mac

Some people just do not know how to drive and most of the issues I've been having have been with women drivers. It seems they are timid and scared when approaching an intersection with a bicyclist and freeze up.

Today I'm riding to work and get into my left lane at the stop light. The light turns green and I slowly pedal out into the middle of the street waiting for the oncoming cars to pass. This women in an oncoming car sees me, then slows down and stops right before the intersection, potentially blocking other cars while the light is still green. What is wrong with her? GO!!! You have the green light!

And a couple of weeks ago I was riding on a residential street and another women was going to make a left turn. She stopped as she saw me coming, but had plenty of time to make the left turn. When I finally get close to the intersection, I guess she realized she had time to make a left then, then darts out and makes the left turn in front of me... but then she stops right in the middle of the intersection blocking all traffic! What the hell? GO!!! Finish making the left turn! I'm guessing she realized she was afraid of hitting me and froze up. I had to slam on the brakes.

And before that I was riding down the street when a woman comes up behind me and then passes me. She then signals to make a left turn. Good, I'll move to her right and pass, but there are parked cars, so I'll wait behind her. The street is empty as she approaches the intersection - plenty of room to make a left turn... But then she slams on the brakes and just stops! What are you doing?? GO!!! Finishing making the turn! I have to slam on my brakes as well. She rolls down her window and yells at me to pass her. I guess she got scared of a bicyclist going nearly as fast as she was.

So what is it with you ladies? Why can't the fairer sex drive correctly?

townandcountry

I've had more close calls with male drivers. Stop bashing women drivers. Bad drivers are bad drivers no matter what sex or breed they are.

mac

No, there is a difference between not knowing how to drive (i.e. being scared & timid and potentially causing multiple accidents by freezing up at an intersection) and driving aggressively. I would much rather be on the road with pedal-to-the-metal drivers (which are males since we are aggressive) since we are predictable. The reason I brought this up is because I have never, ever seen a guy just freeze up in the middle of the road when encountering a bicylist. He always drives through normally or floors it. The only time I've had similar experiences with both guys & gals was at stop signs - the "you go, no you go, no why don't you, okay we'll both go" kind of dance. But you're supposed to stop that at intersection so it's a moot issue.

r0cket-

Good grief.

Bikemiker

Maybe, but that difference doesn't have anything to do with gender. I'll have my gf take you for a drive sometime if you don't believe me(or my sister, or my coworker turbo). Or on the other side of the spectrum, my buddy J.J. or my cousin Matt.

oboeguy

In before the lock?

Women drivers have a bad rep, yes, but that doesn't mean it's actual fact. A few anecdotes won't convince anyone with a brain. My mother was the best driver I ever met.

That being said there's a pretty funny saying in Spanish about women drivers which I will refrain from posting (keep in mind that "peligro constante" rhymes with "volante" ). Does it perpetuate the stereotype? Maybe, but it's still funny and could be used to make fun of anyone really.

mac

Look, this is the "Advocacy & Safety" forum. I'm posting what I encounter. Surely I'm not the only one who has had people just flat out stop in the intersection creating a hazard for themselves, us, and the other people on the road. In my experiences, they have all been women. Are people afraid to admit this? More importantly, how do you deal with it? Do you ride through? Do you insist that they go? I end up riding through because some of these women become so stubborn and/or scared that they won't move until I'm well out of their path.

twahl

Sounds to me like you have a habit of riding out into the middle of intersections when you aren't yet clear to make a left turn. Just my take on what I read, but I hate when I'm driving and some idiot is sitting out in the middle of an intersection waiting for the light to turn red so cross traffic stops so he can make his left. I don't enter the intersection on a "left must yield on green" until I'm clear to go, whether in a car or on a bike.

mirona

I don't believe in the "women are bad drivers" thing, but EVERY woman driver I know personally is a terrible driver

konageezer

Have we established whether these women are fat?

Until we determine that, I don't think we can make any progress.

skookum

Good, good we need some more controversy here.

I am tired of lance doping allegations and the subject of drunk messengers, has been exhausted, how about stoned female drivers using performance enhancing drugs?

mac

Only in the first example was I making a left turn. And you are supposed to pull out into the street when the light turns green. If it isn't safe to make a left while your light is green due to too much traffic, then wait until it turns red then turn left. Since you already in the intersection, it is legal to do so. Now, the schmuck 3 cars behind you who is behind the intersection is not supposed to turn left, but he usually does anyways. In the major cities you almost always cannot make a left on green since there's too much traffic, and not on the yellow because of the light-runners so you can only go on red. I'm not sure how you're driving or where you are driving, but you will never make a left turn here in L.A. if you sit behind the intersection waiting for the oncoming traffic to empty & the light still be green. You might even get shot for holding up traffic!

SandySwimmer

All of my close calls like that have been with male drivers. I've always assumed it is because the drivers know we are vulnerable on the bike, so they are being extra careful when they see us out there. Also, it has been my observation that every time a car has run a red light or run a stop sign, it has always been a male driver. It never occurred to me to think, 'these male drivers, what's wrong with them."

Sandy

mac

Yeah, but that's predictable behavior. I get buzzed as well buy guys in their SUVs, but we expect it. As for running stop signs - everyone does that. It's the "California Stop." I hardly ever see anyone come to a full and complete stop at a sign. You're ready for these things. But the sudden makes-no-sense-what-are-you-doing-you-have-the-right-of-way is what's tweaking me.

kwhord

I'm impressed, really.
If a driver yields their right-of-way to you; consider it a compliment not a sign of weakness. If you have problems with gender, deal with it elswhere.

Bikemiker

Remember, two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do.

LV2TNDM

Left turns "yielding" doesn't preclude drivers from moving into the intersection to wait for a break in oncoming traffic. Where I live if one drove like that, he'd never make a left turn. CA vehicle code states that one may only proceed through a green light when safe to do so. If opposing traffic is waiting to turn left when the light changes, THEY have the right of way to proceed before opposing traffic. I'd guess if you live in an urban area, you get honked at a lot.
Also, it's illegal to ENTER an intersection when the light is red, not be there already. Not to say I'm advocating blocking busy intersections, which I see all the time in the Bay Area. One can make left turns and avoid this if one is cogniscent of traffic flow.

Treespeed

I know people mean well, regardless of gender when they yield the right of way, but it's just wrong. Because there is no way to tell that is what they are doing. Are they spacing out, on the phone, having a stroke, or being indecisive. There is no way for someone to signal they are yielding the right of way and I just don't trust people. While I don't agree with the gender aspect of the argument, I cannot stand indecisive drivers. If you don't know where you are going pull over, but if you're driving go. Especially in a city like Los Angeles, people just don't understand how bad the left turn issue is in this city.

And on a similar track how is it someone can afford a $50k Mercedes or Land Rover and not a freakin' hands free phone setup. Dang, I have an earplug/mic combo that cost me $15! And what on earth are these people talking about? It used to be you'd make a handful of calls a day from home and return a few voice mails, now it's like everyone's turned into a bunch of junior high school girls with one hand on the phone the other holding their latte.

hubcap

It's not the overly-cautious woman driver who has frozen up at your presence that is going to squish you, it's the overly-aggressive male driver that floors it around her since he doesn't know why she has stopped and is pissed that is going to wipe you out.

The overly-cautious drivers are annoying. The overly-aggressive ones are dangerous.

jbonus

I've noticed that male drivers tend to speed up or get aggressive around cyclists. Must be penis envy.

phinney

Mac, same thing happened to me on the tandem just two days ago. Crossing a busy road on the tandem with a female driver (in a jacked suburban!) waiting to turn left on the other side. It's a wide road and with the kids in tow I like a pretty good window to make that crossing. When an opening came up at first she started to go, then she didn't and tried to wave me through, then she did, then she didn't, then the opening was gone. Really, it is a gender characteristic and I see it all the time.

Of course so many people now are brainwashed blind by political correctness they can't imagine there is any difference between males and females or anything else for that matter. Thanks for braving the PC police and posting your honest observation.

As You Like It

Oh noes!11!!!!!11Eleventy-one. I'm such a Dangerous Woman Driver!!! Alert the authorities, somebody dares to have XY chromosomes and occasionally drives. "Men" like you make me physically sick. If you think for one moment that being cocky and having a schlong automatically confers driving supremacy upon you, then there's no hope for you. A lot of the most wild, aggressive, and utterly inattentive driving I've observed was done by men. Hot-rodding, tailgating, chop-changing, tire-squealing testosterone-crazed fools.

Look, the kinds of things I want to say right now would get me banned from this board for profanity, but I'm freely willing to let you eat off of my clean driving record. Never in my licensed life, from age 16 to 28, have I ever had a speeding ticket, wreck, or even a little parking-lot fender bender. Why do you think insurance rates are lower for women? Because women tend to drive more cautiously and have fewer wrecks. Maybe because we're not out there trying to overcompensate for other things...

Next time you get stuck like this, wave the other person through, the bust butt to get through yourself, and save your sexist whining for another day.

rich007

So freaking true!!!

On a similar note, the same s**t happens when I'm on a bike after 5-6pm in the city... Hordes of people leave their office desks and start 'mad rush' to nearest subway (or bus) stations, and half of them glued to their cell-phones, completely ignoring what's going on around them...

mac

And there it is. Thank you for confirming my initial observations about your fairer six. "Tend to drive more cautiously" does NOT mean drives safely. That was my point. Stopping at the intersection when you have the green light because a bicyclist is in the oncoming left-turn lane may be very cautious, but it's dangerous. Stopping in the middle of the intersection while making a left turn because you want to make extra-sure you didn't hit that oncoming bicyclist may be cautious, but it's dangerous. Stopping in the middle of the street instead of following through and making your left turn because a bicyclist is riding almost as fast as you are and you want to make sure there's no way you're going to turn into him may be cautious, but it's also dangerous.

Now, pedal-to-the-metal accidents are more expensive since the collision speeds are higher and there's usually more damage done to move vehicles.

mac

Oh, I forgot one. Here's where I almost got killed last week from a woman driver who darted out from a parking lot trying to make a left turn and got broadsided by a pickup truck causing it to fly out into my lane.

I almost got injured/killed today by accident on OTHER side of highway!

And numerous other times I've had vehicles driven by women gabbing away with their passenger just pull out of mall parking lots and nearly hit me.

These have been my experiences and observations. Your mileage may vary.