Does anyone else have a problem with motorists not yielding
 

My first spill on my new bike was when I slowing down to turn left onto a side street with a motorist at a stop sign waiting to cross my lane. He decided to try and dart past me, causing me to panic and grab the front brake too hard. I flipped over the bars, but was going slow enough that I was fine.

Today in the same spot it was the same situation with a big pick up truck. I was intentionally going really slow trying to make eye contact with the driver before making the turn. When I was nearly right in front of him, he decided to go and had to actually turn a bit to make it around me. I think since I was going so slow, he thought I was yielding to him while I was actually just trying to make sure I wouldn't get run over.

Just a few minutes later I was going straight and a car was trying to turn left across my path into a driveway. I kept up my speed this time but he tried to make it past me anyway. I held up an open palm to tell him to stop and he stopped barely in time. I realized later how close a call that really was.

On another day, I was going through a traffic circle and staring right at a motorist waiting to get into the circle. She started rolling forward and I pulled the same move of holding out my hand and that stopped her. Both times that I've done it I've mouthed "Stop" but not audibly. From now on I think I will just straight up yell "STOP" and just scare the hell out of people. It's worth being a little aggressive to avoid being put into dangerous situations. Motorists somehow think that no matter how fast a cyclist is going they don't have to yield.

This behavior has ramped up noticeably during my commuting season (compared to the last three).

Assert yourself. Every driver knows this forumula and will yeild to you because of it: Lawsuit > Auto > Cycle

I beg to differ. Motorists I've encountered this season are more concerned with their phone call, their misbehaving child, or daydreaming. Lawsuit thoughts happen after the accident.

I may sound like broken record here, but DO NOT think for a second that motorists give a crap about you. Think about this, the brain driving that vehicle is much, much less than 10% of the total size of the vehicle. Can you really trust that? I think not. SUV's are the bain of the bunch.

It could mostly be that they just don't see you. They are used to looking for cars and they may be staring in your direction without noticing you. As a car driver I've sometimes almost failed to see bikes, even though I ride a lot myself. You have to ride with the awareness that they may be looking right through you.

On my bike, I pre-emptively ring my bell a lot when I see I am converging with a car, to try to raise their alertness.

No. Never happened to me. But it happens to my wife all the time. SHe is a meek cyclist. My guess is that you are a meek cyclist. You probably look like you want to be taken advantage of.
BE big. Be seen. BE big in attitude. Yelling STOP is probably a good idea. Be right out there in the middle of the road, signal aggressively that you are turning.

Bell my butt...I holler at them!

There is one very busy all-way stop intersection at my commute to which I come from a little hidden dead end, and drivers are NEVER looking that way. A couple of times they almost slammed into me, even though I'm extra cautious around there.

They either yield too much or too little. In any case always have a plan 'B'. An amazing percentage of drivers are impaired, un-insured, or felons on the move. You aren't even on the radar. If you think they're worried about civil liability, your reality check bounced.

Are you using hand signals? Those really help. Running a bright front light at dawn / dusk helps too. As does bright clothing.

yep! Pretty sure I've hit 120 dbl before.

On my route, I'm actually amazed at the number of good drivers. I take the lane and act with confidence.

I've noticed an amazing number of cars that wave me through a four way stop or let me go straight through so they can wait to make an oncoming left past me at a light.

In these long three weeks, I have made on observation. When it comes to vehicles passing you, it seems pretty consistent.

SUV's pass widest, Commercial vehicles next. Small cars such as corollas or jettas like to buzz you.

BMWs are friendly, Mercedes are rude.

Pickup trucks pass wide, but jam on the accelerator to make a point.

Caprice classics with 20's and a new paint job like to crank the volume at red lights.

Taxis cut as close to you as possible without hitting you.

Trust me, you can be anti-meek and still get hit or almost hit. I'm very anti-meek, taking the lane where it makes sense and riding right in the middle of it, and I still get asshats who don't see me (despite helmet light running during the day), misjudge speed, or generally are clueless. I have people who blast past as I'm trying to cross, people who lay on the horn as they speed up, and people who slow down, act like they're going to stop, and creep by.

If I got any more aggressive, I'd be playing chicken, and I don't particularly want to die. This is something the VC evangelists don't get - there are many places where you can be as VC as you want, and cars will still do dumb stuff. VC has its uses, but it's not an antidote to vehicular stupidity.

The best weapon I have now is startling them, as you mention. I yell 'STOP!' very loud. That's the great thing about being in shape - it gives you a helluva lung capacity, and I use it. The other thing that I use is my helmet light - if I'm afraid someone doesn't see me as I approach from the side, I shine it in their direction briefly, enough to get their attention without blinding them.

Get an Air Zound

what you get when you adopt the 'monkey-see, monkey-do' addendum to vehicular cycling. :twitchy:

It doesn't help that most motorists are on autopilot.

The number of incidents you've had seems high given the time frame. I think it might come down to you not asserting yourself. I don't think it comes down to taking a lane/vc, but rather that motorists are reading your actions/intent incorrectly. ...of course it could just be bad luck with inattentive drivers, too.

Assertive, confident, and visible? Absolutely. And every situation carries its own judgement call.

One thing I'm sure of, though, is that if you expect the most stupid maneuver, you won't often be disappointed.

When you are doing all this slowing down do you have a stop sign or are you just slowing down because you don't know if the car sees you? Also are you keeping track of all the traffic around you? Sometimes I have to move more into the lane or move out of the right hand lane to pass someone who cuts in front of me when they are turning into a driveway.

All these things happen when I drive too some people are just careless and you have to operate your vehicle defensively. Heck they happen to my wife and she drive a huge F250 with a full box on the back with a big lightbar across the top.

I understand you can still have trouble, but being out there, being big, loud, and visible sure seems to help.

Net? No. I think for every driver that doesn't yield, I get another that will yield when they blatantly have the right of way. Especially drivers on the cell phone who will just stop. I mean right in the middle of an intesection. They got the green light, just go. That's it! I pretty much don't shout or say anything when I ride. If I do, it's usually "Just go!".

In all, I think my biggest problem with cagers is when they do a stupid move or misjudge, they compound the problem by slowing down or stopping in my path. Sometimes they will even say they're sorry. They need to clear the scene before they apologize. I saw the left hook coming, I aimed for the rear of the car, and if they kept going I wouldn't have to break stride and there would be no problems. But they stop. Right in front of me. "Just go!" When I'm about to t-bone a car I really am not concerned with the social atonement norms. If they left the area of where our paths converge as quick as they entered the area, there would be no problem. Geeze, that's what gets me.

Make yourself as visible as possible - bright clothes, bright helmet. Be confident and assertive - and yes, I know how hard that can be. Ride vehicularly when it makes sense to do that - I'm no VC evangelist, but there are many times that it makes a lot of sense, particularly when you're confident about it. And of course be sure you're riding predictably - no turning left at a stop sign from the right edge of the pavement!

None of these are a panacea, of course. Drivers will still do stupid things - sometimes because the don't see you, sometimes because they can't wrap their minds around the fact that a cyclist could be going faster than walking speed, and sometimes because they want somebody on whom to take out their frustration, anger, or anti-social tendencies. It may surprise you, though, how much the level of stupid behavior goes down when you're visible, assertive, and predictable.

Some of it depends on where you're located, too. I generally have very few problems with drivers when I'm out cycling - for a long time I thought it was just due to my superb skills, but eventually I came to realize that drivers around here are just a lot nicer than they are in some places. But my superb skills don't hurt anything. ;)

People who confuse right of way (either taking it when it's not theirs, or trying to give it to me when it's not mine) are kind of the essence of the vehicle problems I have had.

A lot of drivers and pedestrians underestimate bike speed, too. I frequently have to yell at jaywalkers that "I'm going faster than you think I am!" (not said out loud - "and I'll be damned if I'll sacrifice this speed right before a hill because YOU are too stupid to look before you cross the street!")

I have decided that at intersections, if I'm waiting for a light and a car comes up beside me, I'm going to use sign language to tell the driver that I'm going straight through and that he will need to give me room (especially when I'm there first!) I got buzzed twice in one commute last week and it bugged me. Both men, both driving big pickups, both made eye contact with me and then crowded me out of the lane, both VERY surprised when I caught up (:D) and politely asked them not to do that again.

+1 on the yelling. I also stangely find the yelling to be theraputic. On more than a few occasions the drivers have stopped dead in their tracks... therefore the job was achieved. I've had a few people get pissed off at me. One person yelled back, that he saw me. Never mind that he was slowly rolling through a stop sign and appeared to be at a colision course with me. I don't care. I'd wrather yell once to many times than be hit again.

I guess it helps that I was born with a 50 ft whisper. When I used to teach at a pool I was always the one that would talk to all the parents as I never had a problem being hear. I don't hesitate to yell stop (sometimes followed by a few other colorful words if they start to cut me off)... I KNOW they can hear me. Never assume you will get the right of way, but I shure make it clear that I WILL take the right of way.

Some drivers are complete a**holes, and sometimes they "win." For example - earlier this week, I linep up in the middle of the lane I wear high-cis clothing, my PB Superflash is practically blinding the driver behind me, I have my left arm streached out to CLEARLY indicating my desire to turn... Yet a drivers pulled hisr car right in the middle of the street crossing over a DOUBLE yellow line (his car was dead center on the line) and insisted on lining up to the left of me to turn left. I can not possibly imagine what goes on in the mind of those drivers. Maybe their learned to drive in Rome (IT) where I have seen the craziest stuff ever. This driver was clearly out of touch with any possible resemblance to reasonable driving that just let him go first. I somehow don't think this driver would have had a problem hitting me it I got any more in their way. I just hope that one of these day a cop goes by and sees a drivers like that and writes them a tickets.

Happy riding,
André

Check your local and state laws concerning the use of video as evidence. Generally; if local or state government can mail the owner of the vehicle a traffic citation for speeding, running a red light, or failing to completely stop at a stop sign they have camera laws. If they do get a camera and use it. Every time your placed in danger by a careless or reckless driver save the video and file a compliant at the local police station or with the first officer you find. Nearly all police cruisers have computers with a memory card reader and can copy your video evidence. They will in turn send the vehicle owner a traffic citation or in the case of reckless driving or reckless endangerment a warrant for there arrest and detainment will be issued. After a few weeks people that don't take there driving seriously will quickly learn too start paying attention. Some will even come to the realization it was the cyclist with a camera that caused that expensive traffic citation to appear in there mail box and there after treat every cyclist as if they were a policeman.

I'm right there with you. I don't trust a motorist for a split second. Even when I take the lane in situations that I should (blind curves, narrow roads with double-yellow stripe, etc), they attempt to pass me. I admit I've had that attitude before, but I was 16 or 17.


Do not trust a motorist. Ever.

It may be well intentioned but that's not good driving and they're not doing you a favour. They're setting you (or a less skilled cyclist) up for a collision with some other driver who wasn't a party to the wave through.

I didn't describe the situation well. They are behaving correctly as if I was a car. I get to the intersection a couple of seconds before me and they treat me like a car and give me the right of way that is mine. My expectations when I started were that people would do the opposite and just go ahead despite me getting there slightly ahead of them. I will continue those expectations just so I am not caught off guard when it happens.