A
Archer
Guest
I was out for a short exercise ride last night after work, and had an interesting experience. I was
tooling along at probably 17 - 19 mph on the shoulder toward a light-controlled intersection. The
light turned green while I was still quite a ways from it, so I didn't have to slow down, and I
caught up with the end of the line of cars. As they accelerated, the lady at the end of the line
pushed it fairly hard, though at the time I didn't see why. A few seconds later, I saw why: she
slowed down and turned on her right-turn signal to turn at the intersection where the light was. At
the time her turn signal went on, I was a few feet behind and to her right. When I saw this, I hit
the brakes, expecting her to go ahead and turn, risking hitting me with a right hook. Imagine my
surprise when she turned her head and waved me on by, and then waited while I passed before
completing her turn.
I am speculating that she initially underestimated my speed, and thought she could make the turn
without affecting me, but once she saw that I was pretty much pacing her, she realized she needed to
wait. Even if she had gone ahead and turned, she wouldn't have hit me because I slowed down in a
hurry when I saw her turn signal go on, but it was nice that she waited for me once she realized I
would have to take evasive action to avoid her if she didn't.
This road has a lot of bicyclists of all types: transportational, recreational, and hard-core
roadies on it, so the drivers are pretty used to seeing us around, which helps a lot when it comes
to situations like this.
--
David Kerber An optimist says "Good morning, Lord." While a pessimist says "Good Lord,
it's morning".
Remove the ns_ from the address before e-mailing.
tooling along at probably 17 - 19 mph on the shoulder toward a light-controlled intersection. The
light turned green while I was still quite a ways from it, so I didn't have to slow down, and I
caught up with the end of the line of cars. As they accelerated, the lady at the end of the line
pushed it fairly hard, though at the time I didn't see why. A few seconds later, I saw why: she
slowed down and turned on her right-turn signal to turn at the intersection where the light was. At
the time her turn signal went on, I was a few feet behind and to her right. When I saw this, I hit
the brakes, expecting her to go ahead and turn, risking hitting me with a right hook. Imagine my
surprise when she turned her head and waved me on by, and then waited while I passed before
completing her turn.
I am speculating that she initially underestimated my speed, and thought she could make the turn
without affecting me, but once she saw that I was pretty much pacing her, she realized she needed to
wait. Even if she had gone ahead and turned, she wouldn't have hit me because I slowed down in a
hurry when I saw her turn signal go on, but it was nice that she waited for me once she realized I
would have to take evasive action to avoid her if she didn't.
This road has a lot of bicyclists of all types: transportational, recreational, and hard-core
roadies on it, so the drivers are pretty used to seeing us around, which helps a lot when it comes
to situations like this.
--
David Kerber An optimist says "Good morning, Lord." While a pessimist says "Good Lord,
it's morning".
Remove the ns_ from the address before e-mailing.