BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

Wow, nice job keeping cool. You probably left a much more favorable impression with any observers than this driver did, esp the driver behind.

Good job keeping cool. A day when I don't deal with a motorist giving me ^%$@ or putting me in danger is a good day. A day I don't have to deal with hood-rats is also a good day. Knowing they will be driving cars soon is more troubling; they're the ones that purposely try to put us in danger.

Driving school should put drivers through an intense cycling vs. motorist chapter.

I'd like to see every high school Driver Ed class include a unit on cycling from one to another non-adjacent school in that district, and walk back. Supervised, of course, but boy, would that make for an educational event. Did you ever bike from North Allegheny Senior High to just about anywhere?

Frankly, I think it would be more difficult to get a school board to approve the idea than it would be to carry it out.

how they pass their test? well probably because there's nothing (or next to nothing) on it about driving in traffic with cyclists.

certainly the behind the wheel portion doesn't include navigating safely around a cyclist. would be cool if they included that, but just to be safe I don't think it should be a "live" cyclist. you know, in case the driver fails the test. Yikes.

but just to be safe I don't think it should be a "live" cyclist. you know, in case the driver fails the test.

I dunno...maybe set it up so that the previous driver who failed that portion of the test has to be the cyclist for the next driver's test...

@reddan I love that idea.

Am I the only one who thinks it's a bad idea to pull up into the blind spot of a right-turning car?

If you want to pull up next to a right-turner, pull up on the left. In fact, even if you don't know for certain that the person at the front of the line is going to turn right, you still shouldn't sit on their right, because they still might turn over you.

I mean, sure, her cutting you off was a dick move, but after that, it's like you were purposely *trying* to get run over, just to prove a point.

Overtaking on the right is often unsafe and probably technically illegal (depending how you interpret "two or more lines of vehicles" -- does that mean motorcycles? I don't know the case law. )

unfortunately - and this isn't to say it's good - passing on the right usually appears safest because clearance on the left is often zero to nil. the other day i decided to pass a huge line of cars at a light in friendship on the left - i was going to make a left turn - and found myself in a game of chicken with cars coming from a green stoplight up ahead, luckily i turned left before they reached. so unless a bicyclist wants to wait in gridlock, which defeats the purpose to most people, they figure passing on right is safest....

Personally, when I'm on a bike, I just get in line behind the cars and go thru the light with them---and I don't think it's a very good idea to pass cars on the right at an intersection because most of them are not expecting you to be there.

@ Lyle and greenbike, normally I don't pass on the right while traffic is moving, but we were both stopped at the light at the same time. I was literally right next to her window, so there's no way she couldn't have seen me, I think she just thought she had the right of way when it turned green, for some strange reason.

Waiting in line with cars seems to be one of those gray areas of riding; I see some people wait while others ride all the way up the right and run the red light everyone is waiting at (which is obviously the wrong thing to do).

If I'm going straight I take the lane and sit in line with the cars.

Of course I understand the urge to "teach them a lesson", which is hard to resist in the heat of the moment. The other week someone actually squeezed past me on the RIGHT when I was sitting at a light in the middle of the lane, which really ticked me off. This was at the end of Beeler, which is right turn only/no turn on red, so there was no legitimate reason for them to do that. I went around them and sat right in front of their bumper until the light turned green.

OTOH I see people on bikes all the time that blow right past me and through the light I'm waiting for, possibly passing some cars on the right in the process. I have met the idiots, and they are everywhere.

When I first started riding I would pass on the right to move up a line of traffic at a stop sign or red light. I wouldn't run the light or stop but would stop behind the vehicle in front. After about a year I changed that behavior and just take my place in traffic. It would seem to be more in the "share the road" spirit.

I'll sometimes jump off the bike and walk the bike on the sidewalk (where there is one) and around the corner, jump on the bike on the cross street, pull a U-turn, and ride around the corner on the green.

+1 multi-modal!

Ah Stu and your reveling in the ambiguous nature of a bicycle being both vehicle and pedestrian. It has its advantages I'll certainly say that.

Nothing ambiguous about it, simply multi-modal. One moment I'm a vehicle in traffic. Next moment, I'm a pedestrian, pushing a bicycle, on the sidewalk. Next moment after that I encounter a street, and I'm a vehicle again.

Same idea using a bus rack. One moment I'm a cyclist, next I'm a transit user, then I'm a cyclist again.

@matatarski: I didn't mean anything against you, I was just responding to the Lyle's point.... yeah, never mind. Anyway, I think that lady was nuts too, personally. I'm glad to hear that you're safe.

I do the same thing, get off my bike and use the crosswalk as a pedestrian, then back on and ride in the road, I actually ride a smaller bike now, easier to get on and off.

When I come up on stopped traffic where there is a dedicated right turn lane, and I'm going straight, I pull up all the way to the light between the lanes, so the leading cars can't possibly NOT notice me. Plus I can see when the cross light turns yellow and get a jump before the cars even get their foot off the brake.

sometimes I do what edmonds59 does, get a jump on the cars, sometimes I'm off my bike, standing, I get out of the way and cheerfully, almost gleefully wave all the autos through, make your right turn speedy, hurry, hurry , hurry. I'm still embarrassed for humanity, people driving these things, spending money, wasting an inordinate amount of energy to get their fat ass to the mall (is that my mom?) but that's for another day, drive on, driver, drive on, it does look convenient and comfortable, Yes' I'm secretly envious. I do wish I too had something to spend a bunch of money on that was real dangerous, that I didn't know how to fix, that kept me in debt, that needed subsidizing and a gigantic infrastructure to sustain it's use. I only have my crappy bike.

Timto, sounds like you just described marriage. Dangerous, debt, cant fix, subsidizing..

I think your right sir, that's why it's best just to step aside and cheerfully wave. You just can't stop the momentum.