars when the first car in line waves the bicycle through. Ambiguity is never a good thing when it comes to intersections.

That all said, I really do appreciate not being run off the road.

bikedaddy

This is a problem at several locations in my city. Usually I'm aware of it but sometimes you aren't thinking and you go.. luckily for me I haven't been hit these times.

I am thinking in my situation today if I hadn't signaled when I did this wouldn't have happened. I guess something else I wonder about ... do hand signals cause more confusion than safety?

chephy

I think the major reasons are:

1) they think of cyclists as unpredictable and figure it's better to just let them clear the path ASAP so that normal operation can resume

and

2) they think of cyclists as pedestrians on wheels (who happened to venture onto the road, but don't really belong there) - and pedestrians have ROW at many intersections.

Neither of those reasons has much to do with courteousness, unfortunately.

cooker

For a while I had the user title (under my avatar) "Don't wave me through". You can get sucked into an accident by some well meaning person yielding for you when the guy in the next lane doesn't yield. Now I often just put my eyes down and wait patiently till they give up on trying to wave me through.

kokomo61

That happens to me all the time, too - even in the single-lane each way situation, I have to make sure that BOTH sides stop - I've had people nicely stop and wave me through, while the other side just keeps barrelling down the road - Hunter Mill Road and spots in Vienna are famous for that.

Even when we've got the light at Maple Street and Gallows Road, I still have to make sure people stop - I've seen them fly right through the red light - luckily I still look both ways before starting across. I don't want to play Mannix on the hood....

squeakywheel

It's dangerous. Cyclists have been killed because somebody stopped and waved them to go. The problem is that these excessively courteous driver doesn't control the other cars moving about the roads. The other drivers don't know why the idiot is stopped in the middle of the road. They just pass by at speed.

LandLuger

It's just another JAM--whose seen the error of his ways, trying to make amends.

bike2math

As a pedestrian I had a too courteous driver stop for me to cross only to be rear ended by the traffic still going 40 mph. The two cars together went through the cross walk and then some, I'm glad I didn't walk out when the driver waved to me. Of course I'm sure he blamed me...

In residential areas this isn't a problem, but on a fast or multi lane road it is a serious danger, but let it be a danger to them, don't go until you are certain it is safe.

JeffS

I have had a rash of people lately who, when trying to make a right turn with me behind them will try to stop in the road to let me by before turning.

They signal and slow, and I slow, and by the time it's said and done we're both stopped in the road. There's no way I'm going past them in this situation. I suppose they have good intentions, but it just creates a bad situation for everyone.

MrCjolsen

Wait. This only happens to me at four way stops in residential areas. Am I missing something?

o-dog

happens to me all the time

"please, turn in front of me when I have the right of way, I insist!"
"nah dude, go"

Sardu

That's a big pet peeve of mine. I had another "courteous" (or stupid) cager today, I needed to get left before a freeway on ramp, and some woman in an SUV w/Florida plates slows down, hangs about three inches from my rear wheel and just stares at me, wouldn't given me enough space to safely get in front of her, wouldn't speed up. Finally gave her a shoulder shrug and yelled "what the hell do you want me to do, lady?" and she sped off. I've dealt with small animals that have better reasoning powers than some cagers.

banerjek

Happens to me all the time. While I appreciate the thought, I actually don't like it. I usually gesture for them to go once (which practically never works), and then go ahead and move so the situation is over as soon as possible.

jimmay

This morning at a T-intersection, with me turning right out of the stem of the T (we drive/ride on the left here), I was required to give way to a car approaching from my left and indicating to turn onto the street I was on, as normally we would cross paths. He slowed down as if to let me go, then turned on the wrong side of the road. Luckily no-one else was coming, but I'm not sure he could see that.

ollo_ollo

Happens more & more despite my resolve to always wait them out! I usually make a circular, rolling wheel, motion with my hand while I wait for them to move on. Usually works & I give them a wave of thanks once they drive past. On my ride today I was sitting at a stop sign, waiting for a break in the cross traffic so I could ride across this 2 lane, one way street & a young guy starts coming to a stop for me. Almost had a chain reaction pile up as several cars skidded behind him before he drove on. No way would I have gone out in front of the guy, worth your life.

UmneyDurak

Want to really mess with motorists heads, do a track stand at a stop sign. The look on their faces is priceless. Like a deer in to the headlights.

bsut

Yesterday I saw an incident in the street in front of my house. Our street (a residential collector) has curb parallel parking, a bike lane, and one travel lane in each direction. A cyclist was in the bike lane, and was overtaken by a motorist. Shortly after overtaking the cyclist, the motorist set her right turn signal and slowed to a stop, still in the travel lane, maybe 50 feet ahead of the cyclist. The cyclist maintained his pace (still in the bike lane), passed the motorist on the motorist's right, and continued along the bike lane. When the cyclist had passed, the motorist turned right, across the bike lane, into a driveway.

What made the cyclist so confident the motorist was stopped because of courtesy toward him? Maybe there was a cat in the driveway, so the motorist didn't want to turn in until the cat had moved. After the cat moved, the motorist could have turned right, unaware of the cyclist's presence. Or any number of other scenarios...

In a similar situation I would not have overtaken on the right. I would have moved my line of travel to the left, sufficiently far to pass around the motorist's left side. Under no circumstances would I place myself to the right of a vehicle with its right turn signal on, nor on the left side in the case of a left turn signal.

Nicodemus

Pisses me off something chronic. I've seen a few near-accidents because some tool stopped in the middle or a road or roundabout for me

There's considerate and there's just plain stupid.

The worst are the moronic well-meaning f***wits who will sit there and *insist* that you go first no matter how much you protest

gcl8a

Ugh. This happens to me _every day_, but it's a little different, in that in Denmark, a bike in the bike lane _always_ has the right-of-way to a right turning car (that may be the case in the US, but here they mean it). If you stop to let someone turn in front of you, the prudent thing to do, they will become quite impatient with you. It's not a matter of courtesy, but strict adherence to the rules of the road.

I see scores of people pass on the right without even giving it a thought (whereas I pass on the right with much trepidation, always ready to hit the breaks or ditch it). Right hooks are 'extremely rare' here (sorry, no data, just conventional wisdom), thought, as the drivers are well educated.

Needless to say, when I drive, turning right is very stressful.

dalmore

I find that pointing directly at the person and then motioning them to go works better than just motioning for them to go. I guess it's the same idea behind specifically assigning people to call 911 in an emergency isntead of say somebody call 911...