subgrade

I guess I could, but I don't think it warrants a separate thread as it is not that much different from what I can gather it is in most of US. It certainly is not anywhere near the level as in some other European countries like Denmark or Netherlands.
In short - there is no bicycle infrastructure on country roads; a few of the bigger roads have paved shoulders. The only large city - capital Rīga - has some bike paths/lanes and MUPs, but they mostly aren't interconnected or well designed. Some of the smaller to mid-size towns, on the other hand, are doing pretty well in building adequate bike infrastructure. Cycling is on the whole seems to be on a rapid rise lately, both commuting and amateur sports. In regards of attitude from vehicle drivers, it is mostly allright, but there's always a small percentage of jerks - again, same as everywhere. It's legal to ride on sidewalks; while the traffic laws state that cyclists should use the carriageway, they are allowed to ride on sidewalk if the traffic, weather etc. make it dangerous or impossible to ride on the carriageway. Since this is free to interpretation, many, especially less experienced riders ride on sidewalks at all times. Most of the time, one can hardly blame them.

livedarklions

Thanks! I have questions, but I'd totally be hijacking this thread.

Orkun KnighTR34

In Istanbul:

​​​​- Drivers of taxis, minibuses, dolmuş', school vans(in turkey vans that carry 21 passengers as school bus, not bus type vehicles), some cheap cars and construction vehicles think about traffic is a video game, their steering wheel, pedals and shifts are gamepad and bicycles are enemies that give points if they killed by player.

- If you ride between cars that trapped in traffic jam, some takeaway scooters can abuse you.
​​

slowrevs

White pick up trucks with drunk drivers, SUVs with dark tinted windows, Chevy Malibus with tipsy drivers by the driving range.

Wheever

Where I ride, the worst are BMWs, Porsches, Corvettes and Audis. Pickup trucks and most other vehicles tend to be polite passers, often waiting until it's *definitely* safe, then passing with wide margins. The three aforementioned luxury cars often pass when it's totally unsafe, and pass way too close no matter what.

I had a funny experience where a BMW passed me just as we were dropping down into a the series of very steep tight hairpins on the road that leads to my driveway. He had to pass, oh yes he did too close and unsafe...and then I guess he got hisself scared of those big turns. I ended up tailgating *him* through the turns, and he didn't lose me until I was slowing down to pull into my driveway.

Bill Abbey

Light colored Buicks. On my first ride across North America I had three chamois darkening moments and two I'm going to f*****g die incidents, each precipitated by light colored Buicks. One, a sedan driven by a middle aged guy in a polo shirt engaged in passing 10+ cars and tractor trailers, on-coming traffic, well in excess of normal passing speed, moved onto the shoulder I was riding (36" of cracked asphalt bordered in the fallowing order: then broken basalt gravel, then pea gravel down to the guard rail/drop off). I was really rolling with panniers and a Bob trailer going down an extended grade. I took the only way out, sliding into the pea gravel. Not hurt, but one of the 18 wheelers stopped and visually checked on me. As I stood he clearly asked if I was OK. I waved and he then proceeded on. Five minutes it took to get my rig and me back up to the road. Two, A lady in a light colored Buick exited one parking lot on the north side of the 4 lane divided boulevard, crossed three as she made her left turn, changed lanes into my lane (far right)then immediately braked and turned right into her hair salon parking lot. My immediate swerve on to the shoulder gave me just enough time to perform the emergency swerve/turn. My speed was 25 to 30. She clearly saw me as she did her maneuver. She did not respond at all when I spoke to her as she entered the salon, just gave me a "so what" look. Then there are the close pass with the dog FeeFee in drivers lap barking. kind of things. Always seems to be a Buick. Now when I see one, I prepare myself and any riders around me. My regular touring buddies (and yes this includes my wife) used to shrug at my antics, but not any more. They now nod and warn the others, "Watch the Buick, Watch the Buick!" and it has saved my/our ass on more than a few occasions.

work4bike

Buses, but especially School buses. I've had the worst luck with them, maybe they're just overworked...I don't know, but they spook me more than any other vehicle.

BTW, I drive a white Ford Ranger Pickup However, it's probably the only one with the Share the Road specialty plates

burnthesheep

I've found all vehicle types to drive equally poorly, but when it comes to intentional stuff...........the redneck truck "persecuted white male syndrome" seems to take the cake.

Teamprovicycle

the most noticeable are MERCEDES owners , i cant even put into words how bad their driving ability is !!!

dddd

There were a few years in the late 1990's and into the oughts where I simply noticed that about half of all egregious driving (not specific to rage/hostility) was coming from drivers of Ford Explorers.
There were a lot of those cars on the roads around silicon valley, but the incidents went well beyond these car's vehicle-demographic percentage.

The worst incident occurred while I was descending Kings Mtn. Road at speed, where one such driver made an unsafe pass entering a sharp corner and almost took out a fire truck that was heading uphill with siren blaring!
And the big SUV's and pickups with groups of young men have on occasion thrown half-full beer cans my way. My best such encounter had me feigning that I didn't notice that the can had bounced off my shoulder, and after the truck had passed the passenger hung out of the window looking back to check on my reaction, only to have his white Oakley glasses fly off into the wind. These chumps then didn't have what it takes to stop and retrieve the glasses, which reinforced what I already knew.

As far as the "demographics" of the drivers, one doesn't have to look hard to realize where the animosity comes from, with the media constantly trying to create, identify and blame demographic groups for every ailment of society. And then they as often play favorites on such issues, no doubt sub-consciously infuriating those who are being blamed.
So for example I've heard drivers yelling comments that seem to correlate to political parties or cities that are somehow being associated with cyclists. I can easily imagine that the driver has perhaps been listening to their radio station too much after drinking strong coffee and heading out for their daily drive. Even if the driver were listening to NPR (who is particularly good at committing the above-mentioned offense), the result might be the same as with the driver who is getting revved up listening to Limbaugh or any other of the presumption-blaring radio jocks.

esmith2039

No particular make/model in this area, although Dodge Chargers seem to like to show off excessively. Johnson County drivers, KU fans and buses (city, school) are the ones you have to watch out for. I've had the most close calls with those identifiers.

bikecrate

No problems with any one type of vehicle. Been buzzed by gas tankers to econo boxes. The few times I've been purposefully harassed was almost always by young guys in beat up import sedan.

Rollfast

That was a different thread and the OP got banned, although they weren't listed in Banned Users at least a week or so afterward, last I checked.

Now Windy banned himself from Foo, self-imposed and not official.

But yes, why did this thread get cloned like Barbra Streisand's dogs?

Rollfast

Okay. please give Foo back to the Foo-ish.

Bill in VA

Not just cyclists. I find Dodge Ram owners to be the worst. The truck name should not actually advocate the driving style...

and then there are the ubiquitous white vans with a dozen ladders on top.

flyjimmy

Litespud

That's always been my view, having ridden/commuted extensively in Ireland and England, where cycle commuting is much more prevalent that in the US. Bikes here are considered by many to be "toys" - something that kids play on, but discard once they "grow up" and get a car. By that logic, anyone on a bike is a dilettante and unworthy of respect. Across the pond, however, that guy on the bike is as likely to be a working stiff, and you don't screw with him. That being said, it's not all roses in Ireland/UK. Many's the time, while commuting into Dublin in rush hour, I had to pound on the fender of a car that was edging me into the curb (I could do that, because no-one was going to shoot me), but once the driver realized what he/she was doing, they generally backed off. Drivers may dislike cyclists there (as drivers do everywhere, I guess), but none ever yelled "Get off the road!" at me - a regular occurrence here in the US. I don't recall a single time in Ireland/UK when a driver edged up beside me and leaned on the horn a few feet from my ear, just the f**k with me. Drivers in Ireland/UK may not like sharing the road with bikes, but there's no question of cyclists' right to be there.