I imagine that unless you’re a Cyclist, it is quite difficult to understand what it’s like to ride a bicycle on the open road amongst traffic. It is a vulnerable feeling to be riding along a road with limited or no escape routes, surrounded by vehicles who outweigh you by several orders of magnitude. Particularly when you take into consideration that the driver likely does not hold your safety in the same esteem that you yourself do, but that they in all likelihood consider their Instagram feed to be of equal or higher priority to the task at hand, which in this case hopefully involves not hitting cyclists.
For as many sketchy encounters I’ve experienced between myself and a motor vehicle, I have found that only in rare situations do the drivers have any real malice towards us as we pedal along; normally the problem with vehicles are those of inconsideration and a lack of appreciation for the plight of the Cyclist; using the bicycle lane as a turning or passing lane, for example, is an case of ignorance, not malice. The good thing about ignorance is that it is curable through education, assuming the afflicted party is willing. The bad news is both are equally deadly to the Cyclist.
In the spirit of communication and in the hope that communication might lead to education, I humbly submit the following observations:
- Observation #1: There is no Venn diagram that shows the intersection between human, car, and bicycle as a “win” for any involved party. Best to avoid this, irrespective of who is at fault.
- Observation #2: As we are move along together in traffic, the best practice is to move predictably and consistently; I will do my best to do the same.
- Observation #3: If we’re both at an intersection, chances are that I can’t see you inside your car window to notice you kindly waving me through; treat me like any other traffic and we’ll all wait our turns. No one likes a Seattle Standoff at the stop sign.
- Observation #4: We take much longer to stop than you do, even in dry conditions. If you pass us before slowing abruptly, we are going to be in a very bad situation very quickly. Leads to observation #1 above.
- Observation #5: At a stop light, I may turn to look you directly in the eye. This is simply to make sure you see me and to reassure myself that you know I’m there. It is not to intimidate you, although I do appreciate how badass I look in my super hero outfit and my dope-ass shades.
- Observation #6: The bicycle lane is not a turning/merging lane and neglecting this fact will lead to an impromptu empirical study of the legitimacy of Observation #1.
- Observation #7: If you are following (im)patiently behind me while you wait for the right time to pass me, give me enough room so I don’t have to listen to you rhythmically hitting the gas pedal every time you think there might be an opportunity to sneak by. When you do decide, move quickly and assertively; don’t hesitate. Most of us don’t carry toilet paper.
- Observation #8: If I’m riding in the middle of the lane, it means it isn’t safe to pass me, not that you should squeeze into the gap between me and oncoming traffic.
- Observation #9: If I look back at you while I’m riding and move to the side, then that means I know you’re there and you can pass as soon as you’re comfortable. If I then also wave you through, it means I feel it’s safe to pass if you also do.
- Observation #10: Yelling at me will not discourage me from riding my bike. Also, I do, in fact, pay taxes so don’t hold the fact that I’m not also burning fossil fuels against me. In return, I’ll only yell at you if you scared me to death, but I promise to feel bad about it later.
Share the road, and let’s all return home safely to start it all over again tomorrow. Vive la Vie Velominatus.
frankThe founder of Velominati and curator of The Rules, Frank was born in the Dutch colonies of Minnesota. His boundless physical talents are carefully canceled out by his equally boundless enthusiasm for drinking. Coffee, beer, wine, if it’s in a container, he will enjoy it, a lot of it. He currently lives in Seattle. He loves riding in the rain and scheduling visits with the Man with the Hammer just to be reminded of the privilege it is to feel completely depleted. He holds down a technology job the description of which no-one really understands and his interests outside of Cycling and drinking are Cycling and drinking.
As devoted aesthete, the only thing more important to him than riding a bike well is looking good doing it.
Frank is co-author along with the other Keepers of the Cog of the popular book, The Rules, The Way of the Cycling Disciple and also writes a monthly column for the magazine, Cyclist. He is also currently working on the first follow-up to The Rules, tentatively entitled The Hardmen.
Email him directly at rouleur@velominati.com.
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Oh, the good old "banging on the side of a car as it buzzes you" thing? Yep, been there... I commute 100+ km a week, most weeks, all year round, so Ive seem all sorts of stupid.
Lately, its been cars pulling out in front of me. The old "oh, its only a bike, he'll slow down". Oh how the scandinavian fuckers regret it when a pissed off scotsman starts swearing in their drivers window shortly after.
Caught a guy texting whilst driving recently too - he was driving slowly / erraticaly, so I got up aling side him, saw the cell plastered up to his face... Needless to say he got my finest Norwegian "tradesmans vocabulary"... He looked like he shit himself and the guy riding next to me nearly fell off his bike laughing.
That was a good day...
@Owen
+ 1, most cyclists ride at least twice as fast as those who merely ride a bike, few motorists can distinguish between the two, this does cause problems- to a driver all bike riders are the same and travel at no more than 20kph, a driver thinks they have 4 seconds to pull out but only have 2, that's if they have seen you...
A former cyclist myself, I feel the need to submit a very recent personal story concerning a deliberate lack of etiquette on the part of a cyclist. A few days ago, I was approaching at slow speed (10mph) a left turn into a supermarket's entrance road. A single male cyclist was in front of me. He deliberately positioned himself in the middle of the road and cycled as slowly as he could without losing his balance, giving no indication that he was also about to turn left, and showing no awareness of other road users, including myself. He went so slowly that I imagined that I was going to be stuck on red at the traffic lights, which change very rapidly. A more impatient motorist than myself would probably have zoomed forward in exasperation, putting the cyclist's life at risk. Once I had parked my car, I passed the man, who was now sitting on a bench outside the supermarket, eating a sandwich. He gave me an odd look. When I emerged a few minutes later, he was still there, giving me another odd look. I didn't recognise the man, but wonder if he had some grudge against me, as well as a death wish!
morning commuters get the worst of these interactions, cyclist or car notwithstanding. if i'm on the road during morning drivetime, i try to keep in mind that nobody wants to be there. they either don't want to go to work, or they're pissed cause they don't wanna be late for work. any other time, it's not so bad for me.
@wiscot
Pretty sure it's Vietnam, judging by the young lady in her Ao Dai in the bottom left corner.
#9 is always an interesting one. I often ride through our local National Park. Single lane throughout with plenty of twists, turns & blind corners full of motorbikers, vintage & luxury cars on their Sunday tours along with groups of cyclists. We usually end up with a line of cars behind us at some point & trying to wave some of these people through can be met with some trepidation from the drivers as there seems to be hesitation to trust the wave. I sometimes ponder to myself "do they think we're waving them on/through into oncoming traffic as some sort of cunning revenge that we've planned for this moment?".
@il ciclista medio
Yes, plus the shop signage in French and what look to be Vietnamese words in Roman alphabet like Thuoc and Tan-My.
Without that I might have thought otherwise. For French Indo-China I would have expected more cars like Citroen 2CVs and not so many Volkswagen beetles.
Found via Google
Oops, picture upload failed. http://www.flickriver.com/photos/13476480@N07/8345554446/
Caption of that picture reads: 2 Nov 1963 Scene at Le Loi as jubilant crowds gather to witness the result of the Coup in Saigon.
As much as I hate distracted, reckless drivers, and as others have said...there are plenty of cyclists I see who ride in various manners that all make it much more likely they're going to get run over. No lights. Earbuds. Being totally oblivious to cars. I'm not trying to say they deserve to get hit, not at all. But, you need to do everything possible to keep yourself safe. We need all the advantages we can find. I had a neighbor hit badly last year. This guy would walk past me in the 'hood and show no signs of realizing a human was within a few feet of him. I'd pass him with both of us on bikes. Same thing...head down, wouldn't acknowledge me at all. Living in your own world is okay in the bio lab or the library, but not on open roads.
How about this? I live in a pretty serious cycling area. One town over is an 84 year old dude who purposefully runs cyclists off the road. When he see them, lays on his horn and proceeds to drive at them. There are like 7 documented, reported cases of this by some pretty avid local cyclists. The cops have talked to him...and nothing has been done. I really think I'd have trouble NOT physically confronting him and/or burning down his business. He runs a local business and the last guy he did it to followed him there and called the cops. Not sure I could maintain my cool with such aggressive behavior.
Oh...and as for things to yell at drivers. I've really tried to stop cussing. It just escalates things. If I feel the need to say something I've been going with, "Do you have a problem?" or "Is there a problem?" It's not as alarming as an F U, but it does call them out and seems to make them pause for a second and consider their behavior. "Oh yeah. That guy is commuting to work and I just tried to run him into a parked car because I'm impatient and think an adult on a bike is worthless. That is kind of shitty behavior..." Just my opinion though.
@KogaLover
Thanks! What a smart bunch of Velominati we are! Given the traffic in the picture and its rather chaotic nature, I suspect there might have been a fair bit of verbal abuse shared between the various road users.