Had a potentially very nasty scenario on the road this morning. Was in my car, driving along in a semi-residential area with 30mph speed limit. I come up to a cyclist who is going along at mid- to high 20s and taking the racing line so that he was using up most of the lane. It’s a fairly bendy and narrow road with limited visibility of traffic coming the other way, so I just sat back and gave him some space since he wasn’t really holding me up and I knew there was a straight section and a 40mph limit coming up in about a mile.
Problem was, the guy behind me (driving a big black Range Rover with tinted windows, not that I’m stereotyping…) was the impatient sort and first of all starts driving within a few feet of me and flashing his lights and indicating, then suddenly pulls out to try and overtake both me and the cyclist at a spot where there’s a bend and I could see there was another car coming and nowhere near enough room to overtake. I assume he couldn’t see the other car as he was behind me and further back round the corner (not that he should have been overtaking on a blind corner anyway). In that instant I couldn’t see any other outcome than a crash and a cyclist in hospital or the morgue if he got past me, so I instinctively moved slightly out of my lane enough to make him pull back in, then pulled back in myself before the car coming the other way came up to us. If I had to justify it, I’d say that if he hadn’t pulled back in time and had hit me, that was still a lot better than the cyclist getting caught up in it all, but in all honesty I was acting completely instinctively and still haven’t quite figured out if what I did was the right thing or just plain crazy (I guess he may have just been pulling out for a look and would have seen the other car in time to pull back of his own accord).
Of course, the cyclist and the driver coming the other way hadn’t seen the whole thing and assumed I was the guy driving like a complete asshole, so when I did eventually pass the bike I got a whole earful of abuse and gesticulations. Not sure what the lesson of the story is, if the Range Rover had hit me then I’d be guilty of deliberately causing an accident, but I’m still convinced that if he’d pulled past me at that spot with the respective speeds of all parties then a much nastier crash was inevitable.
Good on you. Sounds like your intentions were genuine and in the best interest of all parties involved (you, Range Rover, cyclist, and oncoming driver). You can be my wingman any time.
I always try to err on the side of being predictable - both on my bike and in the car (and on the motorcycle). I feel that if others are going to take risks, they are way more likely to be successful in a predictable environment. My approach of “if things get crazy, do something normal” has served me well, so far.
Bad situation, that’s for sure. And, obviously, you didn’t have a lot of time to make a decision. I probably would have moved right to improve the chances that the RR driver’s bad decision turned out well. Not that my way is right.
It sounds like your intentions were good and you may have saved the cyclist without his knowledge, but I’m generally with AndyPeterson on this one. If you look at all of the different combinations of outcomes you can cut down on the probability of a bad outcome by eliminating yourself as a variable.
The simplest example is the game of sidewalk chicken (i.e two strangers walking toward each other). If you don’t know a priori that the other person will deviate from their original path in a predictable fashion, and it is impractical or impossible for either of you to indicate which way you intend to go, then the simplest way to reduce the number of times you’ll “dance” with the other person once you have reached each other is to simply stand there and let them walk around.
When I was in middle school one of those stupid magazine sales fundraiser prizes was a pair of “human turn signals”–basically, a pair of blinky lights that clip over each ear that you could control with a clicker to indicate which way you intended to go when you are walking toward someone. I can’t believe those didn’t become “a thing!”
I would have pulled over and given the cyclist an earful. If you need to take a lane for safety, take the center and stay put. Using “the racing line” and swerving all over the place with traffic behind you is not only asinine, but will get you hurt.
If the cyclist was wearing a rear-view mirror he would have seen a situation developing behind him and would have likely been able to remove himself from the roadway before any issues anyway. As a cyclist on a roadway you have to know you are going to cause problems for impatient, distracted, and just plain stupid motorists. It isn’t right, but a lot of things in life aren’t right. It is the cyclists job to make sure he goes home at the end of his ride and the responsibility of safety falls wholly upon him (because you’d be an idiot to trust a stranger with your life).
Of course in a situation like yours you probably did the best you could. I may have considered waving my arm out the window at the other driver indicating he needed to stop, but that may not have been effective and your window was probably up anyway.
It sounds like your intentions were good and you may have saved the cyclist without his knowledge, but I’m generally with AndyPeterson on this one. If you look at all of the different combinations of outcomes you can cut down on the probability of a bad outcome by eliminating yourself as a variable.
x2. Hindsight is 20/20, but I think if you wanted to wait to pass the cyclist, you should do so by hanging back far enough so that if someone wants to pass, they can pass you first, and then the cyclist in a separate/second pass. You cannot control the actions of the car behind you. Well, I suppose you can by blocking them with your car, but that’s not always going to be a wise decision on your part. But you can control the distance between you and the cyclist…thus eliminating the need for one big pass. As Zack mentioned…you eliminate yourself as a variable.
Lets face it…if a car really wants to pass a cyclist, even if it means crossing a doubld solid line through a blind corner…he’s going to do it. Putting your car in between that type of driver and the cyclist doesn’t really protect them…it just further complicates the situation.
Still a good deed by the OP though. Intentions were good, and luckily everyone stayed safe heading into the new year.
I don’t get it. Why was the cyclist going off at you? Meaning, how did he know what was going on behind him while taking a racing line around a bend? What alerted him to your obstructive movement?
I think the issue was that OP was following the cyclist closely enough that the black SUV would have to pass them both which, as a cyclist, feels like the car is riding your ass. He would likely have no idea the black SUV was even there, and may have even mistaken the black SUV honks and light flashing as something OP was doing.
The lesson is cyclists who “tak the racing line so that using up most of the lane” on a public street deserve whatever comes to them. Too bad you put your life in danger for a moron. Hopefully, over time, statistics and evolution will breed this trait out of the population. Unfortunately that will take longer than my lifespan.
“It is the cyclists job to make sure he goes home at the end of his ride and the responsibility of safety falls wholly upon him”…well said and couldn’t agree more!
Lets change the word racing line and replace it with the line which afforded the 2 wheel vehicle the straightest path with the best visibility of the road ahead…
Perhaps your seemingly intolerant and judgemental response may be tempered somewhat?
Common sense would suggest the vehicle at the front has every right to select a line within the lane that affords them the safest passage whilst travelling down that lane (in this case a winding lane / road will lead to a straighter path following apex etc… ).
They have right of way.
It is the responsibility of the following vehicle to if appropriate and safe to do so; pass safely… if not then wait until safe to do so… if the driver wants to arrive earlier they should leave earlier… not risk the lives of other road users to suite their schedule…
The 4wd in this case was it “seems” selfish, inconsiderate and impatient… hardly the ideal characteristics for a good motorist… albeit common ones…
I guess replace the cyclist with an individual on a motorbike and then we would all expect the cars to just wait to pass… so no different just because its a cyclist…
Lets change the word racing line and replace it with the line which afforded the 2 wheel vehicle the straightest path with the best visibility of the road ahead…
The cyclist would still be in the wrong.
Any traffic law I’ve ever read regarding bicycles reads very similar to the state statutes in Utah where I live:
(1) A person operating a bicycle or a moped on a roadway at less than the normal speed of traffic at the time and place and under the conditions then existing shall ride as near as practicable to the right-hand edge of the roadway...
The law states you need to ride as far to the right as practicable. It doesn’t say anything about “choosing lines” If you can’t operate your bike safely and stay to the right, you’re probably going too fast.
Lets change the word racing line and replace it with the line which afforded the 2 wheel vehicle the straightest path with the best visibility of the road ahead…
The cyclist would still be in the wrong.
Any traffic law I’ve ever read regarding bicycles reads very similar to the state statutes in Utah where I live:
(1) A person operating a bicycle or a moped on a roadway at less than the normal speed of traffic at the time and place and under the conditions then existing shall ride as near as practicable to the right-hand edge of the roadway...
The law states you need to ride as far to the right as practicable. It doesn’t say anything about “choosing lines” If you can’t operate your bike safely and stay to the right, you’re probably going too fast.
Yes, because riding on the edge of a winding and twisty road so cars can unsafely pass you is practicable. eye roll
Lets change the word racing line and replace it with the line which afforded the 2 wheel vehicle the straightest path with the best visibility of the road ahead…
The cyclist would still be in the wrong.
Any traffic law I’ve ever read regarding bicycles reads very similar to the state statutes in Utah where I live:
(1) A person operating a bicycle or a moped on a roadway at less than the normal speed of traffic at the time and place and under the conditions then existing shall ride as near as practicable to the right-hand edge of the roadway...
The law states you need to ride as far to the right as practicable. It doesn’t say anything about “choosing lines” If you can’t operate your bike safely and stay to the right, you’re probably going too fast.
Yes, because riding on the edge of a winding and twisty road so cars can unsafely pass you is practicable. eye roll
I manage it on the road to hana, and to haleakala. Please provide a counterexample where it is not possible.
As you say… When te vehicle is travelling at a speed note ably less than the traffic , and where practice…
In the OP case the bike was travelling at a reasonable speed…
Posted speed limit is that a max limit…
Either way u keep riding in the gutter, I’ll take the safest line for the speed I am travelling on a given piece of road…
Both of us will meet a multitude of detritus drivers who have an opinion on cyclists simply because they are cyclists …
Having ridden haleakala and driven to hana, I can tell you that these roads afford a better visibility than other cycling routes . If you ride in the sf bay area, there are plenty of “tighter areas” where there are much acuter “switch backs” that don’t allow viable passing space i.e. places coming down from skyline, page mill road, montebello, old la honda, tunitas etc. and if you are on highway one going up and over to stinson beach. In these routes, you definitely don’t want to ride on the margin of the road to “allow” cars to pass you. You will get plastered if you do so.
That’s not to say that you shouldn’t ride aware. If a car is hugging your a**, I pull over when I can. Because although I am right in the motor vehicle laws if I stay and dominate the lane, I don’t want to get killed my some dumbsh*t. I do ride with cameras mounted front and rear so I can send footage of a**hole drivers to local law enforcement.
