hodie21

I try to tell the guys in my group ride this all the time. We have one big road hog.

coasting 

group rides get like this because people start to chat and pull up next to each other and then stop paying attention of others around.

patentcad

I'm driving up RT. 9W north of Piermont last weekend and some idiot is completely hogging the entire lane. I wanted to roll down my window and ask him why, but it's pointless. Anyone stupid enough to be doing that is beyond the pale, anyone stupid enough to even be riding a bicycle on that section of 9W is similarly unreachable.

Donegal

Since the average age of mototcyclists has risen to 35 from 25, mainly due to the middle-age crisis 40+ year old rush to join the cycling crowd, fatalities have risen more than 100%. These figures are availiable from the highway safety commission. The reason why, is that after driving more than 20 years, these new riders are not cautious enough. They know they are in the right, dead right.

You are right-that car shouldn't have turned in front of you.
You are right-that suv pulled right out in front of you.
You are right-that truck shouldn't have passed on a curve.

If you don't take into consideration that these things happen everyday, it's only a matter of time until you get a ride in an ambulance, or worse.

Now I see morons on bicycles, blocking lanes, riding 2x2 because they are right. It makes it hard on me because I ride on a lot of country roads full of blind corners and high speeds. I ride rollers all winter and can ride the white line quite comfortably. Why do I want to be out in the middle of the road if a vehicle comes around a corner at high speed?

Every once in awhile we run across a driver that needs an attitude adjustment. Fine, but I don't believe in antagonizing every car on the road because I can. This doesn't help us one bit.

Reynolds 

Your rant is right. But let me do mine:
I was hit from behind while riding to the right of the white line by a zig-zagging drunk a*****e.

sbxx1985 

Pointless or not, I can't help myself in these situations. I always roll down my window and yell. I feel it's my duty as a cyclist to yell at the idiots when I'm a motorist. And then I usually get the finger.

Boulder might be a platinum level cycling city, but it's the mecca of velo elitism.

patentcad

The drunk driver part is beyond your control. All you can do is stay right, after that it's in God's hands. Whether you believe in God or not, that part is not in your hands.

patentcad

Learning what you can't control (99% of stuff in the world) and letting go of all that is probably the most important part of being sane. Learn what you don't control (almost everything) and work on what you can control. Get in touch with all the crap you are powerless over.

It is quite liberating.

This is why I firmly believe that for many cyclists, rear view mirrors don't enhance their safety, they compromise it. A mirror can distract your attention from holding your line, which really is the only thing you can control. If you look left (into your mirror) you may well swerve left (into traffic) and even if you don't, it may impair your ability to ride in a straight line.

Is it possible to use a rear view mirror and be safer? Of course. Does it make some cyclists less safe? Of course.

banerjek

I count on the idiots to get smushed first. According to a National Geographic article awhile back, your odds of dying in a bike wreck are about 1 in 5,000. Considering that most people don't ride bicycles, the odds are greater.

A lot of people here will be easily top 10 in terms of bike mileage for any random sample of 5,000 people, probably a bunch would be #1. But if you don't ride like an idiot, I think your actual chances of getting killed are far less than someone who rides 1/10th or even 1/50th as much

patentcad

Hey, life is short.

Besides, if you want to live forever, you're not a Mets or a Cubs fan. Death wouldn't be so bad. It would end our frustration.

sbxx1985 

It's all about Ryne Sandberg. And Ron Santo.

BarracksSi

I've wanted to run them off while on my bike.

sbxx1985 

My frustration is worse than yours.

njkayaker

While I don't generally ride at the extreme right, I don't have any problem with helping cars pass me. I get yelled at rarely and most of that rare yelling is done when it's safer not to be at the extreme right.

pinwheel

I hate riding along at over 20mph with traffic passing on my left then seeing a bike salmon doodling along, dead ahead. thats when I really start to yell.

coasting 

so what have you yelled at other cyclists from a car?

"Change gears, moron"...i like this one when i see a struggling masher going uphill.

Only possible as the passenger in the car so you are right next to the cyclist being passed.

slushlover2

I have this discussion with other riders all the time. I can't conform to the "take the lane" mentality that many riders have. I have been riding for 30 year and haven't been hit yet. There have been several times that if I had not been riding on the far right of the road that I would have been hit. I've had cars come within inches of me, I'm sure they didn't even see me!!!

FlashUNC

I can think of a couple personal examples where taking the lane has makes sense:

1) On country roads where I don't want to be on the shoulder on a blind curve to get clipped by a car. Better off towards the middle of the lane where they can see me.

2) Large group rides on roads with more than one lane in each direction. If we're rolling out with 30-40 guys early on a Sunday morning, a double paceline just makes more sense. We'll tighten and single it up on narrower roaders, but take the lane on multi-lane roads. Otherwise the paceline gets broken up by lights, signs, the works.

3) When you're traveling the speed limit. Nothing wrong with taking the lane when you can keep up with traffic.

But yeah, 9 times out of ten, riding off to the right generally leaves you free of the horror stories you hear.

kr32

I agree 100%
I ride mostly well 99% solo and I would say 99% of that is either on or as close to the white line as possible even though there may be no cars anywhere near me.
It is a habit I have now. Stay right , right as possible and be safe.

wneumann

Yay for single data points! Here's another useless statistic for you. According to that article, bike riding is only negligibly more deadly than flying.and far safer than walking, swimming, or... um... falling. But we all know it's not that simple, so why present the 1 in 5000 stat as if it were?

But if you want stats, here are some more*:
There were ~43,000 traffic accidents in 2007 where a cyclist was injured and 689 where the cyclist was killed**, for a ratio of 62.4:1 injuries to deaths.
There were ~1,379,000 traffic accidents in 2007 where a passenger car occupant was injured and 16,520 where the occupant was killed, for a ratio of 83.5:1 injuries to deaths.
There were ~841,000 traffic accidents in 2007 where a light truck occupant was injured and 12,413 where the occupant was killed, for a ratio of 67.75:1 injuries to deaths.

This means that in significant traffic accidents (i.e. ones leading to injury or death), a cyclist is just 1.3 times more likely to die than the occupant of a passenger car, and a scant 1.09 times more likely to die than a light truck occupant.

But even this doesn't tell us all that much about the specifics. What were the modes of the accidents? What were the likely contributing factors? What type of road did the accident take place & what were the time and weather conditions?

Bottom line, saying "Stay right, it's safer," is flat out useless, and quite possibly false -- depending on the circumstances. Also, most people have some pretty crappy risk estimation skills.


* Statistics courtesy NTHSA
** Died within 30 days of accident

davida

Hi

Where I come from, it is actually legal to ride two abreast, even on single lane roads. This really complicates things because almost all of the group rides tend to run two abreast, often to the annoyance of motorists. The cyclists are riding legally, but putting themselves at increased risk by doing so.

So I generally ride solo due to the very early morning rides I do. I generally stay to the right, but if riding in the dark I tend to drift out a bit to avoid falling off the edge of the tarmac. I do tend to take the lane in a couple of locations where there is a gas station and a Macdonalds. People seem to just swerve into these. They have no idea how pathetic road bike brakes are, particulalry in the wet. So I drift out a bit - still give them room to go around me, but it discourages them from cutting across me, and gives me somewhere to go if they do.

davida

spry

That's not very polite.
Did it ever occur to you that those English cars cannot get up enough speed to pass you.

kostyap

So why are you still here?

roadiejorge 

Amen. There are a lot of muppets out there who do nothing for those of us who ride responsibly and I've heard all sorts of absurd reasons as to why they think it's a good idea to ride far into a lane.

patentcad

To annoy the Road Nazis and Freds, and to pit them against each other on BF.