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Old 06-01-15 | 11:19 AM
  #28  
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Doohickie
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Joined: Sep 2008
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From: Fort Worth, Texas Church of Hopeful Uncertainty

Bikes: 1966 Raleigh DL-1 Tourist, 1973 Schwinn Varsity, 1983 Raleigh Marathon, 1994 Nishiki Sport XRS

Originally Posted by fietsbob
Right Hooks are Killers of Cyclists ..
If I accommodate a right turner behind me, it's not by squeezing to the right.

I have a rearview mirror and can see what's coming up behind me. In the right lane I generally assume a center-left position. Sometimes that leaves plenty of room for people to turn right. No worries. Sometimes I will see a car come up behind me that looks like they want to turn right but there isn't enough room. If they aren't using their blinker, I don't care, they can wait. If they have their blinker on and I can squeeze a bit to the left to give them room, sometimes I'll do it (mostly based on how safe the maneuver is). Oddly, when I do that, it seems like even then people are hesitant to pass me to do their right hand turn.

I can't remember the last time I actually had someone get impatient behind me when they wanted to turn right though. They almost always wait. I think Fort Worth is in kind of a sweet spot - people have seen bikes on the road, but still haven't developed expectations of them, so the drivers are just not sure what to do and generally back off.

In the downtown area, the right light on many streets is reserved for bus and bicycle traffic only, except where there's a right turn lane. And even then there are signs that say "Right Turn Only Except Buses and Bikes." So I just sit there and let the car stew behind me most of the time (downtown there typically isn't enough room to squeeze over to let the car by.)
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Originally Posted by bragi "However, it's never a good idea to overgeneralize."

Last edited by Doohickie; 06-01-15 at 11:23 AM.
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