Car takes me over from 2 inches away on a double line

B

Blueshift

100 W
Joined
May 29, 2011
Messages
176
Location
California
I try to avoid sections of road with double yellows for one reason: people love to pass you with very little clearance. Today this a-hole nearly clips me and decides to lane split with an suv lol.
I am amazed at who society deems worthy of driving on the road. People getting dui's and are allowed to continue to drive, idiots who are impatient and are careless; none of these people should be allowed to get behind the wheel of a 2 ton machine of steel. but i digress....

Thinking about today's events has peaked my interest in a few new upgrades for my bike. 1. A loud horn and 2. a camera to record people breaking the law.
 
Blueshift said:
I try to avoid sections of road with double yellows for one reason: people love to pass you with very little clearance. Today this a-hole nearly clips me and decides to lane split with an suv lol.
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I wonder why they think they can pass when it is a NO PASSING ZONE. That's what double yellow MEANS, if there is a single lane. :roll:
 
This is why I go above the posted speed limit, in the middle of the road, when the side of the road isn't wide enough. This kind of stuff happens all the time...

I tend to avoid roads without ample room.
 
Seconded to what ZOMGVTEK said, get a more powerful, faster ebike that can outpace cars on normal roads. It's MUCH safer than getting passed by those freak ships!
 
crusoe said:
Seconded to what ZOMGVTEK said, get a more powerful, faster ebike that can outpace cars on normal roads. It's MUCH safer than getting passed by those freak ships!
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The cage drivers can escalate much more easily than you can.

Faster is not better. Faster is what gets us killed and maimed, turns our cities into hellholes, keeps us cooped up indoors to avoid the noise, peril, and mayhem.

I say, don't go faster than the speed you are willing to fall down at.

Chalo
 
I totally agree. Drunk driving is the ultimate a irresponsibility.
 
The double yellow reference confused me for a while, as here that's just a "no parking" road marking.................... :D
 
You shouldnt put yourself in such a position. Why are you betting your life on the patience of a random auto driver?

It also sounds like you're holding up traffic - inconsiderate to them and dangerous for you.
 
I don't know about this situation, but sometimes there isn't a choice. At the south exit from Metrocenter, for instance, there is only one road, and it's one lane, no sidewalk, no bike lane, etc.southbound, and a partial sidewalk (usually dug up in various places for utilities repair), one lane, no bike lane northbound. Plus one center turn lane that's double yellow line for parts of it. It's short, only about 1/4 mile if that, maybe only 1/8, but it is heavily trafficked at certain times of day.

Because it is the only bridge to cross the canal, it's the only option for a route out of there. Even if you want to use the footpath bridge over the canal that's on the canal path some distance west of the road bridge, you still have to take one of the road bridges to get to that, as there are two canals and only one of htem is bridged by the footpath bridge.

The only other options to go south out of Metrocenter are the extremely dangerous access road from the freeway, half a mile to the east, and the nearly-as-dangerous 35th ave half a mile to the west. Both are far worse than this road, even though they have more than one lane, and in some parts of them sidewalks, too.

Since I live directly south of Metrocenter, almost right on that road that goes south out of it (29th Ave), then every day I work, I have to ride that road in and out of there. Sometimes cars just have to wait a few seconds while I get thru that stretch and out of their way (and sometimes they won't wait, and nearly head-on collide with cars going the other way, usually by going around me to the left (opposing traffic lane) when I am already entering the center turn lane to get out of their way).
 
What happend to you is clearly the result of arrogance and impatience. Not much you can do to help that. But some near-miss drive by's are just poor driver judgement of distance, or poor eye sight. I've found two things work well to combat that:
1) Lights http://www.endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=37813&hilit=+lefty
2) Ride further from the curb, more into the lane. This makes it harder to pass you, so cars slow down.

Until all roads are built to Complete Streets standards and there are dedicated bike lanes (no panacea, but better than nothing), your only recourse is to follow the law. The law for biking on the road is usually "Ride as far to the right as practicable", which translates to "as far to the right is as you safely can". If you go too far to the right, people do indeed lane split and pass too close... that's not very practicable, is it? Riding a bit farther out to the left has always served me well.
 
I often wonder how biking is in other cities. I'm in the suburbs and there are very few bikers, walkers, pedestrians in my area. It's almost exclusively for exercise, rather than transportation.

95% of my commute to work is on sidewalks next to divided "highways" and cutting through subdivisions. It sounds like riding your bike on the sidewalk in most areas is the ultimate no-no, though I suspect that is due to the pedestrians and congestion that simply doesn't exist here. There is no such thing as a bike lane here.

When I need to ride on the main road, I cut down my speed and stay on the (gravel) shoulder for my safety. No one here really knows how to drive their cars around bikes and either sit behind you (going 15mph in a 45mph zone) even if you're on the far right of the road or they brush past you without much clearance.
 
This is the main reason I built a bike that can get me up to 50mph. Yes I know it is not safe. But on the contrary it is safer for me to get to those speeds at certain sections to avoid idiots that try to pass me on one lane no pass zone. I am all for 20mph limit if these drivers obey the law. However since drivers rarely do, I choose to break the law to be safe for both me and the idiotic driver.

Edit:
Here is what happened to me just today:

Since my bike is in service, I had to take my 25mph electric scooter. On my way to school, there were constructions on the road where the 2 lanes merge to 1 with a speed limit 25mph section. There was clearly a sign say "Share the road" for bicyclist. As I was approaching the merge, I notice on my rear mirror multiple cars racing trying to beat me to the merge. The first car almost clipped me trying this. The second had to brake hard to allow me to get in. Otherwise they would have hit me. This was definitely not cool. The construction and 25mph sign was displayed way before this merge. As I left the one lane, I can tell the guy behind me was pissed, he revved his engine and speed off even though there is still a 25mph speed limit post.

I think if I had my 50mph, I would make everything much safer for me and the driver and reduce road rage. Say all you guys want to 50mph ebike as not safe, etc. But IMO this only applies majority of the time, sometime you need the speed to make everything safe.
 
this discussion has been covered to death.. but . my 0.02$

i have both fast( 100v kits ) and slow *(A2B) bikes.. .

I really do miss the extra speed on tap when i'm on the A2B in certain places, enough to make me take alternative routes, if i had no choice but to go thru certain parts of the city on the A2B.... . man... forget it.

Having a 40 mph capable bike makes it possible to get thru dangerous parts of town a bicycle should just not be... not that it makes it " safe " .. but it makes it possible ! :lol:
 
The really annoying thing is that people do exactly this even on straight, empty roads with no overtaking restrictions. They will not cross the centre line, or sometimes even adjust their position in the lane. I really wonder if sometimes they've even seen me (one driver I caught up with claimed not to have).

It makes me wonder if bikes need a lightweight, 2 foot spring-loaded rod sticking out the overtaking side with a carbide tip on the end from a TIG welder. Car brushes past? Nice scratch front-to-back ;)
 
One time I was going on a slight downhill on a 4-lane road with no side roads or turn-offs, just woods and wetlands to the side. I'm going about 37 and the speed limit in 35, and this lady in an SUV passes me at 50mph, with 6 inches to spare! There was a whole other lane to the left that she apparently did not know how to use. There were no other cars on our side of the road. Then we came to a stop light and I was behind her in the right lane. I was really mad. At the green light she immediately slipped into the left lane. Then I sped up and passed her and realized that there was a construction zone taking up the right lane. I was barely ahead of her but I had to get into the left lane. Instead of letting me in, she crams me between the cones and her SUV. I shifted into 5th gear and slipped in right behind the car in front of her and stayed there. She honked at me again and then the construction zone on the right ended, and she went into the right lane and passed us speeding again. I needed to be in the right lane but I was so mad that I stayed in the left until the next light. Then I went into the right lane and was a couple of cars behind a police car because the light was red. She pulled up in the right turn lane right next to the police car, rolled down her window, and said "There is someone on a motorized bicycle swerving in and out of the bike lane!!!" and drove off! There was no bike lane for me to swerve in or out of but I guess she needed something to tell the police :roll: I then went slow and immediately pulled over because I assumed that the police officer would pull me over and I wanted to explain the situation. However the police officer just paced me a little and then left me behind when I pulled over.

It was a situation that made me very angry and I still can't watch the video from my helmet cam because I get very frustrated :x

I am definitely in agreement that impatient and careless drivers should not ever be on the road. I personally hate driving because I just get so fed up with everyone, and sometimes with myself.
 
Perhaps we're reluctant to admit that a slow-moving cyclist on fast, twisty country road with poor visibility can be challenging to deal with as a car driver. It certainly makes me sit up and pay attention when driving. I suspect that many drivers simply lack the wherewithal to safely deal with cyclists (evidence being the normal daily examples of poor, inconsiderate or feckless driving).
 
It's as unsolvable as the venus vs mars conflicts. Hellhole cities like Phoenix make things no easier, that's for sure. I'm a lucky dog, with lots of safe routes around town. Unavoidable unsafe sections are very short.

Unless your fast ebike is street legal in your area, I cannot support regular daily transportation use of your fast ebike, because it's safer. If it's an illegal uninsured unlicenced motorcyle, it belongs on the track. That's not to say my racing bike never went on the street. But blasting through the rush hour traffic is a bit different from a sunday morning dawn patroll sneak of a ride.



The point is,,,, don't bring the man down on us.

Again, lucky me, NM state law gives me 30 mph and no watt limit. So I can at least keep up on a 30 mph road.

Close calls like that sure give you the willies, I feel your pain. In the past I got run into a ditch while decending a mountain, my speed 50 mph! Had multiple full beers hit my back thrown from 50 mph pickup trucks, and had truck mirrors flick my ear many times. In most cases, could hear em laughing in the truck.

Wanna scratch a car that close? Paint can opener worn on the left index finger like a ring. They get that close, signal a left trun. :twisted:
 
mvly said:
... I built a bike that can get me up to 50mph. Yes I know it is not safe....
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??? I disagree unless you're riding fast in an unsafe manner. Risk of serious injury in the event of an accident is completely different than overall risk of serious injury.

Also, if you ride slower than traffic and want cars to give you more distance then don't wear a helmet. It's been proven that drivers give unhelmeted riders a wider berth. If that's not for you, then get one of these helmets http://www.craigboyce.com/w/2011/02/new-motorcycle-helmets/bald_helmet-t/ . Of course it doesn't do much good since it's not a full face helmet and the majority of serious head injuries in bike accidents are injuries to the face. Why do you think it's called a "face plant" and not a "head plant"? If you feel your odds of a serious accident are high enough to require protective wear, don't be half-assed about it.

Another technique to gain more space is to not ride in such a straight line. The less predictable you appear, the more space you're given both behind and to the side(s).

John
 
John in CR said:
Another technique to gain more space is to not ride in such a straight line. The less predictable you appear, the more space you're given both behind and to the side(s).

John
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This really does work. When I see someone approaching in the rearview and it looks like they won't give me the space I'm entitled to, I suddenly become a very poor rider. I begin to wobble about randomly on an 8 to 10 inch wide slalom instead of pegging a 4 inch wide line. They either slow or they pass with space.
 
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