These folks piss me off. They are easily my biggest headache during my admittedly headache and hazard free mostly rural commute.

I am talking about the person who approaches you from behind with miles and miles of visibility ahead. They will slow and linger there for 5 or 10 seconds, sometimes more.

F'IN PASS ME ALREADY!!!!!!!!!!! I think to myself as I roll along on the crappy shoulder I have voluntarily taken to signify that it is indeed OK to pass me, seeing as there's no oncoming traffic for atleast a few minutes, by the looks of it.

I would prefer they buzz by me at 50 mph. That way I can ignore them more quickly as they disappear ahead of me and I can get back out into whatever appears to be the smoothest part of the lane.

They're a problem for me too. They recently chipsealed a high speed road that I ride 2 miles every day, so for about 8 weeks there were no markings on it other than the little plastic yellow tabs they put down the middle. The lanes are something like 16 feet wide, plenty wide enough for even a semi truck to pass me within the lane, but people would just refuse to pass. This is a 50 MPH speed limit road, typical speeds are 55 to 60 MPH.

Finally last week they repainted the lines, and it's now easy to see that I'm in a shoulder (there's a good 2+ foot clean shoulder) and most cars just pass me, though once in a while one will still slow way down before passing me within the lane.

It's particularly a problem near the end of it because I need to turn left into work. If people keep slowing down, they build up solid lines of cars that I have trouble cutting across. If they'd stay up at speed there would be big enough gaps to get over.

Funny.. I had the opposite on the ride home.. the guy was yelling at me to pass him! I was going through downtown on a side street, a one way street, I was in line behind him and just pulling away from a light that turned green, and hes only doing maybe 15 mph max, so Im waiting for him to speed up (usually drivers are quick to vrrooom away from me) and about 5 seconds later he is yelling in his car and arms are flying, saying 'pass me!'

So I did.. didnt even look at him. Freak.

+1

I usually wave my hand for them to pass. I love the drivers who stop at an intersection with no stop sign to let me go!

However, I'm not complaining - I'd rather have them do that than run me off the road into a sewer grate...

If someone is behind you and waits 20-30 seconds before passing, there's likely to be a long line of pissed off drivers right behind them. The hesitant driver usually gives a wide berth, but the next car is likely to take your arm off.

yep, that's what I find on an urban commute. Very important to keep a straight line. Racers and commuters do a pretty good job but a lot of weekend cyclists and bmxers don't keep a line and I"m guessing the hesitant driver can't differentiate between the different cyclists on the road. I can see elderly or tentative drivers seeing cyclists as a squirrel ready to dart under the front tire.

I'd rather have an overly cautious cager than a grab her purse in the passenger seat while texting her b-friend and then lighting her cigarette cager.

Amen!

I find this to be very true in my experience as well. I find it annoying when traffic is overly hesitant to pass, especially when there is a crappy shoulder and no bike lane. However, I see some of the other people on bikes around here getting their swerve on like they are in some sort of a drunken stupor, so I guess it makes sense for traffic to be weary of cyclists.

I agree that a cager should pass with caution and if there is oncoming traffic, I understand their waiting so they can cross the centerline and give me lots of room. What I am talking about is a case of an empty road other than me and the apprehensive cager, with good sight lines ahead. In this case they should just drift over the centerline a bit and pass without even slowing.

As someone else mentioned, the ones that bug me are the drivers who stop when they don't have a stop sign, and wave me through my stop sign.

Tuesday, I came up on a woman on a Specialized road bike. She was moving at a good speed so I didn't pass. We got to a stop sign and she unclipped and stopped. Foot down on the ground. A car stops and waves her through. She got a little flustered, waved the driver through angrily, and said, "I'm the one with the stop sign!" The driver took off, seemingly miffed, judging from the exhaust noise.

They linger for 5-10 seconds before deciding how far left they need to be for safety? How dare they? As you say this is a rural area (low traffic) with good sight lines. So their pause is not causing a safety problem by backing up other cars...

Lighten up! A cautious driver is a GOOD THING!