Got to watch a impatient cager almost get squashed by an 18 wheeler.. She was to important/impatient to wait for me to make my left at a STOP sigh so she went into oncoming traffic to try and go around me..She Met face to face with a semi who by the sound of his horn was less than happy with the move she was making...She had to stop, backup past the traffic that had properly queued behind me and then wait her turn at the stop sigh..I was prolly more than a mile down the road and could hear the squealing of tires and the unmistakable v8 Mustang rumble as she made her left from the stop sigh and merged up onto the highway..Some people kill me...Almost literally !!!!

As my great gramma used to say, "Haste makes waste."

This seems to be happening more frequently, even with cagers being impatient behind motorists.

While she obviously had no patience for you, i subsequently have no patience for people like her. Sometimes cagers make me so angry that i honestly don't know if i would stop to see if she was ok had she run into the semi.

I would feel like it's just karma working its way around to avenging all those cyclists who have ever gotten unjustly injured (or worse) by the cagers themselves.

Sadly, it normally takes an extreme example to change any laws. And then it still takes a long time.

As much as I hate to generalize, there was a time in south Florida when every Mustang driver could be counted on to do something very stupid/aggressive in traffic, all you had to do was wait for the next show... It seems to have calmed down in the last few years, or maybe the meatballs have graduated to wrecking motorcycles.

Can't be behind a bicycle syndrome. Tis the season. People are driving more like idiots around here, too. I've had two episodes of weirdness this week already. Nothing very endangering. Just, well, silly.

Most impatient one yet, I wish!

Some people seem to think a car is a time machine that can somehow recover time wasted over breakfast. It's not good to underestimate the level of stupidity involved.

No, they bought mini vans.

Like this....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0cah...1&feature=fvwp

I've also had drivers do stupid stuff around me twice this week. I previously had zero incidents in almost a year!

I speak with other people throughout the course of a day that sound encouraged by my commuting practices, they revitalize my faith in humanity only to have it crushed again by some stupid a hole who thinks that they are the most important person on the road.

the ones that really get my blood boiling are the people riding around in their full size tahoes and suburbans by themselves that seem to think that because there is only one person in their huge suv, they can drive it like a mid sized sedan.

I had an experience similar to this on Monday when I was queued up in line at a stop sign when a full size suv of some kind passed me on the left part of the way into oncoming traffic, right in front of a school bus at a four way stop. So as I sped off through the intersection I watched as these two oversized vehicles squared off in the intersection and block all four directions of traffic.

I ride through downtown where the lights are timed. I can ride straight through without breaking stride, but the cars rev up to pass me only to wait at the next signal where I calmly pedal past them just as the light turns green. Repeat times 6 or 8 lights.
They don't seem to get it.

today (driving) 2 cars blocked the intersection as they were making a left on green and didn't allow for the stopped traffic ahead of them.

The cleared, the intersection, I proceeded (on my green) and almost got hit by the idiot in the left hand turn lane who some how thought that because he was behind these guys and didn't make the light....he could still run the red left hand turn signal.

Overall really high dumb driving today.....I agree with the theory that people get worse during holidays (and in this case really bad when probably late for school)

Some people just don't know how to behave around bikes. I had a similar experience yesterday... I was waiting at a stop sign for a gap in traffic on a busy 2-lane each way road. There was a decent opportunity coming behind a car turning right, so I started to cross the road so as to slip in behind her as she completed her turn, maximizing the gap between me finishing the crossing and the arrival of the oncoming traffic. She sees me coming, and stops, and now I'm halfway across the road, so I either have to keep going ahead in front of her, or stop in the middle of the road myself. I go ahead. My immediate next move is a left turn into my driveway, so I stay to the far left of my lane, signal and shoulder check... just as she roars around me on the wrong side of the road. Glad I shoulder check! The worst of it is, even though I am one of those courteous, cautious, law-abiding safety types, who would like to promote harmony between drivers and cyclists, she probably thought I was deliberately trying to get in her way... first forcing her to stop for me, then trying to block her from getting ahead by riding down the middle of the road with my arm sticking out.

I cross this busy road every day just moments before I walk in the door, so I usually have some 'people don't know how to drive' story to tell my husband. Frequently, one person will stop on this street and try to yield their right of way to me... not realizing that drivers in the three other lanes don't have the same idea. I'm going to see a rear-ending there one day, I just know it. This was the first time I'd ever experienced this particular combination of excessive yielding and then agressive overtaking in less than 5 seconds, though!

If karma avenges, is it still karma?

xiyangshen seconded this, and I third it. I came up with this syndrome name myself, and I guess I shouldn't be surprised to see it here. My example is the 1/4 mile stretch, which is literally just an entrance road from the last red light of my commute to the stop sign to turn right into our building entrance. There is a posted 25 MPH speed limit sign on that 1/4 mile (it is 35 MPH until you go through that last light). I can sprint from the red light up to 25 MPH by the time I cross the six lane divided highway that the light intersects. But a car will take the left lane, pass me, then swerve back into my lane in front of me, only to slam on its brakes to avoid ramming the car that is lawfully stopping at the stop sign. One day I almost rear ended an idiot that did this to me. And it's happened several times at the same stop sign, always with me going over 20 MPH in a 25 zone that is ONLY a 1/4 mile. There is no thought there. The motorist's brain, deep in the brain stem somewhere, perceives "bicycle" and reacts with "must pass. Must pass. Pass at all costs. Can not be behind bicycle. Pass NOW!" and they are doing it without even thinking.

You would like to think that when the lady was confronted by the semi truck that she would think "Oh, I screwed up here. I just need to calm down and relax more." But no. She was thinking "Damn cyclist! get off my road!"

The other attitude I constantly battle is: "We motorists do not drive safely. Therefore, you cyclists should just stay off the road". Um, gee, can't we all just decide to drive more safely?

Mine said, "More haste, less speed."

Didn't you get the memo?

They MUST pass!

Darwin is at work here...

I enjoy the story, but how did you get such a great picture with the Semi, cars and direction arrows? Where you on a hover bike.

Looks like aerial photography.
You can see just about anywhere in bird's eye view here:https://atlas.freshlogicstudios.com/
Just zoom in and click "bird's eye"

But your spot on in my book ..Almost everytime ive had a problem with someone it's been a sports car, trucks with lift kits or dropped to the ground, SUVs or fancy cars in general..Almost seems like a "Ive invested more $$ than you so im more important" attitude..

The picture is the intersection of Pulaski and Eastport as viewed through Bing Maps. The picture just happened to be darn close to that days senerio..If you look at the intersection from a different direction or through a different map server the picture will be different..All depends on when the plane flew over..Some of the photos of the intersection are year or more old, even before they added the turn lanes..

Yup that server uses Bing maps..The interface and controls are different though....

That is crazy!! I love (not) the people who pass you so close to a stop sign/light that they don't even have enough room to get back into the right lane. I also love (not) the people who insist on yielding their right of way to you at all costs, almost to a dangerous point.

A cager friend of mine always says "everyone driving slower than me is an idiot and everyone driving faster than me is an a**hole!" Yes he is perfect???

I just did the bike commuter's version of bonehead manuevers. I need to cross a divided six lane suburban super speedway major route, and the traffic light only comes on when a car is waiting. My strategy is to use a gap in the traffic to get to the median, then another gap in traffic to cross the other set of lanes when there are no cars to activate the signal. Sometimes there are cars on the other side, so my strategy is to get to the median and use the oncoming traffics left turn light to get across.

But this morning my timing was off, and I didn't make it to the median before the left turn light for oncomming cars went green. I had hoped that the oncoming left turn driver would notice my 800 lumes of front lighting, slow down a bit to let me get to the median and turn behind me, but Nooooo. I end up having to do a hard right in the the middle lane and start riding alongside the left turner so as not to get squashed. I guess I have to keep an eye on the signal and not go for the median if it might be anywhere near changing.