urbanknight

I definitely feel that the vast majority of drivers are cautious and follow the rules. This video is one of few moments like it, while hours and hours of footage have been deleted because it's boring and nothing of consequence.

But yes, it certainly does seem like some cyclists think that half the drivers out there are attempting to murder us GTA style.

livedarklions

That's how memory works--the horrible driving of 0.1% of drivers will seem like 50% because you remember it, while good driving doesn't generally leave an impression (in any sense of the word).

urbanknight

Finally got around to posting the video if anyone wants to see it. You can tell that the car had plenty of time to apply the brakes and wait behind the truck until it was safe to pass.

FBinNY 

I don't take stuff like this personally, nor believe that it's anything intentional or malicious.

I've long since come to the conclusion that most, or at least very many, drivers have zero situational awareness.

Evidence of this is in things like drivers nearing a lane closure, and doing absolutely nothing until they have to stop before merging.

Spend ant time at all on the road with your eyes open and you'll probably come to the same conclusion.

Troul 

be that as it may, it raises selfishness up into another sad level.

urbanknight

Yes, you’re probably right, but that doesn’t mean it’s not stupid and dangerous.

FBinNY 

Of course it is. I've learned ago not to look for malice or intent for anything I can equally ascribe to ignorance or stupidity.

Thinking this way frees me from anger and makes my life easier.

FWIW - I'm not religious, but appreciate the wisdom of the serenity prayer. Cyclists would be wise to think on it when riding our road bikes.

Troul 

I pray i don't become prey (of crime) . That a lone keeps me from dwelling on someone's moral-ethic principle of character. Do I have a knee jerk thought of those that are selfish? Sure, I am human.

runningDoc

I know it was a stressful situation that was only made worse by your suspicions confirmed with actual video. I personally use a varia and mirror AND aftershoks/trekz open air bone conduction earbuds.

In my experience pairing varia and a mirror gives you a good perspective on whats coming and exactly when it comes. varia even will flash red and prompts when the car is traveling too fast behind you. Also i use open ear bone conduction earbuds so there's an audible warning/ding showing the car(s) behind you. its basically lane assist like in your car but more like a tesla where you see how many individual cars behind too (i think up to 10 cars).

that way you really know if a car is coming up behind you, you can pull a little more to the right yourself if its safe, the varia will automatically start blinking upon approach, and you also get that audible ding conducted right into your auditory nerve.

its made my daily commute through seattle pretty stress free and now I'll never ride a bike without at least my varia/phone/computer. the bone conducting headphones are kind of a god send too, because I'll listen to podcasts/music and still have my ear canals totally open to hear other vehicles/people/ambient noise.



i lived in brooklyn for 6 years and would bike from williamsburg to downtown brooklyn and the upper westside daily and kind of learned that approach too. its too much stress to be pissed off at everything especially as a cyclist... if you make cars the enemy then they end up becoming the enemy...

but when we moved to fairfield county CT, and nashville it was kind of a different beast in the suburbs where distracted drivers with families, smaller roads with little to no roads, it was actually more stressful and dangerous (for me) to commute/cycle for pleasure compared to NYC. I ended up almost never riding my bike unless it was a dedicated ride with friends or bike specific trips like bear mountain. it was kind of a bummer.

after i started using a varia/mirror/bone conduction ear buds things got a lot easier and i fell in love with cycling/commuting again. and now commute to work here in seattle daily and the only thing that'll really make me drive is if there's too heavy a rain, or ice on the roads but not the cars anymore. there's pretty good bike infastructure here and i will stay on the bike paths or shared roads... when the varia dings I move over and am more aware and check the mirror... if a car is really close I'll scope out the sidewalk just in case if i have to bunny hop unto it.. its kind of like driving a manual transmission car... you just get zen and process everything.

its chill now... and fun again.

urbanknight

Funny you should mention that, because I find intent to be important in determining forgiveness or consequences. However, I don’t seem to keep that in mind in cases like these. I guess the fact that my safety is in jeopardy gets me worked up too much. I should try to tone it down.

jon c. 

It's been a long time since I've encountered anything I could think of as malice. Where I live it's either impatience or total cluelessness.

Troul 

drivers in this one may not have malice, but it still doesnt make it any less dangerous to peds,

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/...233000552.html

urbanknight

Yes, ignorance is by far the more common, but dead is dead no matter the intent.

retswerb

I was on a three lane road (one in each direction with a turn lane in between) a week ago. No cars in sight anywhere in the long block ahead or behind. It's a bit of an access road alongside a highway so there are few driveways, honestly I don't know why there's a middle turn lane. Regardless, there was *plenty* of room. I was approached from behind by a large SUV that sped up and gave me a very close pass with horn blaring. I have a hard time picturing that as anything but malice.

I agree that most of the bad encounters I have are impatience, distraction, idiocy, or a combination of the above - but I definitely encounter malice as well.