Spire

I live in Montreal, where the cycling is pretty good. I have gone 10000s of kms and not a single incident where somebody has intentionally or maliciously done anything towards me. There have been some hand gestures on both sides, but I have made mistakes too, so I take all that in stride.

In general, cars with a large amount of room and rarely sqeeze by in the suburbs (more often than not I get 60% spare) (note : this does not hold for buses, which will sqeeze through if there is an inch to spare). What I have noticed in recent yeras is that the many newer, wider, and much more prevalent SUVs have trouble passing.

In fact, oncoming cars will often move right to allow another car to make it by a cyclist with extra room. (In general on most streets there is enough space to have 2 cars and a cyclist all in parallel without too much trouble). However SUVs are MUCH bigger and cannot, as a result I find they tend to squeeze by and are much more hazardous...

Has anybody else noticed this?

JonR

I've noticed it with SUV's and particularly with what we in the US call vans. (I'm not sure the word means the same in Commonwealth countries...) By van I mean a utility vehicle that generally has sliding doors on the passenger side, rear of the front door, and is probably 20-30% wider than most cars. Not always commercial vehicles; some individuals apparently have so much stuff to haul that they own vans, and these are the ones that seem to be all over the roadway.

Spire

Sorry for the confusion. I meant Sport Utility Vehicules, as in Cadillac Escalade, Ford Explorer, Jeep Grand Cherokee as examples. Minivans I find are as good as cars at keeping room for cyclists.

JonR

The confusion's not over yet... I didn't mean minivans, I meant the full-size ones. Minivans are plentiful here but I've never had a problem with one.

SUV's are meant to be intimidating, so maybe that's part of the problem with them....

Did you see the episode of "The Simpsons" where Marge is test-driving an SUV with the kids, and says, "I don't know--you hear about a lot of people getting killed with these things..." and Bart says, "Yeah, Mom, but it's always the other guy!"

Kevin S

My vehicle resembles JonR's remark. Yes, they're based on a pickup truck chassis just like the SUVs. The difference is the attitude of the driver. Those who also cycle are willing to wait 10 seconds to let the oncoming traffic get by and are then also willing to cross the center line to give the cyclist a bit more room.

MichaelW

Do you guys have White Van Man in the US or Canada, or is he a uniquly British phenomena ?

Rich Clark

I think there's some truth to the contention that SUV purchasers tend to be people trying to insulate themselves from the world, taking the "steel cage" mentality to an extreme. By my entirely unscientific count, they tend to be usung their cell phones a lot more than the average driver as well.

Also, I bet that if you took a survey, you'd find that nearly every SUV is the biggest car their driver's ever owned. They may not be quite comfortable with how big they really are.

RichC

Chris L

Out here I have more trouble with rednecks in utes/pick up trucks. On more than one occasion I have been targeted quite deliberately. The other one that bugs me is when I head to the mountains on the weekend and there's some lunatic trying to negotiate the narrow winding roads with some massive campervan and then trying to blame me for his problems.

They must be illiterate as well as stupid. The sign at Canungra clearly says "this road is not suitable for large vehicles". This is not a difficult concept to understand.

thbirks

Interesting thread here. I think Spire has hit the nail on the head. BTW welcome to the forums, Spire The problem is the size of some of these vehicles. If I'm riding to the left of the white line and a reasonable sized car is passing me they can do so without buzzing me or going over into the next lane. If a large truck-type vehicle comes up behind me they are either going to squeeze by me or have to wait until they can safely pass me.

That being said I find that I don't really have many problems with jacked-up station wagons (SUVs) There does seem to be a certain segment of drivers who are really in a hurry and are rude and obnoxious. Many of these seem to be what would be called soccer moms, aahh the STRESS of the "liberated" woman.

The worst offenders in my book are drivers of what I call "Rolling Living Rooms" also known as conversion vans. For those not familiar these vehicles are common work vans turned into rolling apartments, well actually nicer than many apartments. These poor fools can't even manuever their boxes around me on an empty and straight road let alone one with traffic.

On a lighter note, I have found the the best drivers tend to be Saturn drivers. I have never been bullied or honked at by a Saturn driver. On the contrary, they give me a wide berth and even slow to pass me. So, I toast you, the sensible and gracious Saturn driver.

JonR

Isn't that a particularly noticeable sub-species of the Road-Rage prone drivers? I think it's a British thing. Here, road rage is less predictable and more spread out over the spectrum of driving--I believe.

chewa

I think (as a Jeep Cherokee owner) you've hit the nail on the head. it's not the vehicle, it's the nut behind the wheel.

Over here Volvo estates and MPV's have a bad rep (as do 4X4's ) and I think it's partly due to the fact they are normally full of screaming kids on the way to the school run. The drivers are often distracted and harrassed.

There must be some bike/suv owners as I see a lot carrying MTB's.

Richard D

It might be a stereotype, but white van man does seem to be a problem. It's odd once you get up to artic side I find lorry's are generally extremely courteous and considerate yet other professional drivers such as taxi drivers tend to be a nightmare...

With SUV's I think some of the problem is drivers who don't understand their increased width, and the problems it can cause.

Richard

JonR

I think that's exactly the problem, in many cases. It's what I refer to as "the triumph of abstract thinking." People get in their mind, "car." Then you can put them in a VW bug or a Lincoln Town Car (now happily to be discontinued), or a van or an SUV and they still just think, "I'm driving a car" and down the road they go, propelling an abstract concept along with no thought to the special requirements of the actual, physical vehicle enveloping them.

I believe the same fault in thinking is behind a lot of littering.

(1) I will eat this candy bar.
(2) The candy was good. I don't need this wrapper now.
(3) I will drop the wrapper since I don't need it.

I will save further observations on littering for possible posting under "rants" at a later time.

Chris L

Yeah, so what? It mightn't be politically correct to identify the worst/most dangerous drivers, but I'll tell you one thing: It will help you live longer.

LittleBigMan

In the morning on my commute, with the newly risen sun just behind me, the appearance of a high shadow hanging over me and remaining there signals one thing: this guy is big, and he doesn't know how to pass a bicyclist.



I take it in stride, too.

LittleBigMan

But, if I am mowing the lawn and run over a candy wrapper, it only makes "snow."

If I am mowing and find Grampa's old Chevy, well, let's just say I'd call the towing service...

Allister

If you're finding a Chevy in the grass, I'd be mowing more often.

JonR

Thank you, Alister, for providing my first laugh of the day.