"Daniel W. Rouse Jr." <
[email protected]> writes:
> Okay, so on one side of the median, there are two lanes and a bike
> lane--the bike lane has a two-across pack of bikers. All traffic is
> stopped at a red light.
>
> Now, the light turns green... maybe the two lead cars in the right
> lane can get past the bike pack, but afterwards, there's no way the
> right lane drivers can get past the bike pack, which is spilling
> over into the right lane, without either brush-passing the cars in
> the left lane, or brush-passing the bikes in the right lane.
Which in my state would be an illegal maneuver by the driver, who is
legally required to allow three feet between the car and the
cyclist(s). The driver who brush-passes a cyclist can be ticketed for
failure to yield right of way.
It is exactly the same as passing a slower car ahead of you- you are
required to wait until you can pass safely. Now, you might be
irritated by the slower driver, but most drivers make a different
assumption. They assume that the slower driver also has a right to
use the road- but they assume the cyclist doesn't. This is incorrect
in every state in the US, with the exception of limited access
highways.
An illustrative example is this. About 5 years ago I was on a group
bike ride. There were about 15 of us, riding double file on the wide
shoulder of a road (Victoria just north of CR C in Roseville MN, for
those familiar with the area). A car ahead of us stopped to make a
left hand turn into the nursing home parking lot and was rear ended
almost 30 seconds later by a woman driving a large 4 door sedan. We
stopped to render any aid that might be needed and someone called 911
as there was a elderly woman in the passenger seat of the car that had
been rear-ended. The woman driving the second car got out and started
yelling at us for being "all over the road" and caysing the accident,
even though I, as the last rider in the line, could see that ever
rider was well onto the shoulder.
When the police arrived, she began making the same complaint. The
officer interrupted her and said, "ma'am, it doesn't matter. They can
take the whole lane if they want to. It's your responsibility to pay
attention to your driving and not to run into things." He got our
names as witnesses and sent us on our way, and ticketed the driver for
careless driving.
If you're a driver passing a slower vehicle, whether that vehicle is a
bicyclist, a car, a farm implement, whatever, it's your responsibility
to do so safely. It's not anyone else's responsibility. So stop
whining about it, wait until it's safe, pass and get on with your
life. Sheesh. That's what I do and I am much happier for it.
> Remember, though you want space when vehicles pass! And brush
> passing the cars is just asking for a collision. So are those
> drivers still incompentent because it takes what seems to be forever
> for the pack of bikes to get up to speed, and they they still won't
> ride single file in the bike lane??? In fact, the drivers in the
> right lane all need to lean on their horns until the bikes go single
> file, or dismount and pull off the road completely. Or, they should
> just brush-pass the bikes, and the bikes just have to deal with it.
The problem here is the impatience and self-entitlement of the drivers
in your scenario. "Incompetence" was the word that Wayne used, and
your scenario is an excellent demonstration of that.
As Wayne mentioned, I have no problem passing cyclists safely and
expeditiously. On a daily basis, when I'm driving my usual 50 or so
miles, I have problems with many drivers and few if any cyclists.
When I'm out driving, the cyclists are the least of my worries- it's
the morons in cars and SUVs that **** me off.
My, heaven forbid any drivers ever get angry at anybody!
