Drivers that swerve/drift into the bike lane after passing you...
 

Are:

A. Coincidentally distracted.
B. Looking at you in the rear-view mirror and accidentally drifting into the bike lane because of it.
C. Doing it on purpose to let you know they don't like you.
D. Who cares! They didn't hit you, so let it go.

E. Driving one handed while eating a burger impaired their ability to steer. :)

That's quite a camera rig you've got there. Very cool. But I'd keep taping for a while until you get something that breaks squelch, which I don't think this one does. There is no smoking gun here unless objects in video are 10x+ closer than they appear.

When you do finally get the bastard red handed (laned?), I vote for: F) heavier than a duck. Burn them!

The cars that drift into the bike lane help get rid of the debris that builds up in them. Hence, less chance of a flat tire.

All good, unless I'm in the bike lane with the car and get turned into debris myself.

My hypothesis is that they're under the impression that the cyclist 'forced' them to move way to left even though they only moved a few inches at most. So then they figure they need to move way over to the right to get back on course.

I think they're just not that good at driving and oversteer. I see it sometimes as well but it never seems particularly malicious to me. I think it's more usually correct if you assume incompetence instead of malice when it comes to drivers.

A) could also mean: Multi-tasking while driving, then luckily noticing a cyclist, passing cyclist , then back to multi tasking+driving.

They probably swerved out of the bike lane behind you. Before swerving into the lane in front of you.

Some drivers just don't know how wide their vehicle really is and/or don't understand that the driver's seat is off centerline; see enough of them with the passenger side wheels in the shoulder regardless of bike presence.

This.

I notice this every day on my daily commute. I've been pondering the same question.My best guess is it is just overcompensation from having moved to the left to give me a wide enough berth....... but sometimes I wonder if it is intentional.

I ride on a shoulder on my commute. I notice the guys that pass me too closely often slide over into the shoulder after the pass. Not sure what this means at all. Some people probably shouldn't be driving, whatever the intent.

I like to think they are checking me out, at least the cute girls. The guys are looking at my bike.

I'd say this one's intentional but if that's the worst thing they do, thank them for cleaning the road. sometimes it's a weave from going to the left but that one looked kinda obvious, too straight to then bear right. i wonder if it's just people's way of yelling without rolling down the window.

I did that once but not to provoke the rider. I went into the left lane to pass the rider then want to quickly go back to the right lane since I was slower than the rest of traffic that time. So I turn right to merge back but a little quick, and rather than jolt the car left to go straight I make a more shallow turn into part of the bike lane instead.

I think if a driver really does it intentionally he will QUICKLY swerve to the lane close to you then QUICKLY swerve back to his lane.

Hanlon's Razor - a favourite of mine!

As mentioned before most people drive in a way (besides distracted and incompetent) that avoids quick movements and sort of "drifts" around from lane to lane. Slow lazy lane changes that scoop wide to the opposite side before slowly finding enter of lane. Lots of overcompensating for perceived movements etc. When a driver typically starts to "feel" the weight transfer in their vehicle they seem to get that 'oh crud' feeling and try to avoid it.

For instance, most cars can quickly stop in a decent distance but often people don't stop quick enough because everything in the car will shift and fly forward. Instead of really firm steady full pressure they brake at 3/4 pressure and do a big right or left turn off onto a shoulder, potentially causing more problems.


What's even scarier is the many many times I see distracted people drifting into the bike lanes or shoulders when I'm in a car behind them. I always imagine that's where I could have been.

Love the videos title!!!

B.

From my personal experience, it's done by too many motorists for me to consider it 100% intentional. I'll generally consider it intentional when motorists drive partially/fully in the bike lane behind me, and nonchalantly drift back into their travel lane just before they pass me.

Or putting makeup, jabbering on the phone, playing games (seen that one too!), texting, etc. They are, simply said, mostly unaware of their surroundings.

taking the short line thru the corner, as if the bike lane was not there?

To find the correct answer you must think like a cager not a cyclist.

A cager would say " the cyclist wasn't moving, so once I passed them I had that lane to myself".

As annoying as that is, at least they move over to go past you.
I too have wondered about some of them going into the bike lane, as though they were trying to send me a "message". Who knows, maybe they were. Then again, people do the same exact thing to me when I'm driving, pass me, then jig over into the bike lane for a bit. I suppose, (outside of dangerous acts) it's better for your state of mind if you give them the benefit of the doubt, "Meh, silly humans." And then you go on your way. :)

All of the above and combinations depending on the driver. What is better, swerving into the bike lane because the driver cannot properly control the vehicle or swerving int the bike lane as an aggressive tactic to 'teach that cyclist a lesson!'? Both a highly dangerous.

B, C, and D...I usually figure they are either pissed at me, or they are just over-correcting.

My mother tells me that when she passes cyclists on single lane roads she does so as quickly as possible when the oncoming lane is clear, so that she and they are at risk for the shortest amount of time...this does mean that she has to get back into her lane quickly as well, though, so she may understandably over-correct