daven1986

My dad gave me a ride to pick up a package today and on the way back we were stuck in traffic. I hadn't been out in a car at that time of day for a long time, and I won't again for a long time! It was awful. I could have been home in less than 1/2 the time on my bike. I felt so helpless and trapped inside the car, none of the free feeling I have on the bike.

*sigh* I don't know how so many people can do it every day.

Daven

Artkansas 

That's why they invented cell phones.

genec

It is a weird feeling... thinking... wow, just stuck here, in a box. I can see how some motorists just go quietly insane...

buzzman

I'm on a very busy work schedule this year and last Sunday I figured it was a good day to give the body a break from riding 7 days a week and drive in to work. OMG! A Sunday and I got nailed in traffic as soon as I got downtown. Then as I approached the theatre I'm working at I became a victim of our own success- it's a 900 seat house and our show is selling out- not a parking space to be found for a 4 block area around the theatre- had to park in a garage and was late for my 1/2 hour call- a major no-no in the theatre.

Ended up costing me $20 ("event" parking rate!), $4 in tolls, a total of 7 mins. longer than when I bike the 8 mile ride and in a really bad mood and not "warmed up" to perform.

That did it for me.

colleen c

Put a foldable bike in the trunk of every car you get ride from and you won't feel trapped anymore

mondaycurse

I never get too backed up in my small town, but I still feel like a drone when I'm backed up 2 blocks at a four-way intersection.

daven1986

Couldn't really use a foldable bike as my dad was giving me a lift, that would have been a bit unfair to leave him there!!

wheel

here is a song for you
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gKwjxF7ilI


N. Young Helpless

sh00k

nothing beats a booty call in rush hour traffic.

now you know and knowing's half the battle.

G.I. JOEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

cyclokitty 

I felt the same way last week when I had to take the subway downtown. It's been a few months since I last took it and I was startled to share an enclosed space with strangers. I must've looked like an out of towner looking out the window, peering into the dark tunnel, and reading all of the ads. I brought a book but I was so surprised to see ads I didn't recognize I read several of them instead of my book for a few minutes. Yet all along the way I thought "ohhhhh I'd rather be on my bike!".

johnr783

I had that same feeling last week as I drove home from school. It was cold and wet. I can ride in the cold. I can deal with the wet, but the cold and wet. . . I dont know how long it took me to get home but traffic was backed for about 3/4 mile or more.

I rode the same route today and it felt great! What felt even better was flying past that 3/4+ mile backed up traffic. I had to resist the urge to stand up and pat my bum at all the cars.

daven1986

I start work next week and will have to take public transport on Monday until I get my security pass - then I can use the gym on Tuesday so I will be cycling - public transport really bugs me, it is too expensive, too crowded, too slow, too smelly, etc.! Cycling spoils us I think!

labrat

Gee, it's kind of interesting how the cycling world wonders how the motoring world does it without going insane when most of the motoring public thinks I'm insane for commuting through the winter.

Minerva

Reacting differently to being in a car after cycling everywhere is something I've noticed too. I am always a passenger now that I got rid of my car, but nevertheless, I am a changed person. I now get car sick - something that hasn't happened since I was a kid. I feel like I always have to have the window open. If I can't feel the wind on my face, I feel nauseated and dizzy. I can't tolerate the fast changes that happen in traffic - I seem to hyper-react to things like late-braking and unplanned lane changes. It takes me a little bit to get accustomed to the speed. And traffic makes me really anxious - I haven't had to deal with traffic in a very long time so sitting in traffic in a car can seem painfully slow and inefficient. Having formally been a person who drove everywhere, people have asked me if I miss driving. I can honestly say I don't. Sometimes I see the value in being a passenger in a car for some trips, but I in no way have any desire to drive one.

no motor?

No you know why some people call them cages.

daven1986

I am not quite as bad as you, but I see where you are coming from. Seeing how inefficient traffic is, makes me think that perhaps if more people were made to ride a bike before taking their driving test they would appreciate this and we'd get more people riding.

You get too used to being caged up and being away from the elements. I have found that since I started cycling I am much happier to go out in the rain and snow etc. as I am so used to riding in them. People have become soft, getting them on a bike will harden them up a bit

I do find myself bracing for potholes when I'm in a car!

AdamDZ

Every time I take subway I feel trapped. When I'm stuck in my car in the traffic I feel trapped too. That's why I only drive on weekends or late nights to avoid traffic and commute by bike as much as I can. When I ride a bike I feel free to go wherever I want to go

A.

mander

For sure. As a cyclist it's a great idea to learn when traffic frustration can cause motorists to become irrational, and how to work around that. In my neighbourhood in Vancouver BC Canada traffic gets really backed up in the afternoons, and you can just taste the frustration in the air. In situations like that I'm extra vigilant at backed up intersections for people angrily making no-look right turns to try a different through street, people looking for an excuse to flip out at a cyclist, etc. Not that there's any kind of excuse for that stupidity, but it is definitely a good idea to just sort of go around it.

daven1986

Very true mander, however it is also fun to take that time, when traffic is really gridlocked, to quietly (or otherwise) mock the drivers stuck in it!

I-Like-To-Bike

I would suggest that if any of the posters are really suggesting that their cycling habits have resulted in them now suffering from various mental problems (i.e. trapped and helpless) whenever they are in a motor vehicle should do two things:
1. Get some professional help;
2. Keep this bad news story to yourself and don't use your "cycling caused" mental condition to promote cycling.

travelmama

Goodness, it really isn't that serious.

daven1986

Obviously I wasn't sitting in the car itching and clawing at the doors to get out. I just felt that it wasn't very efficient and that I'd be much better off on my bike. But that wouldn't have made such a good thread title; "Car is inefficient in a city".

rumrunn6

now that I ride a bike to work sometimes - when I drive, I simply go out of my mind

Dahon.Steve

When I'm a passenger in a car, I no longer want to sit in the front like before. It's just too nerve racking when you're no longer in control with all the near misses a motorist experiences each time they are driving. Even when I'm in the bus, I don't look at the front window because the motorist are taking so many chances trying to "beat the slow bus" it's downright scary. You really have to get used to those ever frightening moments that happen on every drive but this takes time. The motorist just don't understand what the non-motoring individual experiences because they are not used to the speed.

I-Like-To-Bike

So for effect you made yourself out as a loony; got it. Thanks for the clarification.

Now what about the other responders on this thread who claim that bicycling has made them "helpless and trapped" when in a motor vehicle - just so much more hot air rhetoric or real basket cases?