Motorists: just do what's expected of you, A.K.A. "Don't fuck around".
Today as I was riding home, a car pulls out of a driveway to my front left and backs out towards me. Nothing wrong with that - perfectly normal. I'm 100 yards away and the driver has plenty of space to complete his/her turn. There are no other vehicles or pedestrians around. I ride up behind, slow down and wait for the driver to complete the maneuver.
Then the driver sees me and, presumably, panics.
Instead of just completing the turn and going forward, he or she pulls into the oncoming traffic lane and just stops. All that was needed was for him or her to apply gasoline and go, but no. Now I'm presented with a situation that is not a part of normal road usage. Do I stop and wait? Do I overtake on the right - moving into the blind spot of a car whose owner clearly wants to move forward into my lane? Maybe this bozo is on a cellphone, in which case anything could happen.
Eventually, I rode past, very carefully on his/her right, and sure enough, the motorist pulls into the lane behind me. The motorist was waiting for me, because as every motorist knows, acting stupid out of some panicked sense of courtesy is precisely what a cyclist wants to see motorists do.
If I stop for you, I'm fricken waiting for you to go. I am not waiting for you to stop to let me go.
Trust me, motorists, I already think you're incompetent. You don't need to prove it to me every single day. Give some days a miss, okay?
I mean, am I crazy, or should the road be simpler than this?
You're surprised by this out of motorists?
ReplyDeleteIt never ceases to amaze me when people come up behind me and refuse to pass me, even with no oncoming traffic and plenty of room. It's as if they've never seen a bicycle before. Or maybe they think I'm a UFO ?
ReplyDeleteYeah, that happened to me the other day too. I signaled the car to pass, but he/she stayed right there. I have no idea how the thought process goes, but the UFO theory is intriguing.
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