livedarklions

I'm pretty sure I've never seen a driver flip off a funeral procession. Talk about slowing traffic--corpses are so inconsiderate.

Iride01 

I don't understand how we got to funeral procession from what I was talking about. Funeral processions aren't the slow cars I was talking about.

Or is this just sarcasm that I fail to comprehend as such?

genejockey 

Depends on whose funeral. I can think of some whose corpses I would flip off.

genejockey 

I grew up in farm country, where often a tractor or farm truck would slow traffic, but nobody flipped them off or shouted "Get off the road!" at them, like they did me on my bicycle taking up far less space on the road.

livedarklions

I took your point to be that we normally need to be patient with slow-moving vehicles and I was giving an example of one we'd encounter a fair amount. And yes, there's sarcasm there, but it was aimed at OP for the "no wonder they hate us" rhetoric, not at you.

ETA--no one would post a picture of someone driving "too slowly" on the road and explain this is why everybody hates drivers. I thought that was the contrast you were drawing.

jack pot 

i may be too rad but if i was on this road i'd be riding the center stripe ... most of the time it's safer than taking up a lane and p***ing people off and it's surely safer than squeezing yourself on the right side and hoping the cagers see you

livedarklions

I'd probably do that if the right lane were a right turn only lane, but depends on speed of traffic.

bbbean 

Sorry - I'm calling BS. Sunday afternoon, 4 lane road, 35 mph speed limit and traffic was backed up for blocks because two cyclists were riding in a lane? If traffic was actually backed up for blocks, its because there's a lot of traffic, not because someone was doing less than the speed limit.

Next time, don't assume other people have a "screw anyone who isn't me" attitude. You could maybe even note that they're out riding on a Sunday afternoon on a multilane road that minimizes the inconvenience to other road users. No reason at all you couldn't have simply pulled into the other lane and passed them the same way you would a slow car, a mail vehicle, a trash hauler, a bus, heavy machinery, or any other road user moving slower than you.

Finally, you might vent your spleen at your fellow drivers who are driving for less than essential reasons. Is every car on the road delivering mission critical documents? Are they all on the way to the ER with a pregnant woman in the back seat? Are they all picking up life saving medications for their aging parents or newborn children? Maybe if there were fewer drivers just out for a ride, going to pick up beer, or going out to eat when they have a perfectly good kitchen at home, there's be less traffic. Maybe if more of them were riding a bike or walking, there's be less traffic. Maybe a lot of things.

Crux of the matter - the world doesn't revolve around you being able to drive the speed you want whenever you want and wherever you want. You are using public resources that are available to the public. Keep that in mind the next time, you have to slow down and change lanes for someone going slower than you, whatever kind of vehicle they prefer.

Iride01 

I know in large cities maybe riding the center white strip is commonly done. But for me being from the small town, I'm going to stay in the center of my lane. It doesn't look like the lanes are wide enough to give the average width car the required three feet that is required here and many other states if one was to ride the center stripe. Then legally, traffic in neither lane would be able to pass.

Besides, I feel like my chances of encountering a motorist P.O.'d enough to wish to cause me harm from riding in the center of my lane less a risk than the chances I'll encounter a motorist that is simply unaware of how close they are coming to me when they try to squeeze by if I'm on the left or right edge of the lane. Especially the ones pulling trailers that are wider than they are.

indyfabz

I was going to call that as well. First of all, that ain’t backed up traffic. There’s no one on the bumper of the person in the left lane. And how can one see blocks behind them.

Iride01 

I think you missed my point.

I was being sarcastic to the OP. In essence I was wondering why the cyclist should PO anyone any more than a slow car. When I'm driving my car, slow motor vehicles hinder my progress more often than a cyclist ever has.

Iride01 

I've driven the city streets of Atlanta and traffic never moves well enough for me anytime I've been there. And it might only be me and one other car on the street.

livedarklions

No, I think we're completely on the same page. I was agreeing with you, and I just illustrated your point with an example I thought would be funny if a driver acted with the hostility impatient drivers display towards cyclists. Somewhere, you got the impression I was trying to refute you, but the opposite was my intent.

Chuck M 

This is something that was passed in the last three or four years. There were several laws pertaining to cycling passed then concerning the stop lights and passing distances. I honestly can't quote many of them because either people gave enough room when passing before or they weren't, people give enough room now or they don't and it is either safe to go through an intersection or it isn't. And [McCoy voice] Dammit Jim, I'm a cyclist not a lawyer [/McCoy voice]

I have always found it best to take personal responsibility for my safety and not rely on others to observe laws. There are some roads I only ride at certain times of the day and some I don't ride at all. There are times I know when it is safe to go through a red light and there are intersections that aren't marked with lights or stop signs and I damn well know I better stop at them no matter what. Were I planning to ride in another state, I would however verse myself with the laws if I were riding open roads. But when I travel I usually just run for my exercise.

genec

You know, funny thing about this picture... if the traffic was so heavy... why isn't there another car behind the one on the left, at the light?

So if it were a bus in the lane ahead of you, and it stopped every few blocks... would you complain about that too? Or just pass on the left?

Iride01 

I can be incredibly dense sometimes..... or most of the time. Depending on whether you are asking me or my wife. <grin>

livedarklions

The funny thing about your post about patience with slow drivers was that I was just about to say something very similar because the OP in a follow-up post did the "how would you feel if a driver..." rhetorical question bit. Like every time I see one of those, I had the thought "I don't specifically recall how I felt the last hundred or so times I experienced that in the past year, but it really didn't seem to be a big deal to me or anyone else." Having to slow down because of the vehicle in front of you is really not a remarkable experience, yet people like OP seem to find it incredibly aggravating and hateful if it's because of a cyclist. Easily, 99% of my significant slowdowns as a driver are caused by one form of motor vehicle or another. Cyclists and pedestrians aren't even remotely close, unless you include stopping for a pedestrian in a crosswalk.

rydabent

This reminds me of cyclist reporting that police have given them a ticket for "blocking traffic" on a 4 lane road. How is that possible???

mprince

Wait the OP is doing it all wrong...he didn't get out of his car and tell these two hooligans that they were riding incorrectly?

JW Fas

He must have been one fat sumb1tch. XD

njkayaker

It's odd that space is empty with "traffic was backed up for a couple blocks".

Zaskar

Holy #*@&. If I'd know so many of you guys would come out swinging (the internet is funny), I'd have given way more detail... no... wait. I'd probably had just not posted anything. But, here we are.

Okay. I'll type slowly so it's easy for you to follow.

• 35 zone
• Two lanes with center/painted turning lanes and single and double turning lanes at intersections
• Busy, but not Atlanta busy, i.e., a couple blocks behind and immediately in front of the cyclists, the traffic was moving at or near the speed limit
• As cars in the right lane approached the riders, they had to brake and start looking to move left. Depending on the gaps, for some, that meant slowing to the pace of the riders... which made shooting into the left lane that much more difficult - the 20 mph difference. That led to more cars slowing... more.
• The left lane moved largely unaffected unless forced to slow a bit for a car jumping in from the right lane.
• So again, once past the two riders, the road opened up, cars spread out and sped up.

And again (still) these guys absolutely had the right to be there. My question is "why"? Why pick one of the worst roads in Atlanta to go out for a stroll? The optics added to it - they looked less like two cyclists and more like a rolling roadblock; just casually riding at 12-15 mph... pedal a couple strokes... coast... coast... pedal... run a light...

Zaskar

That opening was in the process of being filled by me - the car to my left had just waved me in.

making

Thanks for typing slow.

Daniel4

See? No problem.

And when I ride, I sometimes let motorists in when it's apparant other motorists aren't.