Bad Time of Year to Commute on Bike???
 

I have been riding around in my cage for the past week now due to a bad cold and I have noticed an overwhelming number of people not paying attention. Drifting into bikelanes for extended periods of time, making right turns and cutting off pedestrians with ROW, blatent disregard for the law (and the safety of those around them) in what I assume is frustration with holiday traffic, etc., etc.

Is it really a bad time of year to commute by bike? Have any of you noticed a few more close calls than usual this time of year? Are you taking more precautions than you usually take?

I try not to dwell on it, or keep count.

I haven't noticed any difference on my bike, but I do notice more crazy drivers when in am in my truck. My bike commute route is mostly neighborhood roads, back streets, etc., so I mostly avoid the heavy congestion and traffic that make people nuts. I also wear very bright clothes this time of year and have my bike lit up with head and tail lights and even some LED Christmas lights.

I haven't had any excess trouble this time of year. I think it's because I'm so visible, they see me in plenty of time, and they seem to think that I'm likely to do something crazy or wipe out in front of them, because everyone goes WAY the hell around me. Heck, people in oncoming lanes drive off the shoulder to get farther away from me.

Do you think it's my antiperspirant?

I am extra cautious when I ride over the holidays as there is a higher risk of encountering drunk drivers (sad but true) but for the most part the riding has been no better and no worse than it usually is.

I've wondered about this. I live in a city that is supposedly bike friendly. Tons of bike paths and lanes. But I've noticed that when I'm biking on streets without bike lanes, drivers aren't going out of their way to put extra distance between their vehicles and my bike when they pass me. I imagine people are so accustomed to cyclists here they feel comfortable driving in this manner. I just find it odd that when I'm biking in the right most lane few drivers will actually move to the left. And then motorists complain when cyclists take the lane. But it's precisely because of motorists driving habits that we're compelled to do that.

no
no
no

Lack of it? :rolleyes:


I don't have any more problems now than the rest of the year. Then again, my bike is well lit with blinkies and reflecty tape, and I have a neon lime jersey with reflecty panels on the pockets and sides.

Haven't noticed it too much on PCH, or in Irvine. Although merging to make a left turn became somewhat more difficult.

Nope. Nothing different here.

Same old stuff here too. Bad drivers in the usual places, reasonable drivers in the other places. OTOH, I have noticed a distinct lack of roadies who think they own the road and don't have to obey the laws. Guess they don't want to get their fancy bikes or spandex wet or dirty. Only Freds this time of year.

I think I got an arguably agressive honk once between August and December 21st. Since that time I got at least 40-50 honks, dozens aggressive passes and a handful of heckling/screaming from passing cars. X-mas fever! Probably because I live near and have to pass through a huge ritzy local shopping area that now even includes a Walmart. Way too much traffic, barely wide enough for car sideroads and x-mas stress probably add up to short fused drivers.

Last night I was riding up a thin 2 lane 30mph road going about 25. The guy behind me was waiting patiently but 2 cars back someone swung out and passed both of us honking all the way before they cut me off closely and slowed down to about 20mph until I reached my turn. Wheeeeeeee! I guess they didn't get the presents they wanted for X-mas :D

Around here almost no one rides in the winter, so if you do it seems like you earn instant respect. I have more trouble with motorists in the summer.

It's not worth it to me to deal with all the extra time required to get ready to ride my commute....gotta get up earlier putting on lots of extra clothing.....can't ride as fast , gotta deal with all the crap on the shoulders.....it's already a 1-3/4 or 2 hour commute one way of riding time..... I hate not commuting, but it does give me a mental break.....I am anxiously awaiting the time change and springtime again....I hope to commute 4 days a week instead of the normal 3 in 2008.....exciting times!

I guess that's the advantage of living on the left coast, even way up here in the PNW. We can ride pretty much all year round. In the winter it gets a bit colder (right now it's 35 outside), and it rains a lot, but it rarely snows and even when it does, it doesn't tend to stick. The biggest problem here in the winter is the wind. Seattle is in between two mountain ranges, so the winds tend to funnel through the area pretty hard sometimes.

Even so, most people put their bikes away for the winter. In the summer I'll see 20-40 bikes during a normal commute. During the winter, I only see 3 or 4. Here in my office, we've got a few hard-core (for us) riders who run year-round, but not many. This week my bike is the only one in the racks.

It's a bad time for me to commute to work since the building where I work is all closed up and my students are on vacation.

Driver stupidity has no season.

My daily communte is through the city and night going home.The pace of the traffic has increased for sure. No problems but folks are driving faster and are more impatient. I'm always highly reflective at night so I didn't make any changes.

I don't think it makes a difference what time of the year it is. It appears that every summer new kids with their temporary license come out of the woodworks trying to drive. I try to do the best thing that I can to avoid them. The two times I have been hit by a car has been in the daytime and walking.


Gas, the price of a can of beans.

Most of my commute is now on trails but the last couple of miles home are on residential streets. These streets often take a couple of days before they get plowed very well. It's been a problem recently since it's been snowing every couple of days for the last week so the roads just haven't been cleared.

Mostly drivers are polite. Still, it can be a little dicey because the roads have only been plowed down the middle and there's not much room for me AND a car.

I can get a tad frustrated with people that are a little TOO polite at intersections. Drivers will often sit at an intersection and let me go first. Problem is that I can't see inside their cars at night so I don't know if they are in fact waving me through or just slow in getting going. So both of us sit there like idiots for awhile. Then we both decide "**** it, I'm going" at the same time. When we realize the other is moving, we both stop. This whole dance takes a lot longer than if they would have just taken their proper turn.

Anyway, I haven't had any holiday related issues with drivers other than it might be might my blinking x-mas lights that cause them to wait at intersections for me.

I'm not liking this time of year purely because it gets dark earlier, and when it gets dark is when drivers pass me more closely and are generally more aggressive. I consider the two to be related; people tend to behave poorly when it's dark and others can't see who them in their vehicles.

It's also the cold and flu season which can make anyone sick but riding a bike in the cold, dry air, especially for longer periods, makes getting sick even easier. I've got a sore throat right now from doing just that and unless I'm able to keep my inhaled air warm (probably by using a balaclava) I'm going to have to give up riding at night until the weather warms :(.

The past couple of weeks have been very uneventful and traffic has been very light. My scariest time is right after daylight savings time ends and drivers are not accustomed to driving in the dark. Riding in the dark and in the rain some portion of the drivers won't see you no matter how many lights you have on. They sometimes don't even see each other.

I've been almost entirely left alone for as long as I've been riding, but the last two weeks have been unpleasant. Lots of honking, yelling, and agressiveness. Leads to a lot of me flipping them off. That, and I really hate the cold, so I haven't been as inclined to ride. Haven't been inclined to drive much either because of the terrible holiday traffic.

Can't wait for spring.

I absolutely agree with this. Riding during holiday times is the one season in which I consistantly notice more drivers driving very badly. Some of then are noticeably intoxicated.

Another time I am very careful about in northern USA is the end of winter and early spring when the sun is low in the east in the morning seems to point right into the eyes of drivers right about 7:45 AM. If you are in a lane heading east between 7:30 AM and 8:00 AM during this season (March?), some drivers have been staring into the glaring sun for awhile and can barely see anything at all.

I notice during this period that some drivers pass me and have that look of surprise like, "oh my gosh, I didn't even see him there!"