Fu*king Cyclists

[old goat]

Fuck my cyclist friend who messed up a perfectly good car by crashing into it at 40 mph on a steep downgrade when the car made a left from the other side of the road directly in front of him. My friend certainly deserved the multiple leg fractures and C7 fracture he got. (No spinal cord injury.)

[JongDoe]

Wow, that really sucks.

[highangle]

Ban left turns!


Had a hs friend/teammate shatter his C6 in a rollover in a VW Rabbit. He was a quad until he died about 7 years later of pneumonia in an iron lung.

[Toadman]

I have had more issues with right turns. Lots of drivers like to speed up and pass before they turn to the right and then suddenly freak out as they see a cyclist that they just passed and are surprised to see that they are right next to your right hand side.

Saw this very thing happen yesterday to two cyclists. My wife screamed as she thought for sure the first elderly female cyclist was going to get drilled. The 2nd male cyclist flipped the driver the bird and slapped the hood of the vehicle with his hand. He's lucky that the driver didn't get all road age on him and pull a gun and start shooting.

[TBS]

^^^Or on the flip side, I was damn near rear-ended in slow traffic because I gave a bike in front of me room to make a right hand turn. Gettin' kind of aggro in Bend these days...

[old goat]

When cars make a right turn they're supposed to do it from as close to the curb as possible, including the bike lane, so that bikes can pass them on the left rather than having to stop or being taken out. At least that's the law in CA. i'd be shocked if even one car in ten does that. Personally I prefer to wait to let a cyclist I just passed pass me before I pull over to make the right turn.

[californiagrown]

When cars make a right turn they're supposed to do it from as close to the curb as possible, including the bike lane, so that bikes can pass them on the left rather than having to stop or being taken out. At least that's the law in CA. i'd be shocked if even one car in ten does that. Personally I prefer to wait to let a cyclist I just passed pass me before I pull over to make the right turn.

It's to prevent cyclists from getting squeezed as you make the right turn. However, most cyclists take it as though you are trying to kill them.

[Hopeless Sinner]

I can never figure out what's the big need to pass (car or cyclist) before turning off or exiting. Why not slow down, use a little patience and avoid conflict?


In my experience many cyclists will ignore common traffic regulations as they see fit, but they expect all others to obey. Saw 2 instances last night, a cyclist blew a stop sign failing to yield right of way nearly resulted in a crushed cyclist by left turning car. It seemed as though the cyclist thought that ignoring the stop sign and riding into a crosswalk was somehow going to insure his safety. And a 2nd where cyclists ignored traffic control person and nearly plowed into an old man in a crosswalk.

[Name Redacted]

Had a "Cyclist" yesterday blow a stop sign right in front of me in the middle of town, in the middle of the street, she was going about 10 over. Could easily have taken her out if I hadn't seen her and noticed that she had no intentions of stopping.

It is really unnerving if you think about what would happen to you if you took out a bike even if it was their fault. We have hundreds of miles of bike paths around here and still they choose to ride on the road, right next to a bike path.

[californiagrown]

I can never figure out what's the big need to pass (car or cyclist) before turning off or exiting. Why not slow down, use a little patience and avoid conflict?


In my experience many cyclists will ignore common traffic regulations as they see fit, but they expect all others to obey. Saw 2 instances last night, a cyclist blew a stop sign failing to yield right of way nearly resulted in a crushed cyclist by left turning car. It seemed as though the cyclist thought that ignoring the stop sign and riding into a crosswalk was somehow going to insure his safety. And a 2nd where cyclists ignored traffic control person and nearly plowed into an old man in a crosswalk.

when cars slow down from 45mph to 15mph to follow a cyclist for 10 secs in order to not cut them off turning right, they almost always scare the piss out of the cyclist who can clearly hear a car (that he expects is going 45mph like all the rest of traffic that day) pulling up directly behind and not beside. Its an interesting question- do you pull ahead and make your turn forcing the cyclist to possibly brake a bit or coast a bit and loose momentum, or do you slow way down for 10seconds to make the turn behind the cyclist, but holding up the car traffic behind you? Who should you inconvenience? My personal experience is that cyclist (myself included on long rides, not city commuting) are usually zoned the fuck out and just spinning focused on staying in their lane not expecting to have to use their brakes... many/most wont even have their hands on the brakes if they have drop bars. Unlike cars where (speaking for myself) im always paying attention to the traffic in front of me anticipating when to brake.

Personally, when in a car i try and treat cyclist like idiots and give them a fat safety buffer expecting them to be unsafe. That said, the reason i do that is because my experience is that most cyclist want to be treated like car traffic, until they are actually expected to react and operate like car traffic. At the end of the day, when you hop on a bicycle or motorbike and ride in the street here in america, you are voluntarily making yourself harder to see, not only because you are smaller than a car, but because you are the minority road user and the human brain is looking for car-sized objects to avoid when scanning the roadway, not ALL objects. Its the reason why 95% of people don't see the gorilla when asked to count the number of ball passes.

[doebedoe]

...

In my experience many cyclists will ignore common traffic regulations as they see fit, but they expect all others to obey. ..

To be entirely fair -- you can say this about any road users....cars, trucks, cops, pedestrians, contractors.

Had a car cut me off and then stop in the bike lane yesterday to get out of his car and yell at me for running stop signs on my way home from the grocery store. Meanwhile, running stop signs is legal in my town if you're on a bike and there is no one else at the intersection. Fucking carbrains.

[skiJ]

goat - I am sorry for your friend.

my recent experience in suburban StPaul -
as I was exiting Target, out of the corner of my eye I saw two people on bicycles approaching from the right, on the sidewalk ;
I managed to get stopped before the crosswalk, and growled at the lead rider, ' You need to be in the street '

the person on the bike screamed at me,
" I'm Not in the street ! I'm on the sidewalk ! "

I hope next time, I don't stop in the crosswalk.


I hope you have a good week !

skiJ

[AdironRider]

when cars slow down from 45mph to 15mph to follow a cyclist for 10 secs in order to not cut them off turning right, they almost always scare the piss out of the cyclist who can clearly hear a car (that he expects is going 45mph like all the rest of traffic that day) pulling up directly behind and not beside. Its an interesting question- do you pull ahead and make your turn forcing the cyclist to possibly brake a bit or coast a bit and loose momentum, or do you slow way down for 10seconds to make the turn behind the cyclist, but holding up the car traffic behind you? Who should you inconvenience? My personal experience is that cyclist (myself included on long rides, not city commuting) are usually zoned the fuck out and just spinning focused on staying in their lane not expecting to have to use their brakes... many/most wont even have their hands on the brakes if they have drop bars. Unlike cars where (speaking for myself) im always paying attention to the traffic in front of me anticipating when to brake.

Personally, when in a car i try and treat cyclist like idiots and give them a fat safety buffer expecting them to be unsafe. That said, the reason i do that is because my experience is that most cyclist want to be treated like car traffic, until they are actually expected to react and operate like car traffic. At the end of the day, when you hop on a bicycle or motorbike and ride in the street here in america, you are voluntarily making yourself harder to see, not only because you are smaller than a car, but because you are the minority road user and the human brain is looking for car-sized objects to avoid when scanning the roadway, not ALL objects. Its the reason why 95% of people don't see the gorilla when asked to count the number of ball passes.

The car has the right of way. The cyclist being 'in the zone' doesn't absolve them of that fact.

[Danno]

The car has the right of way. The cyclist being 'in the zone' doesn't absolve them of that fact.

wait, what?

[AdironRider]

If you were in a car and the car in front of you slowed to make a right turn, you don’t get to barrel into him and claim you had the right to be there. It is no different if you are on a bike.

[::: :::]

If you were in a car and the car in front of you slowed to make a right turn, you don’t get to barrel into him and claim you had the right to be there. It is no different if you are on a bike.

Agreed
I clearly didn’t understand what you were referring to (retracted prev comment above)

[old goat]

It's to prevent cyclists from getting squeezed as you make the right turn. However, most cyclists take it as though you are trying to kill them.

That's another way to put it. Depending on the other traffic the cyclist can stop or slow down behind the car or pass on the car's left in the car lane. Most cyclists, like most drivers, don't know the rules. But regardless of what the cyclist knows, at least if the car ahead is in the bike lane making that right turn the cyclist won't be getting squashed. And getting pissed at the car is better than getting squashed.

Had a "Cyclist" yesterday blow a stop sign right in front of me in the middle of town, in the middle of the street, she was going about 10 over. Could easily have taken her out if I hadn't seen her and noticed that she had no intentions of stopping.

It is really unnerving if you think about what would happen to you if you took out a bike even if it was their fault. We have hundreds of miles of bike paths around here and still they choose to ride on the road, right next to a bike path.

There's a nice separated bike path along the Truckee River. Serious cyclists ride on the parallel road because the bike/pedestrian path is clogged by walkers walking multiple people abreast with their backs to cycling traffic, despite multiple signs telling people to walk on the left.

The car has the right of way.

The law says otherwise. But you go ahead and make up your own rules.

[rideit]

We need another network of ‘high speed’ pathways, for road cyclists, ebikes, scooters, etc. Minimum speed limit 18mph!
Seriously, though, the other pathway users want real cyclists off the MUP, and cars want all cyclists off the roads. Can’t win.

[J. Barron DeJong]

There's a nice separated bike path along the Truckee River. Serious cyclists ride on the parallel road.

I always ride the road. I’ve noticed Levi Leipheimer often takes the path. I guess we know who the serious cyclist is here

[Dantheman]

It is really unnerving if you think about what would happen to you if you took out a bike even if it was their fault.

Maybe Colorado county DAs are different, but here it's extremely rare for drivers to be prosecuted for hitting cyclists even when the driver is at fault. A while back a guy killed a cyclist; he had a BAC of 0.1% at 6:15 am and admitted to texting when the collision occurred. It took the county DA over a year to even charge him. Only the most egregious cases get prosecuted here.

I can never figure out what's the big need to pass (car or cyclist) before turning off or exiting. Why not slow down, use a little patience and avoid conflict?

People have very important places to be, man. People do shit like this all the time, everywhere. How many times have you seen someone come speeding up the freeway and make a late merge across 3 lanes of traffic just so they can get to their exit 5 seconds faster?

when cars slow down from 45mph to 15mph to follow a cyclist for 10 secs in order to not cut them off turning right, they almost always scare the piss out of the cyclist who can clearly hear a car (that he expects is going 45mph like all the rest of traffic that day) pulling up directly behind and not beside. Its an interesting question- do you pull ahead and make your turn forcing the cyclist to possibly brake a bit or coast a bit and loose momentum, or do you slow way down for 10seconds to make the turn behind the cyclist, but holding up the car traffic behind you? Who should you inconvenience? My personal experience is that cyclist (myself included on long rides, not city commuting) are usually zoned the fuck out and just spinning focused on staying in their lane not expecting to have to use their brakes... many/most wont even have their hands on the brakes if they have drop bars. Unlike cars where (speaking for myself) im always paying attention to the traffic in front of me anticipating when to brake.

Overtaking someone and then immediately hitting the brakes to make a right turn is a dangerous dick move regardless of the vehicle you just passed.

[summit]

We need another network of ‘high speed’ pathways, for road cyclists, ebikes, scooters, etc. Minimum speed limit 18mph!
Seriously, though, the other pathway users want real cyclists off the MUP, and cars want all cyclists off the roads. Can’t win.

I agree. Who is gonna pay for that?

[nickwm21]

The problem with these separated MUPs is pedestrians crossing without looking. There’s often parking on one side and what their trying to access on the other (waterfront, businesses, parks, etc).

Add in EBikes going 25mph… Unfortunately I predict we will see pedestrian fatalities…


Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

[Buster Highmen]

Driving into afternoon sun.

Come to a shaded, signed roundabout, stop. start but when something doesn't seem right, slowed down just as a black dude on a black bike runs the stop sign to my left.
Guy was maybe 3 feet off my bumper.

Gave me pause.

[jono]

Overtaking someone and then immediately hitting the brakes to make a right turn is a dangerous dick move regardless of the vehicle you just passed.

This. And a turn signal doesn't give you the right of way to cross a lane, even if it's the bike lane. You have to merge, meaning adequate space to allow everyone to adjust. If you can't pass and then get far enough ahead to do that before turning then you're not going to gain any time by passing anyway, you're just going to snarl traffic and piss everyone off.

[kathleenturneroverdrive]

when cars slow down from 45mph to 15mph to follow a cyclist for 10 secs in order to not cut them off turning right, they almost always scare the piss out of the cyclist who can clearly hear a car (that he expects is going 45mph like all the rest of traffic that day) pulling up directly behind and not beside. Its an interesting question- do you pull ahead and make your turn forcing the cyclist to possibly brake a bit or coast a bit and loose momentum, or do you slow way down for 10seconds to make the turn behind the cyclist, but holding up the car traffic behind you? Who should you inconvenience?

I think what's more "interesting" is why you're trying to navigate roadways based on the emotions (all made up in your head) of the cyclist you want to pass and the drivers behind you? It's that kind of thinking that makes people do unpredictable things on the roadway, and really, all the bitching about cars/cyclists boils down to that - we get annoyed and into accidents with people who ride or drive unpredictably.

In your situation, the answer is simple: if you have enough space to pass the cyclist and turn right without impeding their movement, then go ahead. But if you pass a cyclist to turn right and force them to alter their speed/course, then you're in the wrong and should have yielded to them before turning right.