I'm glad I got this off my chest

[Wahine]

I recently read the riot act to a big rig driver who didn't give me enough room when passing (he nearly ran me off the road). I caught up to him at a stop sign and by the end of our conversation, he was apologizing profusely. So, it can work with truckers, too. I also felt better, like he would be more careful passing other bikes from now on, if for no other reason than to avoid the likes of me.

If you need to do this, use appropriate language (no name calling), and don't lose your cool. Like Indy did, keep it civilized. If you're isolated, if the person looks sketchy, let it go. Although I was really angry, I was able to stay reasonable and explain why his passing was dangerous and illegal, and the best option when passing a bike is to wait until it is safe.

Like you said, it's so important to communicate in a civilized manner. I live in a small town with a lot of farm land surrounding. I ride my bike. I treat a lot of the farmers. When they come in complaining about cyclists on the road and that the roads are too narrow for them to get past (a lot of our roads are twisty with limited visibility but traffic isn't heavy). I ask them two things,what is the longest time they have ever been stuck behind a cyclist before they could pass and do they get just as frustrated when they get stuck behind a tractor on the road. It seems to make a lot of them realize that they are letting themselves get wound up over seconds of delay and that it really is a matter of perspective.

[indysteel]

Thanks for all the compliments, gang.

@Red: I would have loved to have seen that!

@Wahine: What a great way to make your point to farmers. I'll have to try that.

Thankfully, most cars in my county give us plenty of room. It's the loose dogs that remain an issue. We had to divert our route on Sunday because of a newly chip and sealed road ('tis the season ) and I was so apprehensive the entire ride because I was scanning the horizon for errant dogs. The only chased appeared to be from dogs behind an electric fence. Of course, it's hard to tell if a property owner has an electric fence as the dogs come barrelling toward you.

As far as California stops, I do that to some degree, but DH is a stickler for full stops, so I stop more often than I used to. In town, it's another story. Certainly, we come to a complete stop when there are cars already in or near the intersection. And I'm wary of the stop-signed intersections in Franklin as it is. If anyone read my rants in the Dear So and So thread last week, the drivers in my community simply don't understand four-way stops. Yet again today, I had a truck pull into the intersection when it was clearly my turn. It drives me nuts. So, when I'm on my bike, I make darn certain no one else is proceeding through before I go.

[Wahine]

As far as California stops, I do that to some degree, but DH is a stickler for full stops, so I stop more often than I used to.

One of the RAAM rules it that you must obey all traffic signs/signals. So of course the racers want a definition of what is considered a legal stop. RAAM just wants everyone to ride safely but doesn't want to impede forward progress either.

So here is the definition of a RAAM legal stop: You have to slow down enough that the individual spokes of your wheels are visible to a person watching the stop (ie the officials).

I think it's a great way to behave at stop signs. Having said that, if I come up to a busier intersection with a stop sign, I always unclip a foot and lower it towards the ground as a visual signal to drivers that I intend to follow the rules of the intersection. Even if I don't actually touch down.

[Catrin]

Things were interesting Sunday when my brakes started rebelling on me... I really felt like a new rider all over again who had no idea how to stop. Thankfully all is well that ends well, but a couple of those intersections I will never look at the same again.

How do most of you treat left hand turns? If I am on a route where, for example, I make a right onto a busy road and have to make a left pretty quickly, say within a block or so, I will often just go ahead and get in the left hand side of the lane instead of waiting - quite close to the centerline.

In a way I've not taken the lane entirely as a car CAN pass me on the right, but it enables me the ability to turn when I need to do so, depending on on-coming traffic of course. I especially do this on roads where past experience has shown that drivers are reluctant to let me over.

I am actually very, very glad that I did this on our ride Sunday, because we hadn't stopped yet since leaving our starting point and I didn't know that I had a brake problem. On THAT street it wouldn't have been good.

[Eden]

I've got to say..... some of the most obnoxious drivers I've encountered have prefaced their remarks with "I bike too"..... One sweet lady decided to try to squeeze past me with about 5 feet to go until a stop sign - and indeed did end up stuck on the wrong side of the road, then told me "I'm a biker too. You are supposed to move over for me". I think I just as sweetly told her just because she might occasionally ride a bike that didn't mean she knew anything about how to do it safely or legally.... I take the lane at intersections.

[OakLeaf]

yeah ... It's pretty common when I'm running to have someone riding a bicycle on the sidewalk run me off into traffic (it's part of how I got injured, actually, and it was a pet peeve of mine BEFORE that...) I usually just yell "Bikes in the road, please."

This spring, after my injury but before most of the complications had set in, I did that, then caught up to the same couple (still on the sidewalk) at a drawbridge. I explained that I'm a rider too, but all they wanted to do was argue about whether it was legal for them to be on the sidewalk in that particular location. Like, rude and dangerous to both themselves and pedestrians isn't enough???

[indysteel]

I've got to say..... some of the most obnoxious drivers I've encountered have prefaced their remarks with "I bike too"..... One sweet lady decided to try to squeeze past me with about 5 feet to go until a stop sign - and indeed did end up stuck on the wrong side of the road, then told me "I'm a biker too. You are supposed to move over for me". I think I just as sweetly told her just because she might occasionally ride a bike that didn't mean she knew anything about how to do it safely or legally.... I take the lane at intersections.

You aren't suggesting that I was obnoxious are you? I told this guy I was a cyclist because I didn't want him to interrupt my comment as just an irate motorist rant against cycling. Certainly I don't think the mere fact that someone rides a bike means that they know the rules of the road, but I know that what this cyclist did was illegal and dangerous.

[Eden]

You aren't suggesting that I was obnoxious are you? I told this guy I was a cyclist because I didn't want him to interrupt my comment as just an irate motorist rant against cycling. Certainly I don't think the mere fact that someone rides a bike means that they know the rules of the road, but I know that what this cyclist did was illegal and dangerous.

No no no! The guy should not have been running stop signs. Just saying that announcing to someone that you are a cyclist isn't necessarily going to get you a good reaction... it may end up having the opposite affect (even if you are right), because it sets up the person to expect a lecture.

[malkin]

Here's to civilized communication!

I don't remember if I wrote about it here, but I turned around to go yell at a guy who came close to hitting me head on (he was looking at the guys in the back of his truck) in the University parking lot. I ended up not yelling at all, because he was a huge guy, apologizing profusely and very nearly crying. So I just said, "Watch out for bikes, ok?"