berner

My experience with drivers here in the northeast is totally opposite to some of the experiences I've read on bike forums. Without exception I've found drivers here to be courteous and helpful. Several years ago I was at a stop at an intersection with map in hand. The area was familiar and I was not lost but I was trying to determine a route for the intended mileage. I woman in an SUV stopped beside me to ask if I needed help. "Thank you for asking", I replied. "I'm not lost yet but I'm working on it." She laughed and drove on. This is typical.

This past weekend I was on a three day bike tour with a jolly party of people with two tandem teams and everyone else on single bikes. In total we had a party of 7 riders. I had to come to a full stop at the bottom of a hill while waiting to see if a car directly ahead was about to turn in front of me. By the time I started up again everyone was over the hill and I lost contact and then missed a turn. There were several intersections which made reconnecting tricky and time consuming. My partners ended up sending search parties out and flagging down motorists to aid in the search. Just as one of the tandem teams found me, a woman drove up to ask if I was the lost bike rider. I was and we thanked her for her concern and help. This is somewhat beyond typical but not unexpected.

Vehicles pass with plenty of clearance or wait patiently for room to pass. I can't imagine riding a bike in an unfriendly envirionment.

phread59

Yup that's the way it is in Central PA as well. Lotsa nice folk around here.

Mark Shuman

VNA

It is nice to hear that drivers are nice in your area.

But surely there must be some drivers who are in a hurry, in bad mood, distracted or worse drunk?

DnvrFox

Generally, our drivers are great. I.e., Crossing a street on the MUP they invariably stop. I no longer wait for another rider on the to-be crossed side, instead crossing and waiting with my bike headed away from the street, because, if I don't, they will stop and wait for me to cross, even if I don't want to.

Zinger

Sometimes I'm unimpressed with some of the cyclists I see and hear about. A guy at work tells me about a cyclist that takes up the middle of the lane on a busy 2 way street (no bike lane) and just wouldn't move over to let him pass so he could get to work on time. Just because we have a right to the road doesn't mean we shouldn't be courteous to much faster moving traffic.

I saw another guy last weekend blasting through a local mup, downtown and crowded with pedestrians. He's got a team kit on and a carbon fiber bike and I see him often there and wonder why he's not out on the road with the local hotdogs instead of speeding through pedestrians. Anyway an older couple meander out in front of him and he has to hit the brakes hard. He gets mad at the couple and so I tell him "why don't you slow down. There is a speed limit on this mup". He gives me an indignent look and I ride on.

Dudelsack 

I hear ya. It gets frustrating to see what some cyclists do. It's been beat to death, but MUPs are no place to channel your inner Mark Cavendish.

Even in Kentucky, with all the "rednecks", I rarely have problems with motorists. Unfortunately, it only takes one to ruin your day.

jon c. 

Drivers in our area are pretty great as well. I don't really encounter a hostile moron more than once or twice a year.

The biggest problem I face is at four way stops where drivers always want to wave you through even when they have the right of way. But with most cars having tinted windows these days, you often can't see the driver. Especially on a sunny day.

Yankeetowner

My two most memorable events both involved young men/kids driving past me. The first rolled down their windows and began throwing water balloons at me. One struck my front wheel, and I nearly lost it. They sped off. The second involved another car full of kids who passed me and then slowed and rolled down their window. This was only six months or so after the first incident, so I was anticipating water balloons, or something similar. Instead one popped his head out the window and opened up a Playboy centerfold and yelled something to the effect of "this should make you pedal faster." They laughed and drove off...I laughed, more out of relief than anything else, and I went on to finish my otherwise routine ride.

abrianb

I always recommend that people not be meek in any way while riding in town. Don't ride to close to the curb, cars will pass to close if they think they can get by without swinging out to get around. Take a place in line at stop signs because if you are not careful someone will turn right over top of you. Most motorists are good but it helps to ride assertivly. On the other hand I have had a side mirror hit my shirt sleeve, the soccer mom had plenty of room to get by and no oncoming traffic. Just a tiny bit closer would have sent me over.

Shamrock

I find riding in neighborhoods with low incomes more dangerous than high incomes.I talking about the driving habits not the crime.A guy with a plate holder with chains going around it will drive as close to you as possible.A guy in a Rolls will give you 10 feet.I wish everybody had a Rolls!

Bikey Mikey

I've also encountered the opposite. I was in a lower income area and all gave me plenty of room. The same day in an upper-middle and just wealthy class area, I had several very expensive cars just about run over me or run me off the road.

blt

My experience here in the SF Bay Area is that the vast majority of drivers are courteous and helpful. Very, very few are careless or impatient. Very few driver dangerously. The vast majority of drivers at four way stops or at MUP crossings want me to take their right of way (which, as other posters have hinted at might be more trouble than it is worth). For the most part, I find driver/cyclist interactions around here very pleasant.

Of course, it only take one bad driver to ruin your day, or your life, and there are bad drivers around here, even if they are a very small minority. I've only had one car come close to hitting me, she was making a right turn on red as I was crossing on the green, and I needed to both yell loudly and move to the left to avoid being hit. The driver clearly felt guilty and a little shaken, but her "I didn't see you" excuse only served to piss me off -- the only way she could have not seen me is by not looking at what was in front of her car as she was moving it. I've had one car full of teenagers throw a water bottle at me and miss, although that was about 8 years ago.

I've had more cyclists come dangerously close to me than cars. The worst is when a large pack passes at a high rate of speed and some of them want to see how close they can come to my front tire when they move back in front of me.

noglider 

berner, you're losing your memory. There were nine in your party, counting my wife and me. Oh, but we had left by Sunday, so I'm the one forgetting.

I'm really glad to have met you. I hope to meet you again.

Massachusetts and New Jersey are notorious for bad drivers, and rightly so. However, the drivers are courteous to cyclists. I can't explain it, and most people don't believe me, but it's true. One factor might be that experienced cyclists know how to ride predictably and consequently are treated well. There are a handful of truly rude drivers everywhere, including in NJ and MA, but they are the exception, not the rule.

Zinger

You can get more right of way room dealing with Beemers and Jaguars when you're driving your ragged old jalopy too. Just drive like you're making minimum wage in a company vehicle but look like you don't have insurance

Seriously though, I rarely encounter bad drivers while cycling although I know they're out there. A friend of mine had a beer bottle hit him in the back once in the '70s.

berner

Hi Tom, I'm glad to have met you also. It was a perfect week-end, - at least the company, the weather as well as the camp grounds, which were clean and quiet. There was one section which had busier roads than I liked and without shoulders. Thankfully, motorists were thoughtful and there were no near misses. I hope we do it again but in a different area. I've been planning some routes in the Connecticut River Valley in the area of Hanover. Quiet country roads and little traffic.

I once did a week long backpacking trip consisting of a section of the Appalachian Trail. The area is peaceful, bucolic and I've wanted to get back for some time.
There is a nice campground at Hanover which can serve as home ground for various loops. I have your e-mail and will let you know ir you're interested.

Mobile 155

Considering the number of drivers I pass or pass me every day I would say 95 percent or maybe more are nice people. But we tend to not to remember nice people. We remember for months or years the ones that toss things at us, yell at us, sometimes knock us down or a friend down. Same with other cyclists. I see lots of other cyclists on the road but the sidewalk, wrong way, or Ninja night riders stick in my mind even if I don't see them every day. So in truth most of us have many good days in unity with our fellow travelers on the road and fail to mention what a good day it was. But on a forum it is those few that we post about so the numbers seem higher than they are.

TakingMyTime

I will almost always give a car the right of way. I find that drivers (like myself) are much more likely to be pissed off as they're either going to or coming home from work.

VNA

Most of these posts are only generalizations!

We all know that cycling is a relatively dangerous activity/sport!

Drivers come in all sizes, colors, ages and sex!

One can have many great rides without any problems (wishing this to everyone) and one day with a real accident with a car driven by a driver in a hurry, in bad mood, distracted or worse drunk and it can happen anywhere at anytime.

noglider 

Cycling isn't as dangerous as being in a car!

Biker395 

99% of the drivers we encounter are either respectful, or downright friendly. I dunno what it is, but the ones we remember the most are the buttholes ...

... like the middle aged woman this morning, trying to pass me on a narrow street that fits only one lane of traffic at a time, and leaning on her horn about 10 feet behind me the entire way down to the bottom. Oh ... and did I mention it's downhill and I was going at least 20 MPH in a 25MPH zone and the length of the block was only flippin 250 feet? Astounding. A passerby pedestrian was as outraged as I was.

Got her license plate and since she's sure to live local, I think I might drop a note on her windshield about the ins and outs of the elements of ADW.

Clarabelle

So true. The last time I suffered rudeness from a driver was 8 to 10 years ago. It still stands out in my mind unlike the thousands of courteous drivers who've passed me.

-=(8)=-

Ive lived in four states in the past 10 years alone, and agree. KY drivers are very easy to ride amongst. I dont know about rural, but here in Louisville, I have no problems at all.

With the exception of Rutland, most of Vermont was very bike-friendly.

PA was hit-or-miss, (literally?) depending on the town . . .

South Florida was brutal

My style is to passively fly under the radar -- to not be seen in some respects -- and it has worked out pretty well for me.

trackhub

Bear in mind, the guy with the Rolls may not be driving his own car. It might be driven by a professional chauffeur.

On a more serious note, I have noticed that drivers in the Boston 'burbs are much better now than ten years ago. What brought this about? My guesses would include:

-More cyclists on the road, so drivers are much more aware of us.
-Many drivers are also cyclists, so they are naturally tuned in, and "see it from both sides".
-More cyclists are aware of the law, and their responsibility. Ergo, the increase in the number of riders with headlights now, compared to only
a few years ago, when only a few used them. Still lots of work to do in this area though.

As far as driver stereotypes, I think they can mostly be blown off at this point. On my evening rides, I regularly see a tough looking dude in a pickup truck.
Supposed to afraid of him, right? This guy yields right of way me every time. And he gives a wave! One to still be aware of though, suburban moms in SUVs.
Always on the cell phone, not paying attention. One passed me the other night, with room to spare, but then she came within inches of taking out a jogger.
The jogger had on a reflective vest too. Was she on the phone? You betcha.

Zinger

Oh you always remember those encounters alright. The one that made me lose my cool and invite him out of his PU was almost 20 years ago. Haven't had anything like that happen since though.

B. Carfree

I guess I missed the memo. Sitting on a couch is a dangerous sport. Base jumping is a dangerous sport. Cycling? Not so much.

A few hundred cyclists die each year, and from the reports I have read the overwhelming majority appear to be some combination of drunk ninja salmon (ninja=lightless at night; salmon=wrong-way rider). Even without subtracting out those folks, cycling, taken from a years of added life perspective, adds more years to cyclists' lives than the are lost to wrecks.

I think the notion that we are regularly being put at risk by scofflaw motorists stems from the fact that if motorists, and cyclists, simply obeyed the law we would never have any negative encounters. Thus, any close call or hostile encounter, being unnecessary, feels worse than it is because we can point to someone and say, "That person ruined my day by behaving badly" and they, indignantly, defend themselves by asserting that they are just driving like everyone else.