Patronizing Drivers

Is anyone else annoyed by partonizing drivers? The ones who come to a dead stop in traffic and motion you across the road even though they have the right of way and traffic would flow smoother and more predictably for everyone if they didn't. When I'm riding with the flow of traffic, I expect to be treated like any other vehicle. I don't want special privileges other than common courtesy and enough space for safety. Sometimes all a driver needs to do is look in their rear view mirror and see that there is no one behind them and therefore stopping only wastes time for them and me. The only time I welcome someone making a special stop for me is if I'm waiting to turn left on the double yellow line in a busy street with cars whizzing by closely on both sides. If I'm at a stop sign, I'll wait until there's a break in traffic just like any other vehicle would.

If they stop to let you go, you know that they see you. How do you know that the person behind that driver letting you through the stop sign will even see you, much less recognize you as another vehicle?

K.

I'm personally thrilled whenever they aren't using me as a target out here. I miss the other side of the state with the polite bike-friendly drivers. Here there are mostly hillybillies with trucks that think it's a fun sport to scare the beejeebers out of you!

I have to agree more with Deb, drivers who stop in stupid places just because they think they are being nice are almost as scary as the ones who are really rude, because when you refuse to take their "nice gesture" you might be creating ill will with the driver, so who knows what they will do next time.
What they don't seem to get is they are doing something dangerous My husband and I encountered one of these people just two days ago. They stopped and waved us on into the path of traffic coming the other direction. They get so fixated on the bikes that they forget we have to deal with all of the other traffic that is not their particular car.

I encountered one of those yesterday. A driver stopping in traffic and waiting for me to go when I couldn't because of traffic in the other direction. I worry that all the drivers behind the guy who stopped needlessly will be upset at cyclists for slowing traffic. Or they could try to pass the stopped car and create a more hazardous situation. I'd rather wait for a break in traffic than depend on driver B to guess what driver A is doing.

Then there was the time I was riding straight down a road where a policeman was stationed to help cars turn left into a school driveway. The policeman motioned for a car to turn left right in front of me. The driver saw me and refused to do so, while the policeman began to get angry with him. You don't expect a policeman to totally not see you and almost cause an accident.

I'm with Deb and Eden, although I appreciate the gesture and I don't want to create tension between cars and bikers, it doesn't help me to stop traffic so I can cross the street. A)it may not be safe for me to cross Both lanes of traffic and B) the ppl behind the stopped car may Not see me, may not know why traffic is stopped and pull out to pass the stopped cars and then I'm a pancake.
I try to motion the stopped car on with a smile on my face and a wave of thanks.
On the other side of the coin, my commute home crosses a very busy 6 lane divided street and I can't tell you the number of times I've had BAT's (big a** trucks) stop RIGHT in front of me, completely blocking any access to the crossing.
Guess no matter what we do, we're just little bitty bugs on their windhshield of life!

Sometimes I can anticipate that and I make a point to be looking anywhere but at the driver in question... especially if I can do that by looking at the other direction cars might be coming from. Other times I have to just wave *them* through.

This is one of my pet peeves. I know they think they are being nice to me, but really, all they have to do is drive in a sane, predictible manner, and we're all good - and safe.

Maybe I'm sensitive, but I get the feeling that they feel sorry for the poor benighted idiot on the bicycle - no car, no money, no friends,...{sob} I'm happier than you are, thankyouverymuch, and don't need your pity.

(Ahem.) Thank you for letting me get that of my chest. I feel much better now.

As for the BATs that block your lane, I fantisize about bunny-hopping up onto their hood, laying a cleat mark or two in their paint, then zooming off down the bike trail. :D

Of course, LWB recumbents don't bunny-hop. I can dream, though.

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Originally Posted by MomOnBike

Maybe I'm sensitive, but I get the feeling that they feel sorry for the poor benighted idiot on the bicycle - no car, no money, no friends,...{sob} I'm happier than you are, thankyouverymuch, and don't need your pity.

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LOL... a bit of this made me smile, Mom... most of the bikes in our shed would be worth as much or a significant portion of many of the "recycled" cars that trundle past us when we are out riding...
:rolleyes:
Drivers (who don't cycle) can be so very misinformed...

I just took a Street Skills for Cyclists, sponsored by the LAB, and they addressed this very issue. It was suggested that you learn to exercise "mind control" over motorists. Let them know you intend to follow the rules of the road with a few visual cues that tell them you are stopping--unclip at least one of your feet, if nessary, put it on the ground, take a drink of water, blow your nose etc. It's worked every time I've had to use.

Deanna, good suggestion "visual cues that tell them you are stopping--unclip at least one of your feet, if nessary, put it on the ground, take a drink of water, blow your nose etc."

or read the paper and talk on the cell phone like they are doing ;)

the other thing I do is when aproaching an intersection with a green light for me, even if I'm slowing, scanning trafic because just cuz they have a red light does not mean they will stop :eek: I keep pedaling in hopes (mind control) that drivers will see me as "going".

If you slow and stop pedaling, they think "stopping".

But I've been stopped, at a red, in the correct lane for that, hands at my sides, foot on the ground and had drivers do the "shrug shoulders exasperated hands up WTF are you doing going or not going?" expression.

There are *some* nice drivers where I ride.. There are thousands of cyclists in my area, so while drivers may not like us, there are SO MANY of us that they are more or less used to us. They give cyclists a wide berth or let the cyclists have right of way even when we shouldn't have it.

Regardless, I am very wary of all drivers because it might LOOK like they're allowing you right of way (especially when I'm SUPPOSED to have it) when they're actually staring at X behind you and then suddenly dart in front, prompting a volley of yells from me. I'm VERY vocal out of necessity...:mad:

The drivers that make me most nuts are the ones that CLEARLY see you as you're traveling the same direction, going the same speed, and even acknowledging your presence on the road while approaching a stoplight/stopsign. And yet, they decide to speed up to pass you and make a right turn RIGHT as you're both reaching the stop, forcing hard braking, and, in my case, a fury of screamed cusswords.

Or even worse, the ones in a similar scenario that don't signal as they drive right along with you in their blindspot and slowly run you off the side of the road.. I've taken to smacking the sides of the vehicles when I have found myself in this dangerous position as a "YO, CYCLIST HERE!" warning. This has prompted more than a few to suddenly realize just how close they are to me.

...takes a deep breath...

Yes, this just happened to me YESTERDAY in the same ride.

We were heading back to the carpark after our night ride on monday (read 9pm!!!) and were suddenly squirted with a water gun from some passing motorist. We were very very well lit & riding single file not bothering anyone.

What I wonder is what were these guys doing on a MONDAY night squirting people??? Monday I say...:confused:

c

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Originally Posted by Eden

What they don't seem to get is they are doing something dangerous My husband and I encountered one of these people just two days ago. They stopped and waved us on into the path of traffic coming the other direction. They get so fixated on the bikes that they forget we have to deal with all of the other traffic that is not their particular car.

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Sadly, a 7 year old pedestrian in my little town was killed this way. A well meaning motorist saw her waiting to cross the street to the park, stopped and waved her across. Cassie was struck by a van which had the right-of-way and had stopped at the stop sign, but unfortunately didn't see her. This vehicle was carrying an out-of-town elementary school jumprope troupe who had just performed at Cassie's school earlier in the day. Awareness of all the elements around you and eye contact are essential (I'm working on that one :rolleyes: ). You can't assume anything.