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
@pedro
Yikes!
@Teocalli
Yes, I do this too. Any movement on the left hand side of the road, from a car, pedestrian or object and I take the lane as self-defence. As well as allowing you to take evasive action I think it immediately makes you more visible to everyone else on the road. It's a good plan.
@frank
I had a close encounter recently (recounted on these pages) where a driver just point-blank didn't look properly and didn't see me. I had a lucky escape but my reaction was a lot of ranting. I wonder if in future the most affecting reaction for the driver would be to break down not in anger but in obvious distress and terror.
I think it's pretty obvious to us that the anger is a consequence of fear; we're all wound up like a spring when on the road with traffic, as we have to be to react quick enough to keep ourselves safe -it's only natural we lash out when something goes wrong. I wonder if we should try to suppress the anger and let the fear out. The driver might go away from the encounter with quite a different experience.
If all else fails yell STARBOARD. Probably better than F*&^*ING IDIOT - but the latter seems to be the one that connects in the spur of the moment.
@Mikael Liddy
This is really great! I'm going to start doing this!
(although it will actually be a modification of the current game we play where we count the number of Merckx bikes we see and how many twats are riding in non-white socks)
@Rob
@frank
Is this the amazing Rob form my 200-on-100 time???
And fucking kudos to Frahnk: NEVER, EVER miss a chance to post a Tarantino clip in my opinion!
@uptitus
Wow, so SMIDSY is pretty much the result of a normal state of mind rather than inattention. If I'm understanding correctly we need to make sideways movement to maximise the chances of a motorist seeing us approaching a junction. Very interesting article, occasionally involving some brain-gymnastics to get to grips with.Thanks @Upitus
@Chuck Hoefer
A gentleman with whom I have had the pleasure of riding has come up with the best idea on understanding traffic laws that I have seen. About halfway down this page is a water bottle upon which New York traffic laws regarding cyclists are printed.
Want to make sure everyone (including police officers) understands traffic laws? Take them with you on your ride! Don't live in NY or don't want to pay for for the bottle, a copy of the laws inside a jersey pocket would serve the same purpose.
@Teocalli
Make that 4 now... Just came back from a lunch ride with some colleagues, when the famous roundabout-bike-riding-right-next-to-a-car thing happened. I disagree with @Frank's statement that "...passing on the right is a poor and dangerous practice in general" except when on a roundabout and when having to stop at a crossing and a car, or even worse, a truck turns right.
Nr 3 today was when I met a colleague during this morning's commute and we were cycling next to each other. Together we crossed the dashed line of the bicycle lane by an inch or so, and a car made us loudly aware we should we going serial, not parallel. Illustrates to me that cars seem to think the dashed line is only for them to be used, not the other way around.
solid white line of any color should never be crossed and a dashed line is always acceptable to cross so long as traffic (including bicycles) conditions safely allow it.
Clearly this linked incident was the fault of the cyclist, not the driver......
Driver refused compensation after crashing car while ogling female cyclist