Originally Posted by old4x4

Quick question: I'm new to the forum. When I do my commute, I stay on the white line on the side of the road or to the right of it. Staying out of the road as much as I can has never created a problem, bad curves or not.
How far are you out in the road?

Originally Posted by Lamplight

Usually doesn't work here! This happens to me fairly often, but today three cars in a row did it, so I need to vent. When riding home my route takes me through a blind curve on a narrow, two lane road with a moderate amount of traffic. Sometimes I can time it just right so that I'm through the curve before any cars reach me, but when I can't I usually try to take the lane. With reasonable human beings this would work just fine, but of course people here are dumber than chickens. Occasionally a motorist will actually wait 4 seconds (which is all it takes, at most) and then pass me safely after the curve. But more often than not, they pass me in the middle of the blind curve completely in the oncoming traffic lane! I've seen many near misses, but today took the cake. Three geniuses in a row did this on the curve. A driver coming the other way had to lay on his brakes to keep from getting hit head on. Luckily he wasn't just a second or two sooner.

Let's think about this for a second:

1. They would only have to wait four, maybe five seconds at the most, as I'm usually going at least 20mph here.

2. The speed limit on this road is 30mph. If they were behind a car going 20mph, surely they wouldn't pass on the curve (or would they?) Of course, most of them are usually going well over 30mph...

3. To get home mere seconds sooner, they are risking my life, their own life, and the lives of anyone coming the other way. I hope it's worth it someday when they kill/injure several people, probably themselves included.

4. This curve is just a few hundred feet from an intersection, and nearly all of the cars on this road are from the larger road at the intersection. That means they've only had a few hundred feet to accelerate, yet a 20mph cyclist is still too slow for them?

Are people really this impatient? Are they willing to risk several lives just to get home literally a few seconds sooner? Or are they simply so freaking stupid that they can't comprehend any of this?

I don't usually start threads at all, and certainly not ones like this. But, if you'll excuse me, I just really needed to get this off my chest. It seems like the drivers in this town get a little worse every week, and I can only assume that before long they'll start killing each other (and maybe me) in droves as they become more and more insane.

Originally Posted by old4x4

Quick question: I'm new to the forum. When I do my commute, I stay on the white line on the side of the road or to the right of it. Staying out of the road as much as I can has never created a problem, bad curves or not.
How far are you out in the road?

Originally Posted by Rober

I have tried keeping my blinking rear light on to be more obvious to the zombies flying past me on narrow roads. This has actually made it worse - I seem to be treated more like another car and I get passed even closer. I think it sends the signal that I am "protected" like a car, or some other equally crazy idea I can't even understand. I ride about 6 inches from the white line on the right too, for self-protection. When I have to take even another foot of lane to avoid glass, cracked pavement, or a pothole I can feel the hate from cars deliberately buzzing me in "their" territory. Insane! The glazed-over pseudo-stupid ("I know 'm doing something bad, but I'm going to pretend I don't realize it...") looks on the drivers are actually the scariest part.