Originally Posted by
gear
You must understand the "right hook" from the drivers perspective. Any object (cyclist included) traveling on the road going slower than the driver is actually stationary and therefore not moving at all. So once they pass you, you are no longer a concern and they can just go ahead and turn. Its like passing a park bench.
More accurately, drivers are used to passing objects that, whether stationary or moving, will not then overtake and pass them on the right. If a car passes another car, that second car must be behind the first car, and doesn't need to be a concern if the driver of the first car is going to turn right. It's bozo behavior for a driver to pass another driver and then immediately turn right, and in extreme situations they may get rear-ended for it, but they don't have to worry about crossing space (what space?) where the second car would be driving if it were continuing straight ahead.
(It's kind of pointless to pretend that every driver drops acid and loses 50 IQ points every time they get behind the wheel -- it may satisfy some cyclists' need to look down on drivers, but it's dishonest. Understanding how drivers' minds really work makes you safer; characterizing drivers as completely irrational morons only makes you irritatingly smug -- and possibly dead to boot.)