Oncoming Cars that Drift Into Your Lane
#1
Sophomore Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2019
Posts: 2,531
Mentioned: 12 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1628 Post(s)
Liked 1,057 Times
in
631 Posts
Oncoming Cars that Drift Into Your Lane
Been seeing this a couple times per ride lately. Car coming the other way is a foot or so over the double yellow line ($250 fine) and the driver seems to think, "Oh, they're just a bike, they're not entitled to the whole lane. They don't need it anyway."
I find myself waving my arms around, what else can you do? One guy pointed out a bumpy section of road he was avoiding by crossing into my lane (he could have slowed down). Irritating, but no harm no foul I guess.
I find myself waving my arms around, what else can you do? One guy pointed out a bumpy section of road he was avoiding by crossing into my lane (he could have slowed down). Irritating, but no harm no foul I guess.
#2
Quidam Bike Super Hero
Join Date: Jan 2019
Location: Stone Mountain, GA (Metro Atlanta, East)
Posts: 1,135
Bikes: 1995 Trek 800 Sport, aka, "CamelTrek"
Mentioned: 2 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 331 Post(s)
Liked 415 Times
in
282 Posts
And, yet, reversed, they would kill us and claim we were "weaving"....
AirZound ftw!
AirZound ftw!
Likes For Digger Goreman:
#3
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 5,992
Mentioned: 26 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 2494 Post(s)
Liked 738 Times
in
522 Posts
Nine times out of ten when this happens the offending motorist is giving 3' to a cyclist on their side of the double yellow. It should be a non-issue to a cyclist riding FRAP on their side of the double yellow. And wouldn't you appreciate the gesture if you were the other cyclist? Of all the annoying and/or dangerous things cagers might do this one shouldn't even be in the top five.
#4
Full Member
Join Date: Feb 2019
Location: Connecticut
Posts: 208
Bikes: Cannondale Synapse Carbon 105 (2021) Cannondale Cujo 2 (2018) Cannondale Quick Carbon 1 (2017) Giant Sedona (2006) Cannondale R1000 (2001)
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 65 Post(s)
Liked 238 Times
in
105 Posts
I see this often when in my car and the oncoming vehicle crosses the line to get around a parked vehicle. Many streets around here are narrow and in residential neighborhoods built over 100 years ago. Seems to be a thing now that you need to stop to give the other car the right of way when the driver suddenly cross the yellow line.
#5
Sophomore Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2019
Posts: 2,531
Mentioned: 12 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1628 Post(s)
Liked 1,057 Times
in
631 Posts
Nine times out of ten when this happens the offending motorist is giving 3' to a cyclist on their side of the double yellow. It should be a non-issue to a cyclist riding FRAP on their side of the double yellow. And wouldn't you appreciate the gesture if you were the other cyclist? Of all the annoying and/or dangerous things cagers might do this one shouldn't even be in the top five.
I envy your Yota-like patience, but not enough to try to emulate it.
Likes For Lemond1985:
#6
Banned
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Lincoln Ne
Posts: 9,924
Bikes: RANS Stratus TerraTrike Tour II
Mentioned: 46 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 3352 Post(s)
Liked 1,056 Times
in
635 Posts
Front or rear, I am always prepared to take to the ditch. I kind of subconsciously am always scanning the ditch next to the road.
Likes For rydabent:
#7
Tragically Ignorant
Join Date: Jun 2018
Location: New England
Posts: 15,613
Bikes: Serotta Atlanta; 1994 Specialized Allez Pro; Giant OCR A1; SOMA Double Cross Disc; 2022 Allez Elite mit der SRAM
Mentioned: 62 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 8186 Post(s)
Liked 9,098 Times
in
5,054 Posts
OK, so if you are JRA minding your own business, and some car weaves over a double yellow line, and starts heading straight toward you a high speed for no apparent reason, you don't start getting concerned unless they miss hitting you head-on by less than 3 feet?
I envy your Yota-like patience, but not enough to try to emulate it.
I envy your Yota-like patience, but not enough to try to emulate it.
I've had some pretty scary moments where a car in the opposite lane crosses the double yellow cutting it close to a head on with a car in the lane I'm frap of. Sure the oncoming car is missing me by over 3 feet, but I don't know whether the car behind me to my left isn't going to swerve right into me to avoid the head-on with the interloper. The ony good thing about this situation is it's usually over before I realize how much danger I'm in. Chances are that if I did get hit, I'd never would've known what had happened.
Likes For Lemond1985:
#10
Shimano Certified
Around here it is to avoid horse crap. Drivers give it 4 ft or a full lane but buzz bikers all the time. In spite of a 4 ft law....
Likes For mtbikerinpa:
#12
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2010
Posts: 39,232
Mentioned: 211 Post(s)
Tagged: 1 Thread(s)
Quoted: 18409 Post(s)
Liked 15,530 Times
in
7,326 Posts
Happened to me a couple years ago. The kid driving appeared to be drunk or on drugs. He started to slump forward like he was about to pass out. I literally had to pull into someone's front yard because he was still drifting towards me. Fortunately, he was going relatively slowly. I yelled really loud and he sat up straight and pulled back over to his lane. There was a car behind me that pulled over as far right as possible and stopped when they saw him coming. The occupants couldn't believe what they had just witnessed either.
#13
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2017
Location: Chapel Hill NC
Posts: 1,683
Bikes: 2000 Litespeed Vortex Chorus 10, 1995 DeBernardi Cromor S/S
Mentioned: 4 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 645 Post(s)
Liked 797 Times
in
446 Posts
I see this often when in my car and the oncoming vehicle crosses the line to get around a parked vehicle. Many streets around here are narrow and in residential neighborhoods built over 100 years ago. Seems to be a thing now that you need to stop to give the other car the right of way when the driver suddenly cross the yellow line.
Likes For Litespud:
#14
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2017
Location: Chapel Hill NC
Posts: 1,683
Bikes: 2000 Litespeed Vortex Chorus 10, 1995 DeBernardi Cromor S/S
Mentioned: 4 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 645 Post(s)
Liked 797 Times
in
446 Posts
Happened to me a couple years ago. The kid driving appeared to be drunk or on drugs. He started to slump forward like he was about to pass out. I literally had to pull into someone's front yard because he was still drifting towards me. Fortunately, he was going relatively slowly. I yelled really loud and he sat up straight and pulled back over to his lane. There was a car behind me that pulled over as far right as possible and stopped when they saw him coming. The occupants couldn't believe what they had just witnessed either.
#15
Senior Member
One section on my normal route includes markings where a bicycle is entitled to the entire / only vehicle lane going in each direction. With the very narrow width of the roadway anything else is asking for a problem.
At that point I am assuming the middle of the lane so there is zero question as to not being possible for me to be passed.
Another section requires bicycles to assume the right lane of two lanes going in each direction. There are huge bicycle symbols painted on the road surface, along with appropriate signage.
That is always less secure of me not getting flattened, but I still have air in my lungs...
At that point I am assuming the middle of the lane so there is zero question as to not being possible for me to be passed.
Another section requires bicycles to assume the right lane of two lanes going in each direction. There are huge bicycle symbols painted on the road surface, along with appropriate signage.
That is always less secure of me not getting flattened, but I still have air in my lungs...
#16
Senior Member
I have never ridden on roads like those ones in the picture. I don't do highway riding. First you can't see far enough around the bend where cars will be coming at you at 90 to 100 km/h. And then there's the added pressure of cars behind you having to go only 20 km/h because of you.
But if I were in a situation like that in an urban street, I would take the unpopular position (unpopular to motorists) of taking my lane. True, a motorist playing chicken just might run me over but those are drivers who intentionally want to run people over anyways. And there's nothing anybody (driver, police, cyclist or pedestrian) can do about those type of drivers.
Riding to the side invites the oncoming car to sideswipe you. If there's a car following you, chances are he'll be passing you from behind just as the oncoming car is driving by. Not only that but more often than not, there's a parked car creating a four-in-a-row situation, which is not fun.
Have your loud horn ready to alert unseen vehicles that may be around the bend.
But if I were in a situation like that in an urban street, I would take the unpopular position (unpopular to motorists) of taking my lane. True, a motorist playing chicken just might run me over but those are drivers who intentionally want to run people over anyways. And there's nothing anybody (driver, police, cyclist or pedestrian) can do about those type of drivers.
Riding to the side invites the oncoming car to sideswipe you. If there's a car following you, chances are he'll be passing you from behind just as the oncoming car is driving by. Not only that but more often than not, there's a parked car creating a four-in-a-row situation, which is not fun.
Have your loud horn ready to alert unseen vehicles that may be around the bend.
#17
Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2016
Posts: 712
Mentioned: 2 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 283 Post(s)
Liked 262 Times
in
164 Posts
I frequently have cars or dually pickups pulling a backhoe on a trailer in the opposite lane that cross the yellow. You don't know till it's over just how far over the yellow they're going to go. Usually the driver is looking down at their lap (watching cat videos I'm sure) as we pass each other on a curve. On my right are big trees and a drop-off shoulder.
#18
Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Layton, UT
Posts: 1,606
Bikes: 2011 Bent TW Elegance 2014 Carbon Strada Velomobile
Mentioned: 6 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 626 Post(s)
Liked 701 Times
in
418 Posts
Not oncoming, but this is the sort of idiocy that is out there. I saw another one almost identical to this (also on Cycliq's site). It apparently is a thing....
#19
Junior Member
Nine times out of ten when this happens the offending motorist is giving 3' to a cyclist on their side of the double yellow. It should be a non-issue to a cyclist riding FRAP on their side of the double yellow. And wouldn't you appreciate the gesture if you were the other cyclist? Of all the annoying and/or dangerous things cagers might do this one shouldn't even be in the top five.