Hoopdriver

Not alarming but it has me scratching my head about what was going on in this driver's mind.

I left a little later this morning and since traffic seems to double every ten minutes I found myself amongst more cars than I am used to. As I approached a red traffic signal, there were about 15 cars lined up in the right of two travel lanes. The street has a wide bike lane at that point so I filtered up to the light stopping just behind the first in line. The light turned and all started moving, but there was another red light at the next intersection a few hundred feet down the road, so all the cars that passed me had to stop once more. The last car that passed me pulled way over to the right into the bike lane obviously intending to block me from filtering again. I saw that the left travel lane was clear so I just moved over and stayed in the left lane. The right lane is a turn only at the next intersection so I have to move to the left anyway, just not as early as I did this morning. Anyway, the thing that is most disturbing is that as I passed this person he or she accelerated suddenly as if to prevent me from moving to the right again. What's with this? It's 6:30 in the morning, we're all going to work, my presence on the road is not affecting anybody's commute. Why play these silly games?

look566 rider

Because you are an annoying bicycle rider!

Seriously, jealousy, anger you seem to enjoying your ride, who knows!? People can be real donks.

mcours2006

He/She was having a bad morning. Maybe he was just stopped by the police and given a citation for something, or maybe had a fight with spouse, maybe had a bad night, who knows. People in cars can be real @$$h0le$ because they're protected and insulated.

Maybe time to get a camera.

prathmann

I see drivers doing the same thing with motorcyclists who are legally filtering when traffic is at a standstill. Really makes no sense since those motorcycles will be completely out of the way of the car drivers trying to block them. Same with bicyclists in a bike lane - traffic in the regular traffic lanes and in the bike lane move independently of each other with neither one holding up the other. Except for someone deliberately blocking the lane as in your case.

Last summer we were returning from the solar eclipse and traffic was barely moving. We were in the right lane (of two) on the interstate when I saw a motorcyclist coming up from behind. I inched a bit to the right to give him more room, but the car driver to our left also moved right in a deliberate blocking attempt. After honking for awhile, the motorcyclist reached back and drew out a handgun which he started waving at the car driver. Fortunately the driver backed off and the situation was resolved. Certainly don't condone the brandishing of a gun - but the deliberate blocking attempt was also uncalled for.

mcours2006

Miserable people want other people to be miserable as well. The if-I'm-stuck-in-traffic-then-you-should-be-stuck-in-traffic-too attitude.

dabac

There was a link to a study posted in the A & S forum I believe. Something about ”altruistic punishment”. People take it on themselves to ”educate” or to ”punish” people who in their opinion aren’t behaving in accordance with the common good.

baldilocks

People in cars have this delusion that they can go faster than stupid bicycles.

canklecat

This. I saw the same behavior many times when my job required a lot of cross country driving.

Some states and regions seemed infested with road nannies. They'd drive 55 in the passing lane, staying abreast with other vehicles so nobody could pass. In particular I recall all of Wisconsin, and most of the Philadelphia area being like that. But that was back in the 1980s.

For awhile several years ago I noticed a fad or trend in stop and go highway traffic of drivers jerking their cars into the shoulders, left and right sides, whenever they'd brake. I couldn't figure out whether they thought it was safer than simply slowing down, not tailgating, and braking predictably; or they were trying to block the shoulders to prevent motorcycles from filtering.

One morning in rush hour traffic I was chased and nearly hit several times by a road nanny. And I hadn't even been filtering that morning. Fortunately I was able to escape down an access road, but was forced to filter to escape the enraged nanny.

Back in the mid 1970s when I bicycled to the Bethesda Navy hospital where I was stationed I'd often ride through Rock Creek Park. Back then, especially so early in the morning, there was rarely much traffic.

One morning grumpy old fellow tried to run me of the road and finally raced ahead, swerved to block the road and got out to yell at me to use the bike path. There was no bike path, just a narrow path for walkers and joggers and murderers. That's where Chandra Levy was killed years later.

I ignored the guy and rode around him.

You can't reason with people who think the best way to prove their misguided point about safety is to cause an accident and injure someone else.

ExPatTyke

Obnoxious person angry at being stuck in traffic, and taking their anger out on a "soft" target.

Unfortunately it's something that we see too often - trying to block a cyclist off as you've described, cutting in after overtaking, hand gestures, shouting.

It never occurs to the motorist that the best way to get even and remove the stress is to get on a bike themselves.

Daniel4

Took my words.

And some people wonder why there's a push for self-driving cars.

mcours2006

Not sure if this was the exact story posted, but the ideas are there:

BBC - Future - The psychology of why cyclists enrage car drivers

revcp 

It's not just motorists. These days it seems like everyone is on the lookout for someone getting something they think is not deserved, and then they do their damnedest to see that it's taken away.

Daniel4

"Had enough of cyclists today! Just wanna ram them with my car."

And to think the person who may be our next Premier stated something similar to this when he as City Councillor.

pdlamb

I vote for "wind whistling through vacant spaces" of the driver's mind.

rumrunn6

I've had ppl do this to me but not when I was in a bike lane. not sure I would have gone around to the left. shows us what good painted bike lanes are ... good argument for divided/protected bike lanes

alan s 

It’s now called the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. Grew up not too far from there.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt...Medical_Center

RoadKill

It's pure jealousy.
If motorists were smart they would recognize that motorcycle lane splitting/filtering and bicyclists are both ultimately going to reduce the congestion on the road and decrease their commute time. But instead they see that somebody is getting ahead of them and it's just not fair.

Leebo

I had a guy move over to the curb to try to block my filtering on approach to a double rotary. I just went around. Traffic at a stand still. Caught up to him in his convertible. His shout was " get a car" My response was" so I can be stuck in traffic like you?" I just pedaled on after that.

trailangel

I like the term "Road Nanny"

noglider 

"Since I can't filter as you can, you shouldn't be able to."

To which I think, "Since I can't move at 50 mph, you shouldn't be able to." Of course, if that dialog occurred, I wonder what would come next.

InOmaha

It has nothing to do with you being on a bicycle. I see it all the time in different modes of transportation. Some people just assume their commute (or time) is more important then yours and will do anything they can to get ahead of you. The same type of person will do it in a car, while they're riding a bike, while they're walking, shove ahead of you in line, or getting on a bus or an elevator or a train, etc., etc..



I had a guy on bike pass me several times on a bike trail then slow down. So I passed him on a straight section and went fast enough, long enough that he fell far enough behind to not bother me the rest of my trip.


It's a strange personality type.

canklecat

Yup, back then it was the National Naval Medical Center. Walter Reed was a separate nearby facility. Both hospitals cooperated on many projects, including the researchers we assisted. I haven't been back in decades, no idea what it looks like now. I may check Google street view.

stanman13

I call it the "count the ravioli" mentality.

I have a good friend of many years who grew up with two brothers, all close in age. When their mom made ravioli for lunch, they were so concerned that one might get more ravioli than another, so that she had to count out the ravioli to ensure each got the same amount. Extras were either divided or discarded. They weren't concerned with whether they had enough, just that no one got more.

This mentality is seriously detrimental to society.

mr_bill

Vancouver, sigh.

The Dunsmuir Viaduct leading to the first picture is wonderful too. The second photo of Hornby is pretty nice too (except for some awkward driveways).

People in cars around here get on the road pre-cranky, but get crankier still when they get stuck with all the other cranks.

-mr. bill

canklecat

An acquaintance indirectly reminded me of one of the problems in discussing any issue, let alone resolving the problem.

Last night I posted a short video clip on Facebook illustrating why cyclists often take the lane, even when there's a "bike lane". Here's the same video clip on YouTube. It's unlisted but should show up here.


Usually whenever I post about cycling, this same acquaintance and one or two others invariably go off on tangents that are only superficially related. They're obsessed with ax-grinding. And it's not a conservative/liberal polarization issue. The two acquaintances who are most likely to go off on tangents about cycling are polar opposites -- one is ultra-conservative, the other ultra-liberal.

They share in common the tendency toward ax-grinding and not quite comprehending the specific topic. One is infuriated with cyclists who don't come to complete stops for every stop sign. The other thinks cycling and bike lanes are some sort of government plot to rob people of their freedom of movement.

The latter fellow "liked" my video, and immediately launched into a digression about local government forcing citizens out of their vehicles and onto bicycles, impeding traffic and harming the economy, etc, etc. So while he's sympathetic as a friend, he's incapable of avoiding being triggered by his pet peeve.

I suspect that the road nannies we occasionally encounter have similarly obsessive, single issue ax-grinding tendencies. They have a pet peeve about cycling. The mere appearance of a bicycle triggers this response.

It's difficult in the best of circumstances -- a conversation in person or online with someone we know -- to resolve these issues. It's impossible to do so with strangers in momentary encounters on public streets. About all we can do is minimize the contact and move along, or report them if they persist in threatening harassment or assault.