Long Tom

The setup: I was about 25 miles into a bad-weather 50-miler. I was on a rural 2-lane highway with essentially no consistent shoulder. I was riding next to the fog line. It was drizzling rain.

(I have to do a 3-mile stretch of this road to connect up the parts of my loop)

I'm going about 12-15 mph and my turnoff is about 50 yards ahead. I'm turning right. There's no stop sign or light for the road I'm on, as it's a highway.

I hear a rather noisy (road noise) vehicle coming up behind me. When he's maybe 20 yards behind me, I hear a tire skid- our favorite noise, right? Now I'm more like 30 yards from my turnoff.

As I make the turn he's right on my ass. Once we turn, he pulls next to me, passenger window down, and yells the following in a nasally, whiny voice:

"Follow the rules of the road! Use your hand like a turn signal! Be SAFE"

I gave him a perturbed look and be zoomed off.

Now here's what's annoying. Technically- he's right! I didn't signal. But here's the thing. Over by the edge of this road, things are a bit dicey at times. You can't count on the pavement. In fact, approaching this corner it's fairly bumpy and you never know what debris you'll find. In addition to this- and this is a big deal- a disproportionate amount of time, these "loud road noise" vehicles are jacked-up trucks with younger rednecks driving, and while I'm not casting stones here, that's the crowd that I have my most "close flybys" with.

So my point, my first point, is that there's NO WAY I'm taking a hand off my bars to signal. Not on rough pavement with a roaring vehicle approaching fast. And once I heard that tire skid, I was in pure survival mode.

(Turned out it was a late-80's Toyota truck on big worn mud tires... I don't know if the skid was from downshifting, a grabby brake caliper, or what...)

My second point is that me signaling wouldn't have changed A DAMN THING. Whether I was turning, or going straight, since HE was turning also and didn't have enough road to pass me and right-hook in front of me, he had to wait (like 3 seconds!) either way.

I wasn't real pissed; he didn't curse at me (that I heard) and what he said had merit. He may even have been a cyclist. Skinny hippy kid in his mid-20's. But I'd have loved to have a conversation with him to explain the reality on the ground from my perspective.

I think, it annoyed him that my existence cost him a few seconds. Regardless of the fact that a press of his toe fixes THAT, since he's, oh, in a CAR and all!

Curious what y'all think- seeing as his yelling actually had merit.

aramis

Sometimes you can't signal, it just isn't safe.

Sounds like a jerk. Does he yell at every car he sees that doesn't signal or speeds?

howeeee

yes of course he was a cyclist, that is where the "be safe" is from. I just dont know why andy cyclists is critical of another cyclist, I hate that. If i have anything to say to other cyclist it is usually " watch for those morons ,,stay safe"

Chris516

I agree with all the previous comments'. Although the possibility of the driver also being a cyclist is too much to ask for. I do wonder, since you were in the right-turn lane, the driver/cyclist felt you needed to signal a right-turn.

Long Tom

There was no turn lane.

jerseyJim

Im in the lane today and a car comes up behind me and lays on the horn. They cross the yellow to pass me and cross back hard about a foot off my front wheel. There are two bikes hanging off a rack on the back of the car. wtf

digger

MUP only riders? Maybe mountain bikers? I've come accross one mountain biker, while I was out mountain biking, that don't like cyclists on the road.

jerseyJim

Yeah they were hybrids so probably they were coming from the MUP a couple of miles away. Still.....

Worknomore

I am usually the smile and wave sort but that would have earned the one finger salute.

unterhausen

The only time I felt bad about not signalling was when two fast guys passed me on the right as I was setting up for a turn. Had no idea they were there. This is on a 4' wide shoulder. Of course, if I had signalled I might have hit one of them.

rumrunn6

did he make the same turn as you? did he turn before you? after you? with you?

in cases where signalling close to the turn is not advisable, I indicate my turn in advance. so my hand goes up when it's safe.

that stretch sounds like a "kill zone" and over time you'll be thinking of different ways to handle it. sounds like that driver was pretty nice

wphamilton

12-15 is already turning speed slow and he already has to adjust to that when approaching you. Your right turn signal would alert cross traffic but would make little difference to the truck close behind you. If anything I don't want him to know my intention in that situation, driving the way he is, because he probably wants to squeeze around the corner alongside with you as you're turning.

So I do not agree that his yelling had any merit. I suspect it's a case of someone knowing a little and believing he knows it all and instructing people as, blithely unaware, he drives dangerously himself.

ZmanKC

There is a spot on my morning commute where I need to turn right. If there is no traffic behind me, I'll ride in the center of the lane. This is the case maybe 50% of the time.

If there is traffic behind me I'll ride further to the right. Problem is the pavement is akin to a washboard. I wouldn't dare take a hand off of the handle bars to signal my right turn. Sometimes you can, sometimes you can't.

That said, no one has ever yelled at me for not signaling at this intersection.

howsteepisit

LIkely just another self important a-hole who thinks that they somehow have done a life saving favor to the uneducated masses. Undoubtedly He will run for elective office some day

Long Tom

We get a lot of that around here...

I wish there was a way to not do that section of road, but the function it serves for me is pretty danged important in that it set up a really cool 56-mile loop.

Mvcrash

And shut the government down.

walrus1

Cars yell unsolicited and often wrong pieces of advice at me all the time. I either ignore it or yell back and move on. I never signal a right turn or left turn on a one way road unless there is another bike or car close behind me and I have to slow down. Seriously, how many people do this? You had a very good reason for not signaling. I doubt that guy is a cyclist or at least how we would define one. One of my mom's friends told she is a cyclist because she takes her bike around the riverside trail a couple times a week if the weather is nice. So maybe this kid goes mountain biking or something. Cause if he rides on the road he would knows to watch out for bikes.

rumrunn6

Long Tom, put in a written request that the state or county or whatever add some shoulder room because it is not safe for bicycles. you might get lucky.

Chris516

I am the same way, pretty much.

I am always yelling back, for the idiot(s) to take step closer to the traffic laws when reading them. Because they are 'blind as a bat'. I don't signal. I get in the far left portion of the lane, to indicate that I will be making a left turn.

B. Carfree

The motorist was just plain wrong in his comment. Under Oregon law cyclists are NOT required to signal their turns if it would negatively impact their control of their bikes. You were following the law to the letter. He is obviously not a man of letters since he lectured you on a law he had obviously never read. (Motorists do have to signal the final hundred feet of any lane change/turn. Most seem to mistake millimeters for feet.)

Murray Missile 

I first got into road bikes about 1971 as teenager. I had long hair and the short haired rednecks would yell at me, threw beer bottles at me once and ran me off the road a couple times. I thought it was because of my hair. 42 years later I have short hair, the rednecks have long hair and other than that not much has changed.

genec

Ain't it the truth!

Just more cars and now drivers with cell phones...

AlmostTrick

If you had signaled he may have just thought of something else to yell at you for. Using the law as a reason (inaccurately) just made him feel more justified.

If he did in fact brake hard at the last moment, as it seems he did according to your story, being further into the lane may have prevented this. Then he would have determined much sooner that he couldn't make it past you. Also, you'd have been on cleaner pavement, making signaling much easier and safer.

I like to signal in this situation when near a turn with a driver close behind, because letting them know I'm about to turn usually makes them decide to wait a few seconds and not make a risky pass. Then, after they treat me safely they get a friendly wave. This outcome is way more common than yelling. (though I had one of those last week)

buzzman

Weirdly accurate.

DX-MAN

Call me out for it if you like (don't really care), but the only wrong thing I read about your side of this event was riding too near the fog line; I don't know the area, so I can't speak with authority on it, but you won't catch me hugging a fog line ANYWHERE. (But then, you won't catch me on a "cool 56-mile loop" over and over again, either, LOL!)