Sometimes In Traffic, You Just Can't Win...
 

Riding my new road bike (my third ride) Sunday afternoon through the burbs on the way home from the Lakefront in New Orleans I had a close call. I was far right in a new bike lane marked with sharrows, not a stripe. Anyway, there were two SUVs at a red light ahead, and one roaring up behind me. As the two SUVs start rolling, the third one rolls up next to me. I'm thinkin' "Is he gonna hook me?". So I slow down just enough to see his right rear turn signal - nothing. Still wary, I start squeezin' the brakes and BINGO - he turns right completely disrespecting me. I hit the brakes and turn with him only because I was alert and at the ready.

Lesson learned...AGAIN. No more mister nice guy. I am going to take my lane and make them run over 100% of me. Then, one day later...(Monday)

I am riding my LHT to work. I cross an intersection on a green light with two cars ahead of me. This time, I ride right down the middle of the lane (one lane of traffic and cars parked at the curb). A ratty pickup truck roars up behind me, even though I am doing nearly 25 mph in a 30 zone and keeping up with the two cars ahead but not drafting. This AH is riding my bumper, revving his engine (horn must be broken). No freakin' way am I moving to the right in the door zone so he can right hook me at the next opportunity. SURPRISE! At the first opportunity where there was a side street and some empty parking spaces, he roars past me ON THE RIGHT in the parking spaces, squeezes me against the left curb and races up to a red light TWO BLOCKS away where I pass him, and the two cars ahead of him, blow the light, and disappear over the horizon.

I know it goes with the territory, but what the hell is wrong with people?

End of rant. (And that is a rhetorical question)

Darwinism and natural selection have made ass holiness a common trait needed for survival of the species. It's the only explanation that makes sense.

And sometime you can win

I was riding in a bike lane when a city pickup truck honk at my left side. As I turn my head, he was passing me and hooked me as he made a right turn into a publc parking lot driveway. I hit my brakes hard and watch this guy as he kept staring at me while he turn as if he wanted a glance at me. I was piss off to the point of wanting to give him the bird but didn't. Instead I rode into the lot and stop 20 ft safetly away from his truck and took out my Iphone to take a picture of his truck. He looked over and ask in a hard voice "Can I help you lady?" I answered him "I only need a picture of you and your truck plate so i can email this to my boyfriend at the police station." This guy suddenly became the most apologetic human in the world as if he will lose his job.

Last Saturday I took the lane where it was unsafe to share the lane with another vehicle on a three lane blvd where the traffic speed is 35mph but driver usually drive over 45mph. This lady in a red car pulled from behind me and along side of me passing me within inches. The other two lanes were clearly free of vehicle as far as I can see behind me. She turned right at the light and I decided WTH and so I turned right. I saw her from 300ft away as she then turned left into a mobile home park. Lucky me, because when I rode in she was unloading her car of groceries in front of her mobile home. I stopped next to her car and confronted her how close she almost hit me within inches. She stood there looking very surprise that I actually follow her. She apologised and I accepted. I did took a picture of her plate before I left and told her it was only for records only. (like I can do anything about it, but I'm sure she got a little worry)

Normally I just let it go, but the two condition was safe enough for me to confront them and I hope it pays off in the future. Sometimes they do need to be reminded if the chances are there.

In the United States (probably most other places in the world), having a drivers license is a de facto right. It's made off as a privilege, but it's not. Almost any idiot can get one, baring only extreme cases. The test is for the lowest common denominator and retesting is almost never heard of. Even in cases of prosecution, a driver can get their license back in as little as six months.

:deadhorse:

Yup, bike lanes are just about worthless to north american cyclists, drivers here are just about clueless in regards to them... I get right hooked through marked lanes all the time, and if they're not passing me and swerving right at the last moment they're behind me going honk honk.

Watch this guys videos for more.

No video?

Damn, you're a tease...

It also seems some places are more bike friendly than others.

Thank! That made my morning!

Well thanks to your videos and tips I now always take the lane when it is unsafe and make sure that the cars wait behind me. Most are happy to do this, but you do get the occasional idiot who tries to overtake and almost has a head-on collision with another driver. I feel much more confident on my bike now that I ride more aggressively and defensively.

I was with you right up until this. You want to be treated like a car, but you run the red light? If you're not following the laws you don't deserve to be treated like a car. This kind of behavior is what make it so cars don't know what to do around bikes.

Ah, well, you know.... that's joeybike for ya....

I've never seen him say he wanted to be treated like a car. I suspect he simply doesn't want to die for not-being-a-car.

As soon as you start riding in the middle of a lane, it's implied.

I was passed on the right while in a bike line few days ago, by one of those angry idiots in a pimped up Civic, he drove through the parking spaces. It's extremely rare in NYC from my experience. The funny thing is that the drivers ahead saw this and didn't want to let him back in for most of the block. He gained nothing basically, I looked at him and laughed when passing him later.

When people bring Darwinism up, they often forget that these idiots often hurt and kill perfectly normal folks and often get away unharmed. Leaving them up to natural selection won't cure the problem. Tougher laws, enforcement and penalties will. However, considering, I was nearly right hooked this morning by a NYPD Police car that turned in front of me without signaling that is unlikely to happen. We're left to our own devices. So the best course of action is defensive riding, paying attention and avoiding dangers, don't try to prove anything and avoid aggravating the idiots. I don't want to take my chances against few tons of metal, no matter who's at fault.

And speaking of getting a license in USA, yeah, it's ridiculously easy. This will never change though because the industry lobbyist are running rampant here and they want as many consumers licensed as possible for obvious reasons. If getting license was as hard as in some European countries, majority of Americans would never get a license and that would be bad for the industry. So few thousands of casualties per year are a less important than having the industry happy.

Adam

When the driver of a car makes a mistake, and it causes a collision between a car and a bike, the bicyclist can be killed. When the rider of a bicycle makes a mistake, and it causes a collision between a car and a bike, the bicyclist can be killed.

If said cyclist runs the red light, he could die, odds are he's going to be the only one who does. When a car runs the red light, a cyclist could die, odds are the cyclist is going to be the only one.

I'll support all the rulebook wavers if we replace airbags with spikes. Then we can talk about how dangerous it is for people who drive cars on the road. If a cyclist wants to take his life in his hands and run a red, that's his call, it might not be smart, but it is only himself he is endangering. A careless driver is a different matter.

Joe

I agree with you, except when the cyclist jumps the light and causes a car to swerve into someone else. It is a grey area - I jump lights sometimes when I feel it is safe, however it shouldn't be the norm. I rarely do it at junctions, only really at pedestrian lights when there are no pedestrians.

Without wishing to derail the thread too much, I think there should be different laws for cyclists rather than just be lumped in with motorist laws. Bicycles are clearly different entities to cars and should have different laws too.

Back to the thread :)

I strenuously disagree. The lane is for bikes AND cars.

This guy must have a cousin in my area, or it's just that city employees are some of the worst on knowing a cyclist's roadway rights. I had a similar incident a few days ago in being "buzzed " by a city employee, but my cell phone doesn't have a camera option. Looking back, this same employee has passed me several times at a close distance, but none were really close enough to warrant serious attention, that is until now. I didn't think it was intentional until I had a discussion with him,and right after his saying, "Can I help you", he said, You're supposed to be up against the curb".

if there was a sharrow and no stripe it most certainly was not a bikelane in the first circumstance,

but what is actually a class III shared lane bike route.

just saying. :D

I agree. However if the bike is not following traffic laws, it doesn't belong in the lane.

Get the vehicle number and call the city department to lodge a complaint. If you aren't happy with the response, talk to the elected officials or go to a council meeting.

Already done so on lodging a complaint, but I haven't received any response back as of this post. If it happens again with the same employee, then I will take further (legal) steps in getting through to the city officials.

Hey, man, you don't talk to joeybike. You listen to him. The man's enlarged my mind. He's a poet warrior in the classic sense. I mean sometimes he'll... uh... well, you'll say "hello" to him, right? And he'll just walk right by you. He won't even notice you. And suddenly he'll grab you, and he'll throw you in a corner, and he'll say, "Do you know that 'if' is the middle word in life? If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you, if you can trust yourself when all men doubt you"... I mean I'm... no, I can't... I'm a little man, I'm a little man, he's... he's a great man! I should have been a pair of ragged claws scuttling across floors of silent seas...

I hear ya. I gave an education to an A-hole on Sunday. I had broken free of the rural section and was on a long downhill entering an urban section. cars were parked on the right and I got my speed up to about 30 so I was a good 3 feet away from the parked cars and definitely in the travel lane. little to no 2-way traffic and this truck buzzes me. I catch up to him at the red and give him a proper salute with a verbal addition. he rolls up to me and puts down the passenger side window. I provide his sorely needed education and finish with an expletive after he tells me "I guess I didn't care about you". Yeesh.

on the plus side, my adrenaline was boosted which made the next 10 miles fly by! :-)

You know, I'd have been pissed if someone told me that, but in the reading of it you have to admit it was a pretty good line coming from a cager. :lol:

Oh BS... the drivers know what to do, and running a red light in front of them is still not an invitation to be passed on the right through a parking space. Especially since the motorist was doing his "stupid act" well before Joey did his.

I just don't buy it. What it really comes down to is that to be a safe cyclist, you have to be as much of an AH as some of the drivers out there and beat them at their game. And there are plenty of AH drivers to give examples.

Gee does the same rule apply for cars... cause I see speeders and RTOR drivers that fail to stop, all the time, and they expect to be able to "use the lane."

That's when you toss the grenade in the back seat and say "nor me about you," and ride off... Oh if only! Yup heard this same sort of sentiment too...

obviously being honest even if he was an A-hole. Instead of the expletive I should have said - "you should (care about the cyclist) because I have your plate #"

Good one!