CYCLISTS, ARRGHHH!!!
So I almost killed a cyclist today. Idiot, him, not me.
Passed him about a few hundred meters from the stop light taking up the whole right lane (brits, reverse everything and you'll understand). Actually, I don't mind cyclists taking a whole lane, that's what they're supposed to do, and especially when snow banks have further restricted lane width, I never feel comfortable passing a cyclist who's clinging to the curb and change lanes anyway. So this guy had the right idea. Anyway, I get to the stop light and have to make a right turn. I watch the pedestrians go by, and start my turn when cycle-boy races through the curb side gap! ASSHOLE!!!!
I catch him in my mirror, but it was inches, and he nearly fell off. OK, so I probably wouldn't have killed him, but it would of hurt.
Though the rules on this are clear, I realize cyclists sometimes want to act like pedestrians, however, MAKE UP YOUR FVCKING MINDS! Either you're going to approach an intersection as a vehicle and not try to pass on the curbside (inside) of a car making a right turn, or you can approach the intersection as a pedestrian and SLOW DOWN then pass on the curbside or sidewalk when the way is clear or cars have spotted you. YOU move a lot faster than pedestrians, if you jam through the curbside, you're basically undetectable, the angle of the car, the vehicle behind me and your speed make you virtually invisible. GO TO THe SIDEWALK, at least there's a chance I can see you on the sidewalk.
The only way I could be any more would be if Jobs was riding the bike as it blew by.
Passed him about a few hundred meters from the stop light taking up the whole right lane (brits, reverse everything and you'll understand). Actually, I don't mind cyclists taking a whole lane, that's what they're supposed to do, and especially when snow banks have further restricted lane width, I never feel comfortable passing a cyclist who's clinging to the curb and change lanes anyway. So this guy had the right idea. Anyway, I get to the stop light and have to make a right turn. I watch the pedestrians go by, and start my turn when cycle-boy races through the curb side gap! ASSHOLE!!!!
I catch him in my mirror, but it was inches, and he nearly fell off. OK, so I probably wouldn't have killed him, but it would of hurt. Though the rules on this are clear, I realize cyclists sometimes want to act like pedestrians, however, MAKE UP YOUR FVCKING MINDS! Either you're going to approach an intersection as a vehicle and not try to pass on the curbside (inside) of a car making a right turn, or you can approach the intersection as a pedestrian and SLOW DOWN then pass on the curbside or sidewalk when the way is clear or cars have spotted you. YOU move a lot faster than pedestrians, if you jam through the curbside, you're basically undetectable, the angle of the car, the vehicle behind me and your speed make you virtually invisible. GO TO THe SIDEWALK, at least there's a chance I can see you on the sidewalk.
The only way I could be any more
would be if Jobs was riding the bike as it blew by.
Comments
[ 02-28-2003: Message edited by: RodUK ]</p>
I'm not saying that the cyclist did not inadvertently endanger his own life. Just pointing out that you make it sound like drivers always obey the rules of the road, and so should cyclists. I think drivers have a much longer way to go than cyclists.
I've been hit four times while riding my bike in the city. Every time, I was completely obeying every rule of the road. The first three times, a driver didn't yield to me when making a left hand turn across the intersection. Granted, they probably never saw me, but I'm not wearing urban camo. I move at about 22mph and wear rather bright clothing. The fourth time, back in October, someone opened their car door and whacked me real good.
I even checked my tail light when I got to work just to make sure it wasn't burnt.
Please, decide before you get to the intersection whether you want to act as a vehicle or a pedestrian.
<strong>I guess you were signalling left, oops, I mean right at the time? (or is the left, oops, I mean right hand lane for left, oops, I mean right hand turns only?)
[ 02-28-2003: Message edited by: RodUK ]</strong><hr></blockquote>
<img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" />
When I take my Vespa out, I watch and watch and watch, and yeild to just about everyone, because even if I'm right, in a collision, I'm more likely to be dead.
This isn't the first time. I don't know how many times in city traffic I've looked into my mirror to find a cyclist splitting lanes right on my bumper. That's not easy to spot, if I weren't careful I'd have made paste of more than a few cyclists by now.
EDIT: I hope you guys aren't waiting on a signal (or lack of one) as permission to go straight up the inside. You'd both be at fault, but you absolutely aren't supposed to go straight from that position. If traffic is moving I could see it being a little different as you're trying to make sapce and the cars are moving faster than you, but you should probably just pull away from the curb and hog the lane when you know a light is coming. I don't care, you can only pedal so fast, I understand that, It's not like some old lady going 20 in a 50 (km's, about 12-30mph).
[ 02-28-2003: Message edited by: Matsu ]</p>
<strong>I hope you guys aren't waiting on a signal (or lack of one) as permission to go straight up the inside.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Only when I'm with my girlfriend...
(Sorry, I'm in a funny mood today <img src="embarrassed.gif" border="0"> )
<strong>The fourth time, back in October, someone opened their car door and whacked me real good.</strong><hr></blockquote>
I've literally lost count of the number of times this has happened to me, but fortunately I have yet to actually do any damage to myself or to my lovely machine.
I've only been knocked off once in all my years of cycling in London, and that was by a big MPV with German plates on the Marylebone Road who forced me off the road. I rode like a mad person after them with murder on my mind all the way to the Paddington fly-over where they escaped on the dual carriageway.
I'm very careful on my bike generally, but I don't always observe the highway code. I spend a lot of time cursing drivers who cut me up. I always thank drivers who let me out (I'm not from the city and have manners.)
Er... I have no point to make.
So, if you want to be safe, buy big, drive big. If you want to be on the losing end of the proposition, stay unshielded from reality.
When I go to work (which I do everyday), I use my bike.
And everyday some car driver does something stupid. On some day they pass me very close (this week it was a long truck, about 30m long passing me very very close! Damn! I almost had a heart attack and would have fell under his rear wheels, but I didn't have one. phew. lucky me.)
Another time, I'm driving with 50km/h (31 mph) and although the maximum speed is 50 km/h, he has to pass me. asshole. (he, not you-)
I have many more to tell. Some you don't even want to know. <img src="graemlins/oyvey.gif" border="0" alt="[oyvey]" />
edited for clarity-
[ 02-28-2003: Message edited by: Defiant ]</p>
But no, he guns it when I'm 30 feet from him, trying to get across in front of me. HARD on the brakes, and I go over the bars, landing on my hands and knees for a cool little slide action. Picked up a golf ball sized rock on my way up and toss it... right into the trunk of the car. Pussy kept driving. Good thing for him, I was in total Hulk mode.
Damn that hurt...
[ 02-28-2003: Message edited by: murbot ]</p>
flick.
<strong>As a cyclist and a daily commuter and a mountain bike racer, Idiot! him not you. I know Lots of Curriers and they never pass on the inside neither do I, If your going to blow through traffic do it between the lanes! its unlikely that either car is going to turn into each other. pass ing on the passenger side is stupid. especially at a corner.
flick.</strong><hr></blockquote>
As a cyclist one of my biggest annoyances is when a car just barely passes me and then decides to turn right. I can't usually stop that fast so I have to turn right with him, or collide into his passenger side.
Keep in mind that a cyclist is often frustrated too. There is often high speed traffic with no bike lane on tight roads which makes it somewhat stressful.
Cyclists often do stupid things... I'm sure I do them fairly often. But we attact more than our fair share of hatred. I've had people throw eggs, cabbage and a water balloon at me when driving past. I've biked across much of Canada, highway riding is great... riding in the city sucks.
In Edinburgh we have car free lanes known as greenways (leftmost lane). It's fairly sweet gliding past stationary traffic.
If it has more than two wheels it's trying to kill you.
At night assume everyone's drunk.
Watch the wheel of the car to see if it's moving and/or turning.
Make eye contact with drivers.
Yell, "Get the **** off your cell phone you stupid ****ing moron." as needed.
Also when people turned in front of me I used to always make sure something "thunked" on the side panel. Nothing wakes a shit-head driver up like the sound of a dent.
M3D Jack mentioned riding fast. I used to have a problem with that too. I think drives don't expect you to close so fast. So they pull out <img src="graemlins/bugeye.gif" border="0" alt="[Skeptical]" />
Another problem I had was other shit-head cyclists that ... would go the wrong way down one way streets and then not stop at stop signs because ... well they don't put them up facing backwards, cyclists not paying attention in general (your not in Beijing anymore!), locking their bikes up to hand rails when there's a fscking bike rack 20 feet way ...
I could go on and on.
<strong>Being overtaken by a car transporter with a trailer isn't fun, especially when the driver grossly undersestimates its length and it has a extra trailer. :eek: </strong><hr></blockquote>
it was exactly that kind! :eek:
<strong>I had several rules I lived by back when I was riding much more. Some of them were ...
If it has more than two wheels it's trying to kill you.
At night assume everyone's drunk.
Watch the wheel of the car to see if it's moving and/or turning.
Make eye contact with drivers.
Yell, "Get the **** off your cell phone you stupid ****ing moron." as needed.
Also when people turned in front of me I used to always make sure something "thunked" on the side panel. Nothing wakes a shit-head driver up like the sound of a dent.
M3D Jack mentioned riding fast. I used to have a problem with that too. I think drives don't expect you to close so fast. So they pull out <img src="graemlins/bugeye.gif" border="0" alt="[Skeptical]" />
Another problem I had was other shit-head cyclists that ... would go the wrong way down one way streets and then not stop at stop signs because ... well they don't put them up facing backwards, cyclists not paying attention in general (your not in Beijing anymore!), locking their bikes up to hand rails when there's a fscking bike rack 20 feet way ...
I could go on and on.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Keep in mind that many people are allowed to drive that are legally BLIND! I mean, they could not recogize you if you were 4 feet in front of them. I worked with a married couple that were both that way and one day they told me they both got their licenses. I mean, I'm serious when I say that they could not recognize you standing in front of them. They read their computer screens with their noses touching them AND the BIG LETTERS across the screen.
That's enough to tell me that they have no way of knowing that you are even THERE on the road, let alone in less than perfect (rainy) type days.
So, don't risk your lives. Is it worth it? Think of your families at your casket, is all I have to say.
And yeah, drivers are dimm witts too. I'm getting a lot calmer about my driving, but there are some out there, meh, better not think about it too much. The driving test needs to be seriously revamped. Skills? People just don't have them, but worse, they lack judgement. I guess the biggest baddest SUV in the world can protect you from anything, haha
In all fairness to SUV drivers, some of the worst drivers around I see driving "riced" cars and small late model BMW's.