nearly was the tool of bicycle rider's darwin award today

I pass a bicycle rider with a full lane as I generally do... but how
does he repay that? He decides to gutter pass... guess what? the light
turns green. I'm turning right, signal on... does he stop passing? No.
He's damn lucky I was looking for him gutter passing otherwise he'd be
dead or seriously hurt. Other drivers would not be looking in their
mirrors before making a right turn on a green signal.

Oh and he had to give some gesture that I was the 'problem'. WTF?

http://blip.tv/file/2293686/

Brent wrote:
> I pass a bicycle rider with a full lane as I generally do... but how
> does he repay that? He decides to gutter pass... guess what? the light
> turns green. I'm turning right, signal on... does he stop passing? No.
> He's damn lucky I was looking for him gutter passing otherwise he'd be
> dead or seriously hurt. Other drivers would not be looking in their
> mirrors before making a right turn on a green signal.
>
> Oh and he had to give some gesture that I was the 'problem'. WTF?
>
> http://blip.tv/file/2293686/
>

Had a cyclist turn left on a full red in front of me the other day (I
had green on cross street.) Some of them want to die. Either that or
they like the sympathy they think they'll get when some "mean" motorist
finally hits them, I dunno (or they're thinking of pulling some
insurance scam? who knows)

I don't bother ranting about it anymore because it's so commonplace for
cyclists to ride like complete asshats. I DO notice riders following
the rules because they're so rare that they stick out when I see them.

nate

--
replace "roosters" with "cox" to reply.
http://members.cox.net/njnagel

"Brent" > wrote in message
...
>
> I pass a bicycle rider with a full lane as I generally do... but how
> does he repay that? He decides to gutter pass... guess what? the light
> turns green. I'm turning right, signal on... does he stop passing? No.
> He's damn lucky I was looking for him gutter passing otherwise he'd be
> dead or seriously hurt. Other drivers would not be looking in their
> mirrors before making a right turn on a green signal.
>
> Oh and he had to give some gesture that I was the 'problem'. WTF?
>
> http://blip.tv/file/2293686/
>
>

In situations where I think a gutter pass may be attempted when I am turning
right, I usually pull far enough right to make it impossible.

On 2009-06-27, Nate Nagel > wrote:
> Brent wrote:
>> I pass a bicycle rider with a full lane as I generally do... but how
>> does he repay that? He decides to gutter pass... guess what? the light
>> turns green. I'm turning right, signal on... does he stop passing? No.
>> He's damn lucky I was looking for him gutter passing otherwise he'd be
>> dead or seriously hurt. Other drivers would not be looking in their
>> mirrors before making a right turn on a green signal.
>>
>> Oh and he had to give some gesture that I was the 'problem'. WTF?
>>
>> http://blip.tv/file/2293686/
>>
>
> Had a cyclist turn left on a full red in front of me the other day (I
> had green on cross street.) Some of them want to die. Either that or
> they like the sympathy they think they'll get when some "mean" motorist
> finally hits them, I dunno (or they're thinking of pulling some
> insurance scam? who knows)
>
> I don't bother ranting about it anymore because it's so commonplace for
> cyclists to ride like complete asshats. I DO notice riders following
> the rules because they're so rare that they stick out when I see them.

The thing is, when I'm bicycling I do so entirely to the rules of the
road and I have motorists do everything from intentionally messing with
to attempting to hurt/kill me.

Thursday night I am bicycling along at about 23mph on 35mph residential
two lane road. Up ahead someone from the oncoming direction was waiting
to turn left. SUV driver can't ease up for a couple seconds and tries to
run me off the road. I then follow said asshat to his house, stopping at
the end of his driveway and wait for him to get out. From the following
conversation they made it clear they intentionally tried to run me off
the road because I was not using the sidewalk (it's labeled 'bike
route', but is loaded with blind driveways, cross streets, peds, kids,
and dogs. Max safe speed is less than 8mph.

Today, I'm going around a pothole on a 4 lane arterial. There is hardly
any traffic to speak of, just me and some guy driving a VW. Guess what
he does... he brush passes me. Then stops at the red light up the block.
I pull up behind him. Light turns green. He doesn't move. air horn. He
doesn't move air horn blast. He starts crawling. Then he crosses the
intersection and stops. Yelling at me. He gets out of his car and
threatens to beat me up. I tell him to get in his car and drive away. I
point to his plate. vanity. easy as hell to remember. He gets in his car
and drives away.

Time and time again, these asshats are doing what they are doing on
purpose. The fact they don't just drive away shows they aren't in a
hurry, they have all the time in the world, they just have to show me
they are 'boss'.

It's getting to the point where I am avoiding arterial roads. but that
doesn't work... had an asshat in black challenger that I've see before.
Always has to roar his V8 engine when he comes near me. He's oncoming
heading back towards roughly where I think he lives... I
am headed away from his house. He turns, follows me, passes me close
keeping the noise down then lets the engine roar once he's past me. I
know he did it on purpose because the route we are on takes us the
arterial road he just came from. Sure enough... there he is waiting at
the light when I get there.

It's so much worse this year... half of me wants to ride much more
because of it, the other half is considering quitting.

On 2009-06-28, Tim B > wrote:
>
> "Brent" > wrote in message
> ...
>>
>> I pass a bicycle rider with a full lane as I generally do... but how
>> does he repay that? He decides to gutter pass... guess what? the light
>> turns green. I'm turning right, signal on... does he stop passing? No.
>> He's damn lucky I was looking for him gutter passing otherwise he'd be
>> dead or seriously hurt. Other drivers would not be looking in their
>> mirrors before making a right turn on a green signal.
>>
>> Oh and he had to give some gesture that I was the 'problem'. WTF?
>>
>> http://blip.tv/file/2293686/
>>
>>
>
> In situations where I think a gutter pass may be attempted when I am turning
> right, I usually pull far enough right to make it impossible.

Doesn't work for me... I've had them go up the curb and continue.

Brent wrote:
> I pass a bicycle rider with a full lane as I generally do... but how
> does he repay that? He decides to gutter pass... guess what? the light
> turns green. I'm turning right, signal on... does he stop passing? No.
> He's damn lucky I was looking for him gutter passing otherwise he'd be
> dead or seriously hurt. Other drivers would not be looking in their
> mirrors before making a right turn on a green signal.

Funny, this is exactly the kind of well-justified post that you've
flamed me for making. Welcome to the club.

When I line up for a right turn I try to get right up against the curb
for just that reason.

On 2009-06-28, John David Galt > wrote:
> Brent wrote:
>> I pass a bicycle rider with a full lane as I generally do... but how
>> does he repay that? He decides to gutter pass... guess what? the light
>> turns green. I'm turning right, signal on... does he stop passing? No.
>> He's damn lucky I was looking for him gutter passing otherwise he'd be
>> dead or seriously hurt. Other drivers would not be looking in their
>> mirrors before making a right turn on a green signal.
>
> Funny, this is exactly the kind of well-justified post that you've
> flamed me for making. Welcome to the club.

No. I never discounted that it happens. It's that some people, such as
yourself think that every bicycle rider does it and you have proposed
endangering bicyclists for the sake of doing so. It is that later bit I
'flamed' you for.

> When I line up for a right turn I try to get right up against the curb
> for just that reason.

And as I recall you intentionally brush pass bicyclists too.

Tim B wrote:

>
> "Brent" > wrote in message
> ...
>>
>> I pass a bicycle rider with a full lane as I generally do... but how
>> does he repay that? He decides to gutter pass... guess what? the light
>> turns green. I'm turning right, signal on... does he stop passing? No.
>> He's damn lucky I was looking for him gutter passing otherwise he'd be
>> dead or seriously hurt. Other drivers would not be looking in their
>> mirrors before making a right turn on a green signal.
>>
>> Oh and he had to give some gesture that I was the 'problem'. WTF?
>>
>> http://blip.tv/file/2293686/
>>
>>
>
> In situations where I think a gutter pass may be attempted when I am
> turning right, I usually pull far enough right to make it impossible.

Not possible. Unless there's a building to your right and you scrape your
side mirror, some will wedge their way in. Even if it requires scraping
handlebars/pedals up against your car. I've actually seen that done.

--
Paul Hovnanian
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Have gnu, will travel.

"Paul Hovnanian P.E." > wrote in message
diainc...
> Tim B wrote:
>
> >
> > "Brent" > wrote in message
> > ...
> >>
> >> I pass a bicycle rider with a full lane as I generally do... but how
> >> does he repay that? He decides to gutter pass... guess what? the light
> >> turns green. I'm turning right, signal on... does he stop passing? No.
> >> He's damn lucky I was looking for him gutter passing otherwise he'd be
> >> dead or seriously hurt. Other drivers would not be looking in their
> >> mirrors before making a right turn on a green signal.
> >>
> >> Oh and he had to give some gesture that I was the 'problem'. WTF?
> >>
> >> http://blip.tv/file/2293686/
> >>
> >>
> >
> > In situations where I think a gutter pass may be attempted when I am
> > turning right, I usually pull far enough right to make it impossible.
>
> Not possible. Unless there's a building to your right and you scrape your
> side mirror, some will wedge their way in. Even if it requires scraping
> handlebars/pedals up against your car. I've actually seen that done.

If my car is IN the gutter, a gutter pass is impossible. Of course there are
ways to accomplish a pass other than doing a gutter pass, such as taking the
sidewalk, or even passing on the left, then turning right, in front of me,
as I wait for the lane to clear so I can complete my turn. Anyway, maybe
impossible is too strong a word. Extremely difficult, at least.

> Tim B wrote:
>> In situations where I think a gutter pass may be attempted when I am
>> turning right, I usually pull far enough right to make it impossible.

Paul Hovnanian P.E. wrote:
> Not possible. Unless there's a building to your right and you scrape your
> side mirror, some will wedge their way in. Even if it requires scraping
> handlebars/pedals up against your car. I've actually seen that done.

If my tires are within an inch of the curb, he'll have to go up on the
sidewalk to pass me on that side. He's welcome to do that, but then
he'll have to yield to me when we reach the corner. (A bicyclist does
NOT become a pedestrian merely by riding on a sidewalk/crosswalk, though
I've seen plenty of idiots who think I should pretend they are. If he
dismounts that's another story entirely.)