Originally Posted by Andy_K

If I've read the first post correctly, I've got an intersection just like this along what used to be my normal route. It looks like this:



It used to have a bike lane on the right all the way to the turn, at which point bikes had to take to the sidewalk and use a traffic island to get across the intersection. When it was first re-painted as shown above I exchanged several e-mails with an engineer at the county who assured me the new configuration was the safest possible. His suggestion for how to safely navigate the disappearing-reappearing bike lane was exactly as described in the first post. I've ridden through there a good number of times since, and I think it's generally safer than it looks, but my ultimate solution has been to find a different route to avoid this completely.

Maybe I'm jaded, but it sounds to me like the close pass in the OP's case was intentional. A lot of drivers seem to take a no-harm-no-foul approach to driving and when provoked they will intentionally buzz a rider, thinking (incorrectly!) that a close call sends a message without doing any real violence to the cyclist.

As for how this can be avoided, minimizing your invisibility is never a bad thing. If my suspicion about the drivers' intent is correct, you still might be able to reduce the chances of this happening by trying to look shaky -- maybe wobble or weave a little as if you don't have complete control of the bike. If a driver isn't confident that you are going to hold your line, he's less likely to buzz you intentionally. Otherwise, long hair helps a little (if you're that committed). Someone here recently suggested riding around with a baby carrier behind your seat, which is a devilishly clever idea.