Eric F 

I know that one. They're the ones calling other riders Ricky Racers, right?

wolfchild

Cyclists who try to imitate the pros and who participate in imaginary races against any random stranger that they came across or their own group of riders which they are part of. Every ride is a racing event to them and they have absolutely no regard or respect for any other users of the roads or MUPS... I see plenty of those types every weekend.

Eric F 

Sometimes these things are unavoidable, despite our best efforts.

nomadmax 

See? You DO know

Chuck Naill

Learned another new one, a "Fred". The female version is a "Doris". Among surfers, its a "Barney". What happened to Wilma and Betty? Know what you call a cyclist who rides in the moment and observes the rules of the road? Correct, alive and well...LOL!!

Maelochs

We do and should communicate with other road users all the time --- in part,to remind them that there are sentient beings in those other cars and on those bikes. People seem to forget.

Waving cars on at intersections or in passing situations is a bit of an issue .... but no more than any other, so long as you, before you wave, make absolutely sure you are satisfied that your message is sensible. I know on a couple of occasions I have waved a car by and another car came up in the oncoming lane while the person was passing ... which makes me much more careful.

On the other hand, no driver can claim that s/he Had to follow the direction of another road user. If I wave you to go and you go, it is Your decision, as the operator, and you have 100 percent of the liability. Just as you cannot go through a green light and hit a car stuck in the intersection and say, "The light was green!" You are required to yield when you must, for safety, stop when you must, for safety, and go only when it is safe, regardless of traffic signals.

In the same way, I cannot control other drivers no matter how I wave, or even where I position myself in the lane. I have seen cars drive into oncoming traffic to pass me because I took the lane. I have seen cars drive into each other because they forgot they were driving, in stop-and-go traffic. I have seen a driver sit at a stop sign for four or five minutes, engrossed in her cell phone. I have seen drivers look at me as I approached down a long hill, and pull out right in front of me just as I got there. I have seen people do amazingly stupid things. My arm-waving or light-flashing stops people no more than a stop sign or traffic light.

Basically there is no legal issue involved in waving to another driver, no matter what that driver does.

Let us all recall the example set by the most noble @LarrySellerz, who deliberately crashed into a parked car in order to enjoy the momentary thrill of overtaking a slower rider, because in LarrySellerz' mind, every ride is a race, and every race is worth wrecking .... Tell, me, how would my waving affect someone like that?

Anyway, props to LarrySellerz for taking the hit instead of wrecking the other rider.

njkayaker

It’s weird “we” don’t say thus about bad drivers.

njkayaker

They aren’t being polite. They just don’t know what you are going to do. (There are examples in this thread of cyclists doing unexpected things.)

If any rider interprets this as “it’s safe to go”, they are making their own mistake. If you take waving as a “command” to turn, that’s on you.

It’s only an indication that the driver is yielding. Nothing else.

Inusuit

Wow. You make interesting assumptions. I was stopped in the left turn lane wearing neon and signaling with my arm. I don't know how I could have been more clear as to my intent. I had eye contact with the nice old lady driving the car. She was smiling and clearly "being polite." Of course I didn't take it as a "command."

Kai Winters

Nope...the first at the four way goes first, etc. Some may jump this queu but they are the usual aholes and it's best to just let them go and karma will eventually get them.
Careless bike riders are generally careless in all things to do considering themselves to be far above everyone else. Love when karma hits them hard.

njkayaker

Wow, you didn’t read it very carefully!

“If” doesn’t mean you did any of these things.

It’s not a big deal when drivers do this. It’s easy enough to ignore them.

And even with smiling, drivers often expect cyclists to do unexpected things.

Drivers wave other drivers on too.

Inusuit

Let's just stop this and agree to be friends.

Paul Barnard

Motor vehicle drivers don't do themselves any favors. Feel better now?

I go on rants about horrible drivers frequently. So yeah, in a sense I do say that drivers don't do themselves any favors, and a things like accident statistics and insurance rates help make that case.

Trakhak

njkayaker

No, that is the same sort of mess.

It's bad drivers that are doing the "favors". Not "we".

This is said about cyclists but rarely (if ever) about motorists.

njkayaker

Again, I did not say you did any of those things.

Somebody saying "If you murdered somebody, you'd go to jail", isn't saying you actually murdered somebody.

Time for an English lesson!

https://www.ef.edu/english-resources...0past%20tenses.

You interpreting it the way you did is an error in reading. Don't get tripped up by it.

Inusuit

You seem to be determined to turn this into a urinary contest by insulting my knowledge, comprehension, and education after I surrendered to your obviously superior intellect. You quoted my post so I assume you are responding to my content. Please take your English lesson and haughty attitude and put them in a special place. Welcome to my ignore list.

njkayaker

You misread it. That's on you.

Who the hell would care?

bbbean 

We don't do ourselves any favors.....

When we turn into a bunch of Karens citing and documenting every single time another cyclist did something we don't like. If we can offer some vast generalizations about the type of cyclist they are (always a different tribe than our own, mind you), and hypothesize about what sort of personality flaws might make someone ride like that, so much the better.

We could focus on recognizing real threats on the road - poor road design, distracted drivers, loose dogs, high crime neighborhoods, etc., but where would the fun be in that?

cellery

Flying over the hood of someone's car at cruising speed twice within the span of a year has the tendency to humble the incredulously indignant cyclist that says "WTF you doing!?" to other riders for obeying traffic laws. As a former MAMIL, I think the defensive comments about ricky racers are hilarious. Several of you are feeling *really* called out and are having trouble taking a joke less than personally. And boy howdy am I here to see some indignant middle aged man in spandex rage. lol.

Paul Barnard

Have you ever taken note of the number of your posts that are adversarial or contentious?

It's you.

daihard 

I finally read the OP, and that's exactly what I thought.

I don't represent the cycling community. Nore does anyone else who rides a bike.

Maelochs

How is this?

Not every post can address every possible issue at the same time.

Do some drivers do dangerous things? Sure ... make a post.

Do some drivers endanger cyclists? Sure do ... make a post.

Is the fact that some cyclists behave badly a reasonable topic for discussion among cyclists?

Sure is. And somebody made a post.

Okay? Great. Now ... Let's Fight !!!!!!!

Paul Barnard

Whether you want to admit it or not. Whether it is fair or not. The way motorists perceive all of us, and the way they often treat us, is based on the perception they develop of all cyclists based on the actions of a few. It's not unique to bicyclists and motorists. Often, small subsets of certain populations are subject to the same unfair bias. I am a kayaker. Kayakers are seen in the boating world as bicyclists are in world of road users. While I don't ride around acting as if I am a bicycling ambassador, I am painfully aware of the fact that my actions will shape other's beliefs about you and treatment of you. I'd even argue that our advocacy is more effective if we are seen as law abiding and cooperative. The proponents of these bike lanes were very militant and adversarial. Alienating your community can have consequences. https://www.wwltv.com/article/news/l...6-9fe38137d248

daihard 

It is called out-group homogeneity.

https://garethrees.org/2012/01/10/bias/

"What does this mean for campaigners? Because people don’t get their beliefs about cyclists from accurate observation of the behaviour of cyclists, it follows that we can’t expect to change peoples’ beliefs by changing our behaviour, or by trying to improve the behaviour of other cyclists. Campaigns along these lines are likely to be futile if the objective is to change attitudes among the general public."