ax0n

Have you ever noticed that you could be on a nice little two-lane road and not see any cars for 5 minutes, but the moment one shows up behind you, there has to be some other vehicle coming toward you, and the theory states that those two vehicles must cross paths at exactly the same time that the car going your direction is actually overtaking you?

What's gives?

Billy Bones

That's either:

1. A corollary to Murphy's Lay, or


2. A perception based upon diminishing the importance of randomly distributed passage of vehicles.

vrkelley

>>nice little two-lane road and not see any cars for 5 minutes

Rare phenomena in the Seattle area - enjoy!

I_bRAD

It means you need to move further to the left. That way there is only 2 vehicles passing each other at any given time.

markhr

+1

Primary position can help prevent the 50mph brush past.

mtnwalker

Its all about the laws of probability. Like, you probably shouldn't be riding on that 2 lane road.

swwhite

Something's going on out there.

Many times I will be riding in a quiet residential area and come up to an intersection with a stop sign in my direction but no stop sign on the cross street. When I am a block or so away, close enough to see the intersection as I approach, there is no one on the cross street. By the time I get to the intersection, one car has arrived on the cross street at exactly the same time and I have to stop. I stop, I continue, and as I leave the intersection behind me, no other cars pass by on the cross street.

What are the odds that one and only one automobile has to arrive at that intersection at exactly the same time as I do. I would not be annoyed if there were several, but there is ONLY ONE and it arrives at EXACTLY THE SAME TIME as I do.

Some unknown force in the universe is sucking automobiles to me.

ax0n

It's either that or the eight-lane super mega highway 500 yards to the east. You decide.

BCRider

It's an alien plot. First it's coinciding passing cars and next it'll be outlawing jam on peanut butter and from there the anal probing can't be far behind....

andrelam

Happend to me yesterday on a residential side street I take at the end of my commute to avoid a not sp pleasant piece of road. Except when the car came up behind me, it was a school bus that turned onto the road (coming at me/us). The morning behind me felt it nessecary to pass me even through I was going 15 + MPH in a 30 MPH zone and a BIG YELLOW school bus was coming at us. The idiot driver proceeded to move nicely over to the left so he would not cut me off... how kind of him. Never mind that the bus had to come to a complete stop and wait so as not to cause a head on accident. Thank God at least the school bus driver was paying attention. I did yell loudly at the driver calling him an idiot. I KNOW he could hear me. I don't have a soft voice... it was the first PG rated comment that came to mind. I could not catch up to him or I would have asked him what he was thinking cutting off a school bus.

Happy riding,
André

ItsJustMe

yes, happens to me ALL THE TIME. I can be riding to work in the morning, I have maybe 5 cars pass me in 6 miles, and 3 coming the other way; inevitably, there will be at least 2 and probably 3 instances out of a possible 3 of two cars and me being in the same spot at the same time.

It's not as bad though as when I'm riding along, nobody on the road, two cars come up behind me at 60 MPH and the guy in back decides that it'd be a great idea to pass the guy in front as he's passing me.

Artkansas 

Yeah, I noticed it one day last fall while I was riding a winding mountain road outside of Little Rock. I had had the road all to myself for about 20 minutes. I was going uphill, getting high into the mountain, when I heard a car coming up behind me. There was a sharp curve ahead and I noticed one of those roadside memorial markers at the side of the road. The mountain dropped off steeply on our side and rose sharply on the other side. No extra room.

The car passed me just before we get to the curve and as he's pulling back into the lane, a semi truck and another car blast downhill around the curve. The car that was passing me almost goes off the road to the memorial marker trying to avoid the speeding semi. All four drivers were grabbing brakes!

There are a number of rusted car corpses below that corner. At least one is a '40s model. Makes me wonder how much business that corner attracts.

ebrady

Happens to me all of the time! However I can think of only one thing that happens more often.

On a rural road, haven't seen a car the last ten times you have ridden it. Stop to take a "nature break", and 10 cars and a bus load of nuns will come by. Even happens on a closed road!

(OK I might be stretching it a little bit with the bus load of nuns , but you get the idea! )

aley

I had a similar thing happen last summer, except that it wasn't a school bus, it was a police car, and I had no problem catching up to him after he'd forced the cop car onto the shoulder. Or, rather, the cop had no trouble catching up to him, and then I had no trouble catching up, too.

The offending driver passed me again a few miles on, a bit more carefully. I was relieved - I could see him taking out his frustration about the ticket on me when there was no cop around to see.

I don't know what it is about some car drivers that make them unable to stand being behind a bike even for the few seconds it would take for the oncoming traffic to clear so they could pass safely.

Mobiker50

Synchronicity. The absurd part is the feeling you get that you should do something to somehow affect the coming together of the disparate entities at this moment of destiny. Ommmmmmm, Ommmmmm....

Okiegonian

Yep - Synchronicity is the term. At work I drive a grip truck with big mirrors that stick out, which contributes to the perception that I encounter bicyclists or walkers just as I meet an oncoming car far too often for comfort. Of course we don't all three pass at the exact same location, but anywhere within a certain threshold of closeness will create some anxiety on a two-lane road with wide mirrors.

b_young

Happens a lot to me as well. Another thing, why is it that a car coming at you on a 2 lane road at night believe they need to have their bright lights on. I have to shield my eyes and try to stare at the white line or edge of the road. I have been dangerously close to the centerline just because I could not see the road.