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.
View Comments
@chris
Always struck me as something to put you even more on the edge. It's not going to tell you which are the idiots and who is going to come too close.
Maybe if all cars had IFF transponders and they were intelligent/two way. So other people could score each other when they go past. Then we could have a detector that would be of some use?
Even better if they hit a certain score it disables the car.
@Teocalli
And Velocity even has a quadratic impact.
Kinetic energy=E=0.5 m v^2
Few mornings ago and wet, nearly got wiped out at a major cycling round-a-bout, Beach Rd Mordy - Melbourne, by a trailer loaded ute. Driver misjudged speed and load and skidded to stop across my lane and I ended up 90 degrees to the direction I was going. Got my heart going, and eye contact slowed him down. Hope the miss scared him and he told his colleagues to take more care when driving.
More sentiment to the open letter.
@sthilzy
Oh my god. Do truck drivers not actually realize that their trailers are often a) wider than their trucks b) bouncing all over the fucking road. I HATE getting buzzed by a big ass truck, not knowing it has a trailer attached, and then the trailer coming even closer. Wow, that sucks.
Just got back from a Labor Day weekend beach trip. There are always around 10x as many people on bikes at the beach. And drivers tend to be much, much nicer to them (they're on "beach time" and they tend to expect more people on beach cruisers). I ponder and wish there was some way to get people at the beach to treat/respect ALL people on bikes like they do in beach towns. If we could do that, I seriously think our lives as cyclists would be vastly improved.
So who has an idea on changing the mindset of motorists?
@Ron
Every time you have a near miss, bang your foot against the side of their car then quickly stop your bike and lie down by the side of the road pretending to be dead.
Might make them think twice next time.
@RobSandy
I once got "pinched" almost on to the curb by a plumber, in a Bedford Rascal, when he overtook me on a sharp left bend. As sometimes happens I'd seen his dodgy manoeuvre coming and was able to surprise him with a hefty love tap. The impact of my fist against the bodywork coincided exactly with my realising that there were 2 builders in the vehicle that I had just vandalised, and that they might be none too pleased with my action. Quick as a flash I sat up, began mouthing obscenities in their direction and started rubbing my elbow and upper arm. Clearly my acting skills were (surprisingly) convincing because, far from stopping to give my face the same treatment I had just meted out to their van, I saw the passenger look at me through the nearside mirror followed immediately by the driver flooring his accelerator. Clearly they really thought they had hit me and left in haste before I could lodge my claim for personal injury. Either that or they decided I was not to be messed with and scarpered in fear for their lives. Anyway, to maintain the effect of my subterfuge I applied my best "face of righteous indignation look" and gave chase with all the speed I could muster,, although only until they were out of sight, whereupon I sat up and resumed my more normal commute speed whilst pondering how easy it would, or wouldn't, be to repair a dent in the side of a little Rascal van.
Rob - Hmm, playing dead. I haven't tried this yet!
In my younger days, I once knew a very crazy cyclist. He used to carry a center punch on a little corkscrew wrist "chain." He rode in an urban area. When a driver fucked with him...he'd catch them at the next light and shatter their window. Wow, I'm sure that startled the heck out of them.
I'd never do this myself, but I can't deny I took guilty pleasure in knowing at least some of the reckless drivers probably needed a new pair of underwear after their encounter with a cyclist.
This might arouse the make them think twice VS. hate all cyclists debate. I'm not endorsing this at all, I just have dreamed of catching up to some drivers and really letting them know how I feel about their vehicular operation.
@Ron
Cripes, and you live in the States. Strikes me as a good way of getting a bullet between the eyes out there!
@Ron
I'm going to be serious for a moment, but I think MOST car drivers, even the utterly crap ones, are not out to hurt cyclists. They are 'just' impatient and thoughtless. For these people, showing them how much terror they have caused you will hit harder than showing them you are angry.
Imagine you were a car driver who had just cut a cyclist up, and they caught you at the next set of lights. You'd expect them to lean down and let out a stream of expletives through your window; imagine the effect if they appeared on the verge of tears, babbling about how scared they just were.
@Shaun
Or, you could use the metric system and say that:
That's two orders of magnitude right there.