My First Crash (Or, Why Drivers Should Always Use Their Turn Signals)

Riverskier said:

Legal or not, I am talking common courtesy. I can legally drive 25 in a 45, but I wouldn't, or if I was so inclined to do so I would pull over periodically allowing other drivers to pass. Ultimately though, I agree with what you are saying 100% and perhaps I should have been more specific. I certainly don't expect bicyclists to ride on the very edge, and certainly where safety becomes an issue, I have no problem with taking the lane. However, I occasionally encounter the cyclist that I could best describe as "thinking they are a car" and riding right down the middle of the road when there is no discernable reason to do so. Again, they are a very small minority of riders. I am pro biking, though a mt biker myself, but I do feel as though etiquite work both ways, as with everything in life.

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Okay, now I completely agree with you after the clarification.

Riverskier said:

1) When riding with others and you are about to be passed by a motorist, ride single file! It drives me nuts when passing is impossible or unsafe simply because 2 bicyclists feel the need to ride next to each other blocking the lane. I don't have much experience encountering group rides and am not sure of the dynamics there, perhaps that is different (maybe, maybe not), but this certainly applies to any group of less than 5.

2) Stay as far to the right as possible. Sure bicyclists have a right to the road, but so do cars, and in almost all cases cars go faster. It drives me nuts when someone rides their bike in the middle of the lane. Of course, I live in Maine and drive mostly on country roads, so this may differ in a big city where there is a lot of stop and go at slow speeds.

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I think you would find most cyclists would agree with you 100% on those points. It is easy to forget that almost all cyclists are also drivers and suffer from the same passing issues when a pair or a group hog a lane. It is good form to single it up when a car is approaching from behind. Our group ride usually has a "Car Back" call go up the line and we make room and then spread out double again once the car passes.

Three feet is a good rule of thumb. for passing.

Hugging the shoulder is good in theory but "as far right as possible" is not a great guide. The edge of the road has a lot of crap, rocks, holes, etc. Not only is it dangerous for a bike ride to hug a dangerous shoulder... it is dangerous for the cars as well if a cyclists looses control and goes down. No one wants to drive over a fallen cyclist (well, at least no one would want to deal with the financial and legal ramifications of having done so... :roll: ). So it is in every one's best interest that a road cyclist stay within the shoulder if it is safe to do so and as close to the white line as is safe to do so if no shoulder is available. Sometimes cars will just need to slow down for a few seconds and wait for an opportunity to pass.

Any ways, there is a very visible minority of riders that take too many liberties with taking lanes and don't close down to single file as often as they should or as fast as they should. Responsible bikers are not doing this.

this happens fairly frequently to me and one of the most annoying/dangerous things a driver can do: pass you only to turn right, right in front of you, immediately after passing...why not just slow down and wait the two seconds until the bike clears the intersection...people, they're the worst

spring_mountain_high said:

this happens fairly frequently to me and one of the most annoying/dangerous things a driver can do: pass you only to turn right, right in front of you, immediately after passing...why not just slow down and wait the two seconds until the bike clears the intersection...people, they're the worst

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Classic "me first!" self-importance mentality.

What's also bad (but far less dangerous) is how annoyed drivers behind me get when I slow down to 20mph and follow the cyclist allowing him/her to go through the intersection BEFORE I turn. "me first!" I get tailgated, honked at and glared at. Gotta love our considerate drivers.

My passing rule of thumb (especially at speeds above 40 mph) is to pass cyclists with at least a half-lane clearance (the center of the car on the center line). For pedestrians, I give them a full lane's worth. As a cyclist and pedestrian, I always have felt comfortable with this degree of separation. Obviously these rules of thumb are challenging at best city driving.

There's a facetious, joke that says the most dangerous driver on the road is a diminutive woman, in a large SUV talking on the cell, who is late for the school pickup. While clearly not PC, it is the epitome of distracted driving.