uke

So I'm heading off to pay a bill, and there's a short uphill section close to campus. There's a car in front of me, and I follow behind in the right half of the lane. Suddenly the car slows down and the right blinker flashes, so I slow too. Car comes to a stop, and the driver (a lady with sunshades) turns and smiles and waves me on (to pass on her right). I smile and shake my head and wave back. This goes on for a couple of seconds before she gives up and makes the turn into the apartment complex. I continue up the hill.

I'm sure it's a scenario a few have been in. On one hand, it's great that they're making a gesture; on the other, it's an unsafe maneuver, and I try not to perform too many of those around moving cars. It's sort of like when drivers speed up to stop signs and then look at you as you approach instead of taking their turns. In those cases, I either look blankly away from the car or look blankly at the car, but don't make any motion until they understand that I've got no desire to blow through a stop sign with a car waiting to T-bone me. They eventually take their turn (as they were supposed to), and I take mine.

How often do you find yourself refusing to be waved into deathtraps?

caloso

I once nearly joined the Great Peleton in the Sky thanks to a well-intentioned but clueless driver. I was waiting at a stop sign on a side street. A driver passing from left to right on the main street just stopped dead in the intersection -- she did not have a stop sign -- and started to wave us across. I shook my head and put my foot down. She kept waving. We all kind of stood there. In the meantime, several cars are now backed up behind her and are getting impatient. They start honking. The clueless driver keeps waving. None of us go.

Finally, one of the cars behind her has had enough and guns it around her on the right, which means he nearly brushes my wheel. Scared me silly. And then I got really angry -- not just at the impatient guy who nearly hit us but at the driver who created the dangerous situation by trying to be nice.

Don't be nice! Be legal and predictable!

vtjim

This is my single pet peeve with commuting. I mean, I've got a stop sign. I've stopped. Foot down. Maybe even sipping some water. The driver has no stop sign, but stops anyway, and thus begins the waving.

It happened to me this morning, in fact. BMW driver kept waving me through. I mouthed the word, "GO", and kept waving at him. He got mad, and drove off in a huff, engine revving, etc. Sometimes I'll point to my stop sign.

Oftentimes I'll be slowing up for the stop sign and hear a car coming, so I'll stop well short of the intersection so by the time the driver sees me, it's too late to stop. Except of course for the one time the person mashed the brakes and stopped halfway across the intersection.

The fun part is when I get one car to go, then the driver behind that one stops.

Booger1

That happens to me everyday.People will stop in the middle of the street and expect me to cross in front of them.Hello! You just stopped for no reason! Now you want me in front of your car? I don't think so.

Nate1952

+1 for Caloso.

The exact same thing has happened to me.

Drivers who want to be chivalrous at intersections should understand that there are drivers behind them whose intentions are the opposite of chivalrous.

TamaraEden

This didn't happen to me while riding, but same scenario.

Many years ago I was driving in Westwood. I was at a stop sign and a guy rolling his bike was walking through the cross walk. The guy waved at me from the far end of the street to "go ahead" as I would be clear of the crosswalk by the time he got to my side of the street. So, I went. And guess what happened?

A cop pulls me over and tells me I broke the law since I didn't stop until the pedestrian was across and up on the next curb. So that pedestrian, being kind, letting me know it was ok to go, ended up getting me my first ever ticket.

unixpro

Happens to me every day. Usually it's at a 4-way stop, but it has happened pretty much everywhere. I usually just shake my head when they wave me on and pointedly refuse to lift my foot.

Alareth

I was crossing a 4 lane road that had a 5th turning lane down the center. I was waiting in the center and a car in the closest lane stopped and the woman starts waving me past, completely oblivious to the traffic rushing by in the far lane.

noisebeam

I'd have and have many times passed on left

d2create

I hate the stop sign scenario and I usually do the same as you, not looking at the car.
Sometimes there is too much glare to see through their windshield anyway.
But if they do obviously wave me on, I'll take it even if they had the right of way. Morons.

elbows

When a car ahead of me is turning right, I usually try to merge into the lane behind them, to make it clear I'm not going to pass them on the right. This usually prevents them from trying to wait for me to go by.

People yielding unnecessarily at intersections are a different story, but being in the Boston area I'm more likely to encounter the opposite problem.

vtjim

Oh I've tried the "don't look at the driver" solution as well. That never works. Eventually I just have to look, to see who could be so stupid, and they're sitting in their cars waving frantically. Not looking is probably counter-productive because "the cyclist hasn't seen me so I'd better wait."

And yeah if the car is turning right, I move left and stay back so the driver can see me.

DataJunkie

Being waved through at stop signs happen to me every couple weeks. Being waved to pass on the right is more like twice yearly.
Occasionally, I take up motorists on the stop sign wave through if I can tell it is safe.
I refuse to pass on the right when a motorist is taking a right.
Heck, they could be screwing with me and then take a right as I am sitting along side them. Who is at fault then? Me.

degnaw

If it's a 4-way stop, I go. If not, well, it's never happened to me.

aley

I frequently get the clueless drivers who stop where the MUP crosses major streets and wave me across, oblivious to the cars whizzing by in the other lanes, or the line of traffic that stacks up behind them full of people just waiting for the opportunity to move around the stopped car and flatten me. No, thanks.

One of the few times I've been scared on a bike was this sort of thing. I had gone for a ride with my two year old son in the trailer, and I was waiting to cross a small arterial (2 lanes each direction, no turn lane in that area) at a light. Since I had the red light, I was waiting with both feet down. Some guy in a small pickup was driving from my right down the arterial, and suddenly came screeching (literally) to a halt at the light. I saw him, but didn't know why he'd stopped - I figured that he'd suddenly realized he was about to miss his turn and he'd braked hard to turn, then ended up killing the engine on his beat up old truck and couldn't get it to restart. Eventually, when my light turned green, I went, keeping an eye on him since I didn't know quite what his problem had been. He turned to follow me down the residential street I was riding down, and followed me for a block. This made me nervous, since by now I'd realized that he'd probably stopped for me to cross even though he had the green light. I took the first turn, intending to find a route through the neighborhood, but unfortunately it almost immediately turned into a dead end. I made a U-turn to go back to my previous street, only to find him patiently waiting for me to get back so he could let me cross in front of him. Not a chance - I didn't know if he was drug-addled, or waiting for a chance to run my son and me down and claim that I rode out in front of him, or what. I put both feet down and waved for him to continue. He waved for me to continue. I shook my head, pointed to my stop sign (he didn't have a stop sign), and waved again. He refused. I got off my bike and stood next to it. He opened his door to get out of his truck (50 feet away, that in itself wasn't threatening, but his refusal to go unless I crossed in front of him was!) I pulled out my cell phone to call 911, and he finally got the message, got back in his truck, and went. A couple of blocks along, though, he pulled out of a parking lot behind me. I sprinted to the next arterial, made a right turn into the wide right lane without waiting for cross traffic to clear, hopped a curb into a parking lot, and sprinted for the opposite exit. He didn't follow. I never did figure out what his motivation was, but whatever it was, it was something he didn't need to be doing.

The point, I suppose, is that I don't cross in front of overly polite drivers who should have the right of way because I don't know what their motivation is. Maybe they're just trying to be nice - or maybe they're looking for the chance to kill somebody and get away with it by telling the police that I didn't stop, and even though they tried to miss me they weren't able to. Failing to follow the rules of the road leads me to question their judgment.

trekker pete

If I am waved through and I am certain that no one else is in a position to steamroll me, I will take it with a smile and a wave back.

What annoys me is when someone else has the right of way, but, I perceive it to be unsafe to go, so I wave them through and they just sit there. This results in me having to stop and plant a foot. Having to plant a foot unnecessarily makes me want to plant a foot somewhere else. Do I need to say where?

trekker pete

I understand what you are saying, but, do you really believe that? There are tons of clueless drivers, but, I doubt there are any that are pathologically evil. I can't imagine that anyone out there actually looks forward to a chance to run down a biker. Not saying they'd feel particularly awful about it. Just that they won't be high fiving their buds over a beer later talking about how they scored a cyclist hit.

noisebeam

I don't pass on the right if a driver stops for me because it teaches them it is acceptable. If a driver was truly considerate they would slow and wait behind the thru going cyclist and then turn right behind them. Many drivers do do this.

Also it is much quicker to pass on their left instead of waiting to see if they will stop for you.

f4rrest

Some cyclists wave at motorists as they blow through the stop.

Seriously, though, this always works for me at stop signs to get the point across to waving drivers: ride in a small tight circle in your lane. Drivers get the hint quickly.

no motor?

It seems to happen to me more often in the spring. I've never figured out why, unless it has something to do with more people out riding.

Luddite

Holy crap! That story gave me chills. thank goodness you kept a level head, didn't blow your stack or accept his death-wave. Shudder.

People sometimes do quasi-illegal stuff at residential intersections here for me, sometimes I'll go ahead and go but it's generally easy to tell if there are any other cars in the vicinity. I tend to ride on bike designated streets so drivers are used to there being a crapload of cyclists around.

TheLifeOfBryan

Anybody remember the opening credits to L.A. Story? There is a beautiful overhead shot of four cars entering a four way stop intersection simultaneously. All four drivers wave each other through, and then simultaneously accelerate into the intersection.

njkayaker

I never interpret "waving" as "it's safe to go". The "waving people on" thing is deeply unsafe.

People should never tell other drivers what to do. People really can only indicate that they are yielding the right of way.

Conversely, drivers should never interpret "directions" (the "waving" thing) from other drivers as anything else but that the other driver is yielding the right of way.

The problem is that the other driver isn't necessarily seeing/evaluating the same things as you are.

You are always responsible taking a safe action. You should always peform the actions required to keep you safe. That is, don't "short cut" your procedure because some stranger says it's OK to do so!

============

There was one intersection where I fairly-routinely yielded the right of way. The way I communicated that was to put my hands up in the windshield. Doing that, I only indicating that I wasn't moving. I was not telling the other driver what to do (or whether it was safe to go).

unterhausen

this seems to happen a lot in Pennsylvania. My wife introduced me to the practice when she stopped in the middle of a high speed 2 lane road to let someone turn left. I thought I was going to die. Recently I saw a news report of a woman that was charged for improper yielding, same sort of thing. It had caused an accident.

Rob_E

I have had the thing where one person stops on a four lane road to let you cross. They never understand why you don't take them up on their generous offer to let you get plowed down in the three lanes that are not stopping.

I have a 4-way stop where someone will routinely try and yield the right of way to me, and I usually refuse, but if it looks otherwise safe, and if they are insistent, I sometimes go. But the other day someone who clearly had the right of way was sitting there at the intersection waiting for me to go. At least I assume that's what they were doing. We had a stand off until they finally went. I am 90% certain that they were waving me through the intersection but a) they had the right of way and b) they had tinted windows. I couldn't see what they were doing and where they were looking. No way was going to go in front of them and just assume that that's what they were waiting for. Still I imagine them sitting invisibly in their car, waving me on and wondering why I wasn't going.