re: "Mom-mobiles, because the driver is probably distracted by kids and a cell phone"

stopped at Dunkin Donuts after my swim this morning and a van-Mom stopped out front as sent her young daughter in to get food. the girl was about 8-10 yrs old. I watched the Mom the whole time I waited for my food. she never looked up to check on her daughter. when I got outside she was still busy texting. that kid could have been gone for all she would know! I was soooo close to saying something to her, like: "hey where did your kid go?"

prius drivers are pissed we're using less gas than them. I've been purposely buzzed by more than 3 of them in the past 3 years

I agree with the cell phone thing. Every time some hooks me or honks/yells I notice a cell phone in use. I have been around the world and I think Japan and Korea are the best places to commute by bike. The US isn't as bad as other places like Saudi Arabia or Germany.

the ones i steer clear of are:

1. cars with tinted windows. if i can't see where the drivers looking, how am i supposed to know what they're doing? turn signals are rarely any help.

2. cops. this has been mentioned before, but there's a police station four or five blocks from my house and my experience is that our "finest" like to speed, cut lanes and run reds. who's going to ticket them, after all? and if you ever get hit by one of them while they're driving badly you can guarantee you'll be the one getting the ticket for it.

3. horses. this probably isn't an issue in your municipality, but here july seems to be ride-your-horse-on-the-street month. they have a mind of their own and always seem to be piloted by some oil executive pretending to be a cowboy who has approximately zero horse-handling skills. most notable incident was nearly being trampled by a runaway minature chuckwagon being pulled by shetland ponies in 2008. ugh.

the worst, of course, are cops on horseback with reflective sunglasses.

I rest my case! :D

a very distinct childhood memory is our ford country squire station wagon filled with the 6 of us being chased on a dirt road by an Amish guy driving a team of horses with a coach of some kind. it looked like a hundred horses to me but there were probably only 4. a bike would have been no match, not even a fully suspended MTB.

maybe it was just 3, or 2 or 1 or would you believe 1 angry boyscout?

http://www.mybrightonandhove.org.uk/...h,_c._1900.jpg
http://www.blogcdn.com/www.switched....tchedamish.jpg
http://www.theglobalgame.com/images/goshen_buggy.jpg

http://www.flickr.com/photos/11437102@N00/3334396034
http://www.worldofstock.com/slides/PCU5319.jpg
http://cache3.asset-cache.net/xc/717...6BF04B24B4128C

Some of these profiles definitely correlate significantly. In my rearview mirror I'm looking for two things primarily:

1. Big vehicles/Big sideview mirrors
2. Any vehicle that doesn't appear to be moving just a bit more left as it approaches me.

Up front I'm just trying to make eye contact with anyone entering the roadway, any impediments to that is a BIG RED FLAG.

For passing parallel parked cars, I do my best to look through their windshields and into their sideview mirrors for activity and also for front wheels turned toward the roadway. If their wheels aren't turned out they can't pull out.

Speaking of parallel parked cars, I pay particular attention to Full Sized pickup trucks. Those doors are huge and your body, not your front wheel is going to be the crush zone.

OK no frappachino for you

I never got buzzed when I used this. man that was some nasty a*sed $20 bike though!

the city vanpools are easily identifiable and consistently hostile.

http://www.trpc.org/resources/vanpool_with_kris.jpg

Somebody actually stopped at an intersection and gave me big clearance (it was my right-of-way but still they seldom yield it) and he turned out to be on a cell phone.

Lotta cell phones today, I guess they're trying to jam in all the calls they can before the governor signs onto making it a primary offense.

Raleigh, sounds like you're riding in the door zone. You shouldn't have to watch for doors being opened.

The white van man, yeah, that's probably up there on the worst drivers list. I had one of those guys lean on his horn the other day because I had the audacity to occupy the 'straight through' lane (as opposed to the left or right turn lane) as I was going straight through an intersection, of all things. I was flying, too... downhill, wind behind me, on a mission to pick up my car to transport my sick cat from the vet's to the ICU. I was probably going close to 50 km/h... in a 50 km/h zone. I let him pass after the intersection, but a few blocks down the road at a red light I saw him take out his anger by yelling at a panhandler on the corner. He wasted way more of his time on that than on 'waiting' behind me (which actually delayed him not at all), but also wasted the time of everyone behind him who was waiting to make a right turn at that corner while he raged on the panhandler instead of just getting on with things. Unfortunately, I don't think he noticed how pointless all his raging was, and that I had kept up with him the whole way.

What's this Jeep thing? Are we talking all Jeeps, or just the kind where the top comes off? I'm guessing that if it's the convertible kind, then maybe it's because they appeal to a younger thrill-seeking crowd? My husband drives a Jeep Wrangler. We really like it, and the fun of having a convertible.

I know what I'm doing with PP cars, I'm easily 3+ feet away and I'll take the center of the lane when appropriate. I'm just saying, if you *assume* you are never in the *door zone*, you may leave yourself to be taken out by an F150, or even worse, a Chrysler Cordoba .

and the u-haul. can't forget the u-haul.

that's basically some guy who's never driven a big truck before driving a big truck... probably in a city that's brand new to him.

formula for bad.

Fixed that for you.

Some of them are even more smug than we are.

Much of this thread is sadly pathetic.

It is a little known fact that Mercedes and BMW owners pay a special tax at the point of purchases that allows them to kill a cyclist without any fear or prosecution.

People who drive VW Jettas only think they have paid this tax... as a messenger and rider I found that Jetta drivers were the worst after anyone driving a Hummer.

My commute (also in the Boston area) includes many segments in door zones. In fact, all of the bike lanes I ride in Cambridge are in door zones.

I got one better than that: I was in the left tire track of the left lane, preparing to make a left turn. As I went to put my left arm out to signal my turn, I had to pull it back because there was a BUS RIGHT THERE, passing me on the left. It had crossed the double yellow to pass me (which is absurd because there was a lane and a half of room on my right for him to pass me). It was shortly after that I bought my helmet mirror.

I honestly can't pick out one or two types of vehicles that I feel have drivers who are consistently worse than any other. It seems to be pure luck of the draw.

I guess we all ought to be shamed into silence, but I'll press on. I get really nervous around contractors' vehicles -- really, any van or pickup with a union bumper sticker. Don't get me wrong: I'm a pro-union socialist, even by the standards of my hometown. But man -- these guys roar around town as if they had diplomatic immunity.

Or 100 times more even (in my case)... ;) It's even better when, in addition to having a cheaper vehicle and using less gas (i.e., zero gas), you're faster than they are too. :D I have had a couple of my closer calls with Priuses.

Other dangerous classes of vehicles in no particular order (and most, if not all, already mentioned):
TAXIS!!!
BMWs
SUVs, particularly Ford Explorers and Expeditions for some reason

I find that the white utility vans in my experience tend to be pretty courteous. Must be they know I can call them in w/ their vehicle number if they're an ass to me behind the wheel. All I need to memorize is the vehicle number and the company name. The rest is in the phone book. Even UPS drivers are pretty good, when they're actually driving. My issue with them is their habit of double parking in the bike lane.

Other good drivers:
Cars w/ bike racks :)
Scandinavian cars: Saabs and Volvos
Subarus
VWs

I try not to let my guard down, though, with any car. This is, after all, just profiling.

That's one class of vehicle in DC that does scare me, too. Actual diplomats. They drive like they have diplomatic immunity, because...
they actually have diplomatic immunity. While most are courteous, they can be scary.

Tow trucks. Absolute worst drivers. Period.