genec

I find this behavior to be particularly reprehensible... and darn hard to predict...

You are left positioned, signaling and moving... and along comes some idiot that passes you on the left with a quick swooping movement...

Had a guy do it yesterday to go into a shopping mall... on Convoy. I had just signaled and was about to turn when this kid flys by me and swoops left into the driveway just before the one I was going to. (this area is fill with strip mall shops and driveways).

This is hard to predict as one tends to be looking forward to see when traffic clears... so you are not gazing behind at a mirror. I was a nano second from leaning into the turn when the driver came by right where I was going. I wanted to "share my thoughts on this" but held my tongue with the driver and went on to the shop I was going to.

B. Carfree

I've been passed on the left in similar situations. I guess I've either been lucky or just adequately attentive since none of these incidents has ever caught me unawares. When it happens, I just wait it out and then make my turn. I've only had two cars pass in a row on a couple of occasions. Those are a bit more problematic since they usually involve folks who are engaged in some sort of playful racing.

We really should have some sort of testing and licensing for motorists, don't you think?

turbo1889

Yup, happens sometimes. Just one more bone-head move that automobile drivers (and sometimes even other cyclists) can be expected to make that one needs to watch out for.

I've got one home-built e-bike that is equipped specifically for night time commuting and has more and brighter lights on it then a car (10@ semi-truck oval shaped commercial grade LED turn/brake lights running directly off the big battery) those lights show up bright even in daylight and I've been in the left tire track of the left most lane with my left turn signal blinking and as bright and as big as a car turn signal with my left arm outstretched going the 25-mph speed limit and had some gashole knuckle head pass me on the left over a double yellow center line right when I was about to turn.

I've also had some idiot cagers try to pass me on a residential two lane and then there is a stop sign intersection and we both end up reaching the intersection and stop sign together with me in the right lane and them stopped in the oncoming lane on the wrong side of the road nose to nose with another cager turning right into them from the right of way cross street honking at them to get the heck back over on the right side of the road and they start screaming out their window at me that its my fault just for being there and that stupid bicyclists need to get the ^@&@ 1^$#&@%& 1^$#^@ off the road and out of their sight.

Signaling and lane position can help reduce the number of incidents but can never eliminate them altogether. Some cagers are just crazy stupid and have absolutely no regard for anyone but themselves and will gladly, knowingly, and willfully risk the very lives of others with the most casual of attitudes to save themselves mere seconds of transit time. And, yes, its not just cagers, some cyclists are just as bad in attitude and behavior; just that thankfully they aren't near of a hazard to others on a bicycle as with a much larger, heavier, and faster vehicle such as an automobile.

Chris516

In the vein of the OP's situation, yes. More than once.

FenderTL5

It happened to me last Friday.
I was on Nebraska, preparing to turn left onto 40th. I had already moved to the center-line of the lane and was signalling a left turn when a car passed from behind, on my left, in the opposite lane... her windows were down and I could hear her saying, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry.." as she passed... Fortunately, she wasn't going very fast and I happened to see her in my mirror just prior to turning.

genec

Have had that too... and it just really makes me wonder what sort of thinking goes through (if any) the motorist's head when there they sit, facing oncoming traffic or anyone about to make a right on red and they are in the wrong place. Was their attempt to pass me really that important?

About all I can do at that point is slowly shake my head.

dougmc

Happens to car drivers too.

And yes, it's really dangerous, and often leads to collisions.

ItsJustMe

I've had people pull around me when I was turning left in a car. There are many idiots in the world. It would be nice if natural selection was still active, but unfortunately this is a situation where the idiot is likely to kill the other guy and be OK himself.

Keith99

Only once, 2 lane road and I was so far left my down foot was on the double yellow line.

Guy going STRAIGHT passed me on the left. Really strange as this was a rather wide street and more than plenty of space to pass on the right.

buzzman

All I keep thinking as I read these threads is 5 more years until the autonomous cars hit the roadways. The beginning of the end of bad drivers.

unterhausen

I can't deny the fact that this makes my day. Although usually they run the stop sign.

B. Carfree

I nearly had a melt-down when I saw a headline the other day about a Google Car getting in a wreck, fleeing the scene and hitting another vehicle. Thankfully, it was just one of their overseas streetview cars operated by a carbon-based unit with defective firmware and not one of their autonomous vehicles.

Do the self-driving cars really hit the road in just five years? I'm reminded of John Kerry's comment on Viet Nam and I wonder who will be the last person killed by a human-operated car.

buzzman

Nissan claims that by 2020 they will have a full release of their autonomous car for the everyday consumer. But they are expected to be in use to some limited extent in 5 years. There are currently autonomous cars in use for beta testing.

In all honesty, I can't wait. It will put to rest all this arguing about bad drivers, bicyclists will truly have to take responsibility for their own welfare, it will lead to major shifts in the current infrastructure and it will happen faster than we think. The automobile came onto the scene in roughly it's present form (internal combustion/mass produced) around 1907, 20 years later horse and buggies were practically a thing of the past. Technology evolves even faster now- think of the changes in computer and cell phone technology in the past 20 years.

We should save these threads for our kids and grandkids. Remember when people used to have to drive their cars and a million people a year died in accidents! "Oh, and how we used to complain about bad drivers! In my day we used to have to turn a key to start the car and steer it by hand!"

dynodonn 

To refresh my memory, I just reviewed my videos of a particular notable incident of a motorist in a full sized Ford diesel pickup passing me on the left while I was making a left....full throttle, over a double yellow line, cutting me of to avoid oncoming traffic, and leaving me in a cloud of diesel smoke. Waiting an extra ten seconds and the motorist could have passed me without incident.

I-Like-To-Bike

More likely scenario is a pool about when will the first person be killed by a self-driving car.

B. Carfree

There could be some interesting infrastructure changes. Autonomous cars wouldn't need twelve foot lanes, so we gain space for other (cycling?) uses. Eventually, I imagine most folks in urban/suburban settings will cease to own their own cars and just call for them when they want them, so we gain all those parking spaces for other uses (cycling?). We may also have cameras beaming the view around blind corners to approaching cars so that they can go faster with greater safety. Well, I guess they would go just as fast as the ignorant motorists of today who outdrive their vision, but without the same level of danger.

What could go wrong? I guess we'll find out soon enough. I just have a hard time imagining it could be worse than our current situation.

Spld cyclist

This happened to me, except that there was two lanes going each direction, and the guy crossing the double yellow to pass me on the left had the full right lane plus half of the left hand lane to pass me legally on the right. Not another car in sight nor anything else to block his path to the right.

spivonious

I've had the occasional car pass me to go straight when I'm moving left and signaling for a left turn. Usually they're smart enough to either pass me on the right or just wait.

spare_wheel

This happens to me almost every commute at this intersection:

https://goo.gl/maps/RHeSi

IMO, motorists should be legally obligated to give cyclists signalling a left turn priority.

B. Carfree

I don't know if I am understanding this correctly. Are you turning left from the left turn lane and having motorists who are going straight pass you on your left?

Rootman

Happened to me a few weeks ago. I give no credence to ESP or karma or the like but often wonder how I get these "feelings" sometimes.

I was heading to an intersection on a two lane road to turn left, NO stop sign on this road. I glance at the mirror and see an SUV quite a long distance back but coming up behind me none the less. I make an effort to make a very obvious left hand turn signal, sitting bolt upright, arm out at 90 degrees and holding it for a bit longer than I normally would. I drop my arm to the bars to start the turn and I got "that feeling", so I stopped just to the right of the yellow line before the turn and put my foot down, sure enough she pulled up beside me on the my left and STOPPED. There we were staring at each other through her open passenger window. I prepared for the onslaught of remarks but none came. I just asked "What, are you stupid or something? I was making a left hand turn.". She just looked flustered and started off again.

spare_wheel

Motorists zip around me while I am trying to enter the left turn lane from the through vehicle lane (e.g. they pass me in the other lane and/or the turn lane while proceeding straight). This happens despite the fact that I am signalling and there is a large yellow sign indicating that bikes are merging left.

genec

I had an encounter like that with a right turn only lane... I was in a BL that started just to the left of the RTOL, and going straight through... woman comes up behind me and rather than slow and merge and end up in the RTOL, she went left of me, left of the RTOL, and left of the BL, and then from the right most straight through lane, she made her right turn... in front of me. Now I wasn't going anywhere... so I was in no danger... I just watched this event unwind with a look of utter amazement. And the thing was she was driving a giant SUV.

Jamesw2

Yes! Trying to pull into my driveway. They have repaved the street and drivers are now doing 35 in a 20 mph zone. Twice in three days

subwoofer

Well being in the UK, I would have to replace left with right, but so far the answer is actually no.

When I am making this type of manoeuvre, it goes like this:

Shoulder check - look at the driver if any
Signal
Shoulder check - look at the driver and signal again while looking at them
If clear move to centre of the road and approach the junction
Shoulder check
Oncoming traffic check
Side turning traffic check
Turn

At any point I see potential danger I stop and watch.

All through this process I take a dominant, defensive positioning on the road and look directly at the drivers of adjacent cars. Riding like this, so far no one has taken the P!55.

Maybe I am lucky, maybe I have 'presence' on the road (6'2" and 220lb and full of high-vis), or maybe the drivers where I live are not morons.

The only issues I do come across, despite my riding style are vehicles that overtake and then squeeze me over into the kerb. This only seems to happen in relatively slow moving traffic.