Why do bikers use car lane.

[Shaun]

Gee it can be a bit like a warzone here on the roads with the two factions being motorists and cyclists.

Both are to blame, you know the cyclist who is just tootling along not near the edge of the road totally oblivious to the growing snake of angry cars behind him. Even worse the group of cyclists who have no intention whatsoever of moving over to let any cars passed just because they have the right to be there.

Then there's the cars that will pass as close as possible to the cyclist just for kicks and yell abuse about your manliness that real men ride women.

Respect is mostly all that's needed from both sides, follow the road rules and do your best to not be a hindrance or nuisance to either party.

On top of all that if we had roads with properly maintained bike lanes within them we may have a chance.

Yes, I both cycle and drive a car.

As a cyclist I'll do my utmost to not hinder you in your car but at times it's inevitable that I will, just be patient, if I see that I'm holding you up I'll pick up the pace just to help you out. A wave of appreciation from the driver is always enjoyed when he notices that it was done for him.

As a motorist I'll do my utmost to give you plenty of space and if I can't pass safely try and do your best to help me out so I can do so. I'll pass on a wave of appreciation if not I'll wait until it safe to pass.

Are we all in so much of a hurry nowadays that waiting for a short period of time just to make another persons life safer can't be done? Both parties have the right to be on the road, lets accept it and just try to get along.

 

[LeadFootLiam]

I reckon if you really watched, you'd see it a lot less than you think.

Fun story - I recently had cause to go to a local town centre and photograph cyclists for a bad-behaviour piece I was writing. I needed to snap a cyclist doing something illegal.

I was there 45 minutes and in that time I managed to see just one of the twelve or so I saw doing anything illegal. That's pretty much the same rate as you'd see with motorists.

I guess you are right on that one. Interesting how you did that bad-behavior piece, was it for fun? Or for a class or something?

No, this was several years ago when I was driving through a town centre. In the UK this specific kind of pedestrian crossing - a zebra crossing - is for use by pedestrians only and in fact cedes priority to pedestrians - you must stop if a pedestrian is using it or about to use it.

Cyclists are road traffic and not pedestrians - they are required to dismount to cross a zebra - which means that not only did I not have to cede priority, he was using the crossing illegally. I treated him as if he were a hazard (because I am both a child and a butthole), by dropping through the gearbox and taking evasive action. He was not happy.

Lol, thats actually funny. I like your reasoning. 👍

 

[Famine]

Well, I got paid for the piece, just not very much. Freelance work can be a bummer like that - luckily I enjoy it!

http://www.carthrottle.com/7-deadly-sins-these-road-users-should-be-banned-for/

 

[White & Nerdy]

So you're perfectly happy to follow a car doing the speed limit, but because it's a bicycle, also doing the speed limit, you have an overwhelming urge to get past?

I wonder if the forum software can support a dislike button certain users posts. There's no way I'm ever going to press like on any of yours.

A bicycle might be one of the worst possible things to be stuck behind on a narrow, twisting road. The sense of uncertainty that comes with following another driver is amplified by the weakness of the cyclist's vehicle, plus you know he'll have trouble maintaining the limit on anything but a downgrade.

Not that there was much else between me and the bottom of the mountain, but that only meant he'd be coasting along right in front of me the whole way, never going fast enough to open up much distance, making me be a lot more careful than I'd planned on being. And if the downgrade ceased to be sufficient to keep him coasting, that'd become even more annoying.

Not for the bicycle, no.

But it is a road vehicle. It uses the road network. It has a specific set of regulations covering it - like buses, trucks and vans do, separate to cars - and is required to adhere to the universal set too. And when you are on the road with it you must treat it as if it is a vehicle, since it is one.

I'm still note sure how a vehicle with no headlights, no horn, no plates, and perhaps most importantly no speedometer, which has trouble keeping up with traffic on level ground, let alone an uphill stretch, can be considered equivalent to a car.

 

[Jay.]

Here is a controversial video, kinda. As @Famine said, cyclists are technically a vehicle, since we adhere to the same laws as cars. The problem is that other motorists don't view cyclists like vehicles, so there judgement changes causing accidents, as this video demonstrates. *Profanity warning*

Hats off to the male driver for openly admitting fault and pleading guilty, he was also the first to ask 'Are you ok?'.
As for the woman, she's a disgrace, not just giving drivers a bad name but smearing female drivers with a bigger brush. Every second breath was 'I didn't see you', 'Where were you?' but the best was... 'What did I do?'. She pleaded Not Guilty, and her fine/endorsement was too lenient. She should have seen the cyclist approaching before he was even first hit.

 

[Maccer_42]

Cyclists are annoying at times, but the more I think about it the more I realize I've had more encounters with twunts in cars than I have with then on bicycles.

In my town pretty much every foot path is also a cycle path, but I hardly ever see them used by cyclists they always choose the road instead, I'll never understand why though, excluding the town center paths, and outside super markets and schools pretty much every path will always be deserted.

I can understand why a cyclist would rather ride on the road than a cycle path in a busy city like London as the traffic will be moving slower and easier to predict than a busy footpath, but in a small/medium size town like mine I can't understand why most cyclists chose the road over the cycle path when for the most part it is empty.

 

[Zuel]

Do they want to be run over something? As in bikers, I am not saying motor bikes but like regular biking. I see them go in the way of cars even though there is a pretty straight and not hard to see concrete sidewalk.

US transportation laws still clearly state a bicycle is a propelled vehicle.

 

[Famine]

I'm still note sure how a vehicle with no headlights, no horn, no plates, and perhaps most importantly no speedometer, which has trouble keeping up with traffic on level ground, let alone an uphill stretch, can be considered equivalent to a car.

You quoted the reason...

 

[Jubby]

To be honest, I actually driving a car more than a bicycle. But, I do love cycling.

...[A] good cyclist is a minor inconvenience to motorists for a very short period of time. A bad cyclist is a greater inconvenience because they're unpredictable. However, as annoying as this may be, they just exponentially increased their chance of being injured or killed, whereas the motorists have not. So really then they are bestowing a greater inconvenience upon themselves then they are to motorists.

You're right @Sam48, as a cyclist myself, I commonly find that some cyclists that are bad riders are clearly dangerous. To people who try to compare the danger a bad cyclist causes to a bad driver and saying the bad cyclist is worse... enjoy losing that argument. A good cyclist will actually give way, provide plenty of space, and obey all traffic laws.

A car that doesn't have to pay any registration, third party insurance or license fees

It also doesn't pollute, require fuel, tear up the roads, and is still liable for any damages caused- however it likely cause only a fraction of any property damage.

The bad cyclists will not longer be able to cycle while the ones that follow the rules of the road can.

It makes the road safer.

You'll also need to work harder on bad drivers at that rate.

A bicycle might be one of the worst possible things to be stuck behind on a narrow, twisting road. The sense of uncertainty that comes with following another driver is amplified by the weakness of the cyclist's vehicle, plus you know he'll have trouble maintaining the limit on anything but a downgrade.

Not that there was much else between me and the bottom of the mountain, but that only meant he'd be coasting along right in front of me the whole way, never going fast enough to open up much distance, making me be a lot more careful than I'd planned on being. And if the downgrade ceased to be sufficient to keep him coasting, that'd become even more annoying.

I'm still note sure how a vehicle with no headlights, no horn, no plates, and perhaps most importantly no speedometer, which has trouble keeping up with traffic on level ground, let alone an uphill stretch, can be considered equivalent to a car.

This is probably one of the worst reasons for "I hate a cyclist" I've ever seen! You don't want to go slow for just a short amount of time? Would you feel the same about a motorcycle, a truck, a school bus, a moped? I doubt you'd be as upset about them. I'm sorry that you'll be inconvenienced by being careful for a fraction of your day- you just lost out on a whole 30 seconds.

For anyone that may question why a cyclist chooses to do something, I would suggest consulting their local, state, and/or federal (country) laws and regulations. In some states in the U.S. there is a requirement of a certain number of feet to provide to a cyclist when passing and an expectation that a cyclist not hold up traffic- to which they can be ticketed.

To the sidewalk argument... insert the "what the hell?" Jackie Chan meme here. Someone that comes out of a local shop and steps on a sidewalk getting clobbered by a cyclist going 10 mph. Most sidewalks aren't wide enough to cover two or three a-breast walking (at least most places I've been across the country), let alone account for a cyclist and their bike.

 

[Seismica]

I get annoyed and irritated with them when their riders don't follow the rules which based on my experience, tends to be the norm for bikers in this area.

Cyclists get equally annoyed and irritated at those people who do run red lights and generally don't obey the rules of the road (Infact more so, because they give us a bad name). I can type "cyclist red light" into youtube now and on the first page there are around a dozen videos of cyclists running red lights, taken by other cyclists.

Cyclists are subject to road laws and they do get pulled over and fined when they break them.

For me it's very clear why Cyclists use the car lane. There is insufficient infrastructure for cyclists to utilise.

In the UK we have a national cycle network. Most of these routes are gravel paths which are simply not fit for purpose for travelling longer distances between towns and cities, so people have to resort to using the roads. Within towns and cities we have cycle paths (that look like this), but there are two problems with these. Firstly, pedestrians don't recognise the central divide, so you have to constantly navigate between pushchairs, dog walkers and groups of teenagers who expect you to go onto the grass to avoid them. Secondly, they only tend to go through residential areas where due to the slow speed limits and wide lanes, it is already very safe to use the roads which makes them redundant. There are cycle lanes on some of the faster roads, but again they don't extend outside of towns and cities. On a 70mph limit dual carriageway between my town and Middlesbrough, a Bicycle lane just sort of disappears and merges with the car lane, as if to say "You've gone far enough, this part of the road isn't for you".

The roads within built up town centres don't seem to have been designed with both cyclists and motorists using them at the same time in mind. Bus stops that cut across cycle lanes, dangerous one way systems which encourage motorists to not fully check their surroundings before making a turn. My favourite is the double lanes which merge into one where vehicles believe they have right of way because they are moving faster (they don't):

 

[ildd]

Here's a video that changed my perspective. slightly.

 

[Carlos]

The video you posted Seismica, it looks like a lot of fun but it's kind of crazy mixing cars and bicycles together. I think cyclers are really taken care of here in the Netherlands and we have a good example of how it can be done a lot safer.

Children here are schooled how to cycle with safety in mind, I remember I did when I was around 10 years old..

@ ildd; I posted that a page back Nanana

 

[Bopop4]

Here's a video that changed my perspective. slightly.

In a lot of those cases he could have ridden around the obstacle while still being in the bike lane.
You can just walk the bike on the sidewalk around obstacles as well.

If you're driving and there's something laying the the road, you're not going to run it over, you're going to use the shoulder to avoid it.

Also, right of weight.

 

[carracerptp]

I have a road near my house, speed limit is 45MPH, cars do around 50, 55, the nut jobs do 60+. I have seen 2 cars ride onto the shoulder, and one into the grass in just 2 day. No Way would I try and ride on the road when there is a nice, wide, 100% empty sidewalk.

The only time I ever had a problem on the sidewalk was when I got passed by another bike and he almost crashed.

But.. the rest of the time I use the road, follow the laws, etc. I say close to the shoulder and make it easy for cars to pass me. What I don't get is why on earth some cyclist feel they need to ride on dead center of the road on a 40MPH street. It may be legally classed a vehicle I have never seen a bike do 40MPH.

 

[White & Nerdy]

This is probably one of the worst reasons for "I hate a cyclist" I've ever seen! You don't want to go slow for just a short amount of time? Would you feel the same about a motorcycle, a truck, a school bus, a moped? I doubt you'd be as upset about them. I'm sorry that you'll be inconvenienced by being careful for a fraction of your day- you just lost out on a whole 30 seconds.

"30 seconds" is putting it lightly, seeing as how that's a pretty hard road to pass on, even if there is little traffic.

As I said, I ended up pulling over and waiting for him instead. Before the hairpin, he was on the drop-off side of the road and so probably didn't have a choice.

After the hairpin, he was on the safer side and had a bit more room to move over. It ended up working out, but that's still a fairly annoying time to encounter a cyclist, especially since I almost never see cyclists on the road anyway, especially not in early October.

 

[Seismica]

The video you posted Seismica, it looks like a lot of fun but it's kind of crazy mixing cars and bicycles together. I think cyclers are really taken care of here in the Netherlands and we have a good example of how it can be done a lot safer.

Exactly, there needs to be designated areas for cyclists to use. In the UK I believe London are making good strides towards improving access for cyclists, but it's happening very slowly in the rest of the country. I've lived in or near 3 different major cities in the past 5 years, and all are unsuitable for cyclists.

Children here are schooled how to cycle with safety in mind, I remember I did when I was around 10 years old..

We have that too. The problem is that there is hostility from the other road users who see cyclists as these people who don't obey the rules of the road, don't pay 'road tax' etc. which has spawned a whole group of 'militant cyclists' who then decide it's their duty to make life unpleasant for motorists (Taking up whole lanes needlessly etc.), to fight back so to speak. I believe that cyclists should be aware of motorists and move over when needs be, in the same manner that cars tend to move out of the way to let motorcycles past on country roads, or those who have a caravan or trailer will tend to pull over to let a train of other cars past.

Cyclists on the whole tend to be slower, and the cyclist should always take that into account. If I mean to be turning right and there is a car immediately behind, I will let the car past first. Why? Because I can move over far enough to let them overtake, whereas this isn't always doable in a car. Some cyclists believe that they shouldn't need to move over before a right turn (left turn if you're in the US) because if they were in a car you would have to wait behind them, which to me defies logic. A bicycle is a different type of vehicle, with different dimensions. Taking up a whole lane at all times is stupid and inconsiderate in my opinion.

Again this could be solved if there was better infrastructure for cyclists. The culture in the UK is unlikely to change even if bicycles required registration, rider licenses and some sort of cyclist tax.

 

[White & Nerdy]

Cyclists on the whole tend to be slower, and the cyclist should always take that into account. If I mean to be turning right and there is a car immediately behind, I will let the car past first. Why? Because I can move over far enough to let them overtake, whereas this isn't always doable in a car. Some cyclists believe that they shouldn't need to move over before a right turn (left turn if you're in the US) because if they were in a car you would have to wait behind them, which to me defies logic. A bicycle is a different type of vehicle, with different dimensions. Taking up a whole lane at all times is stupid and inconsiderate in my opinion.

Exactly. From what I've seen, the only reason they go on the roads is that they're too fast to be safe on sidewalks.

 

[Seismica]

Exactly. From what I've seen, the only reason they go on the roads is that they're too fast to be safe on sidewalks.

But those inconsiderate cyclists I was discussing are only in the minority. I've recieved hostility (i.e. nearly being hit deliberately) multiple times on the roads from motorists who buy into the stereotype that all cyclists shouldn't even be on the roads because they are unsafe, or don't pay tax, or whatever other excuse they try to use for their recklessness. Equally, i've had cyclists nearly hit me while driving because they ran a red light, or they didn't stop at a T-junction where I had right of way. I can tell you that the former happens a lot more than the latter.

I think cylist training courses would be a solution, with an increased focus on how to behave around cyclists for motorists too. Both sides need to learn to get along, and the roads will be safer for everybody. A big part of the problem is motorists believing they own the road, which is the very first problem that needs to be addressed.

I hear in parts of the Netherlands there is an opposite culture; the cyclists own the roads, motorists are the guests - the difference is that a cyclist can't run over a motorist and put their life in danger.

 

[homeforsummer]

Not that there was much else between me and the bottom of the mountain, but that only meant he'd be coasting along right in front of me the whole way, never going fast enough to open up much distance, making me be a lot more careful than I'd planned on being.

How terrible for you to have to drive more carefully...

 

[ap2toe92]

Hi,

I am from Singapore. We have similar problems here as well. Initially, cycling groups called out for the right to ride on the roads, during weekends. Subsequently, they ride on the roads everyday of the week. That's quite fine. But, it got really out of hand where there are regular cyclists riding on the roads and competing for the same lanes. Worse is..... some of them do not have any blinkers on their rear, so it gets really hard to avoid colliding into them, especially at night.

Recently, the local press also reported of a certain cyclist picking a fight with 2 motorists. Best of all, it was all captured on Youtube and the press even located the cyclist.

What matters is to be considerate and to watch for other vehicles, whether one is driving a car or riding a bicycle. Bicycles aren't really dangerous.... its the reckless cyclists which make them utterly dangerous.

 

[daan]

A bicycle might be one of the worst possible things to be stuck behind on a narrow, twisting road. The sense of uncertainty that comes with following another driver is amplified by the weakness of the cyclist's vehicle, plus you know he'll have trouble maintaining the limit on anything but a downgrade.

Not that there was much else between me and the bottom of the mountain, but that only meant he'd be coasting along right in front of me the whole way, never going fast enough to open up much distance, making me be a lot more careful than I'd planned on being. And if the downgrade ceased to be sufficient to keep him coasting, that'd become even more annoying.

But you said the cyclist in question was doing the speed limit, so why were you "stuck behind" him?

I'm still note sure how a vehicle with no headlights, no horn, no plates, and perhaps most importantly no speedometer, which has trouble keeping up with traffic on level ground, let alone an uphill stretch, can be considered equivalent to a car.

My bicycle has lights front and back.

My bicycle has a "horn." My voice is fairly loud.

My bicycle has no plates but then it is not required to.

My bicycle has a speedometer.

When accelerating away from traffic lights, me and my bicycle can get to 30mph (might not be able to sustain it, but I can do it when I need to) roughly the same time as the traffic around me. And when traffic can include trucks (you know, not your kind of trucks but big articulated lorries) and tractors, a bicycle is not always the slowest "vehicle" around.

 

[GTsail]

The worst is when you get a narrow road with no sidewalk or bike path. Take the road on the east side of Hatcher Pass, for example. I tried taking a run up to the top to celebrate getting a job, only to find killjoy 35mph speed limits.

So I get to the top and turn around. OK, might be a bit more fun on the downhill... wait, what? Oh, that's just a bicyclist obliviously hogging up the lane like he's a car. And because we're on a steep downgrade, he can just momentum along at the speed limit. If it were actually a car, I'd understand, I can be pretty anal about keeping to the limit on downhill roads myself, but this is a bicyclist. To get past this person, I'd have to gun it and hit banworthy-on-GTP speeds, and probably cross a double yellow as well. This is going toward a blind hairpin so sharp it warrants a "10 mph" speed advisory sign, with just enough traffic around to make risky moves extra risky. The worst part is, he probably didn't have a choice. It's a narrow road with a narrow shoulder leading to a steep, high drop-off.

I've been in this position, but in reverse!

Bicycling down Cadillac Mountain in Maine on the Summit Road (a very scenic 3.5mile paved road for cars and bikes to drive to the top of the mountain, for those who don't want to hike up the mountain), I caught up with some slowwww moving cars that wouldn't pull over for me!!!

The cars were only doing about 20mph and I was easily reaching speeds of 30mph between the hairpins.

Exasperated, I had to ride down the mountain for about 2 miles behind these inconsiderate drivers in their pokey 4-wheeled vehicles. What were they doing??? Sight-seeing???

Respectfully,
GTsail

 

[White & Nerdy]

Most likely. Fortunately there weren't many of those that day. Maybe, unlike the cyclist, they realized it was October, and that it's effectively already winter at the top of the pass (for some reason, the road was plowed and gritted all the way to the top, though there was still a severe lack of grip on the last few corners).

At least they weren't motorhomes

 

[LeadFootLiam]

Hats off to the male driver for openly admitting fault and pleading guilty, he was also the first to ask 'Are you ok?'.
As for the woman, she's a disgrace, not just giving drivers a bad name but smearing female drivers with a bigger brush. Every second breath was 'I didn't see you', 'Where were you?' but the best was... 'What did I do?'. She pleaded Not Guilty, and her fine/endorsement was too lenient. She should have seen the cyclist approaching before he was even first hit.

IDK how she did see the cyclist. Her voice is annoying too. I was pretty shocked that she stayed in her car for a couple minutes questioning the cyclist, I did not hear her say sorry.

 

[ExigeEvan]

What's there to get over? I'm saying that bikes don't own the road. I agree, even in the post you quoted, that they share the road, which is why they need to follow the same rules as everyone else.

I get annoyed and irritated with them when their riders don't follow the rules which based on my experience, tends to be the norm for bikers in this area.

As a cyclist you can not afford to "share" the road. Because if someone else wants a bit of your road you are going to lose. And lose badly.

As a road cyclist you have to be assertive. You have to know where to control the traffic behind you so that idiots don't overtake with only half an opportunity ("Hey a cyclist, better squeeze past on this blind bend!") or you don't get squeezed to a stop for cars parked at the side of the road.

Motorists may hate it. But when I've been with friends driving it always seems to be because they're infuriated a person on 10Kg of metal is trying to ensure their own safety.

 

[Tornado]

After seeing this episode today while in the hospital, I can't help but imagine W&N as Mac.





Which explains so much.

 

[Danoff]

Motorists may hate it. But when I've been with friends driving it always seems to be because they're infuriated a person on 10Kg of metal is trying to ensure their own safety.

Yes, people hate it when other people are safe.... uh... no.

Motorists get infuriated because cyclists are the rudest people on the road. Why do I say that? What other vehicle do you know what would travel 20 or even 30 mph below the speed limit and assert their dominance over the road. Not everyone who is queued up behind you volunteered their afternoon for a slow bike ride.

I'll apply the same rules to cyclists that I do to large trucks. If you have more than 4 cars behind you pull over to let them pass (or speed up, or stop driving on that road). If you have fewer cars behind you than that but they've been there for about 3 minutes, you need to pull over and let them pass (3 minutes is a long time to find a place to pull over). If doing so will cause you to pull over so often that it'll take you forever to get where you're going, your alternative is to stop using that road.

 

[Famine]

As a road cyclist you have to be assertive.

No you don't.

Some motorists don't treat cyclists with the respect they ought to - that doesn't mean you know better than all of them and you have to ride as if it's a contest for road space with them as the aggressor. Similarly some cyclists don't treat other road users with the respect they ought to - but you won't catch me driving "assertively" around all cyclists.

The road is a shared space, between pedestrians, cyclists, motorbikeists, cars, vans, trucks and lorries (occasionally trams - rarely trains unless the points failed again). We all have our bit to do and if we all do it, we can share the space without needing to be a bit of a dick to anyone - but as soon as it's seen as "competing for road space" any concept of co-operation is lost and it becomes a battle. Conducting your roadgoing affairs with the mindset of controlling other users is an aggressive act of someone who thinks they're in a battle - you're psychologically set up for combat and that's when road rage occurs. Who loses when that happens, the driver or the cyclist?

Sometimes people make mistakes too, regardless of what vehicle they're in. That doesn't necessarily make them stupid, bad or aggressive - it makes them people.


Offer up consideration and other road users give it back. Offer up aggression and you're perpetuating the problem you think you're solving.

 

[Rage Racer]

I usually cycle on sidewalks, because there are no cycling lanes/roads in my part of the city. And cycling on a car lane just feels unsafe (bus & truck drivers, and some idiots racing on the city streets - you never know whether they see you on a bike and can avoid smashing you or not).

Are there any problems with riding a bicycle on a sidewalk? I think there are no problems.

But sometimes you just have to use a car lane. On my way to university, I have to use a lane on a highway intersection, to get to the bridge crossing the freeway. And I have nothing to do but to wait for the road to become more of less free, because heavy vehicles are not to be argued with.

 

[Pagey279]

Are there any problems with riding a bicycle on a sidewalk? I think there are no problems.

I don't know about Moscow but in most UK cities as soon as you get near the centre you can't even walk in a straight line on the pavement, let alone cycle on it. In most places it just isn't feasible, you'd be crashing into children, elderly people, bins, lamp posts, you name it.

You'd probably be more likely to crash on a pavement than you are on the road.