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Car making a left turn in front of me
If you ride very much in the city, and you obey traffic laws, this
sooner or later happens. You approach and intersection with, say, a 4- way stop sign. You want to go straight. There is a motorist on the far side who wants to turn left, directly across your path. He arrived at the stop before you so he has the right of way. You slow down and stop. He then waves you through, even though he has the right of way. It happens all the time, right? Well, yesterday on my commute home a new variation on this occurred. It was the exact same situation except it was as stop LIGHT, not a stop sign. I had a red light, I was unclipped with my foot down, and the motorist had a green left turn arrow. He stops in the middle of the intersection and tries to wave me through, while other cars are waiting behind him. He expects me to run the red light. I pointed to the red light and motioned him to go through. He turned, looking more than a little annoyed. I couldn't help but laugh. In 25 years of bicycle commuting this has never happened before. For those of you who associate behavior with car model (including me), it was a Lexus mini-SUV. Tom |
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Car making a left turn in front of me
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Car making a left turn in front of me
A typical case of DWS - Driving While Stupid
SB " wrote in message ups.com... If you ride very much in the city, and you obey traffic laws, this sooner or later happens. You approach and intersection with, say, a 4- way stop sign. You want to go straight. There is a motorist on the far side who wants to turn left, directly across your path. He arrived at the stop before you so he has the right of way. You slow down and stop. He then waves you through, even though he has the right of way. It happens all the time, right? Well, yesterday on my commute home a new variation on this occurred. It was the exact same situation except it was as stop LIGHT, not a stop sign. I had a red light, I was unclipped with my foot down, and the motorist had a green left turn arrow. He stops in the middle of the intersection and tries to wave me through, while other cars are waiting behind him. He expects me to run the red light. I pointed to the red light and motioned him to go through. He turned, looking more than a little annoyed. I couldn't help but laugh. In 25 years of bicycle commuting this has never happened before. For those of you who associate behavior with car model (including me), it was a Lexus mini-SUV. Tom |
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Car making a left turn in front of me
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Car making a left turn in front of me
I haven't had that happen, but more than once I have been riding straight on
the road when a car will pull up to a stop sign on my right and proceed to turn left without even looking in my direction! The come to the stop sign, stop, look to the right, and pull out turning left! What's up with that? I have decided to yell something the next time this scenario seems to be unfolding. I almost ran into a guy's driver side door once. He never even turned his head to the left. Pat in TX |
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Car making a left turn in front of me
On Aug 7, 8:19 pm, "Pat" wrote:
I haven't had that happen, but more than once I have been riding straight on the road when a car will pull up to a stop sign on my right and proceed to turn left without even looking in my direction! The come to the stop sign, stop, look to the right, and pull out turning left! What's up with that? I have decided to yell something the next time this scenario seems to be unfolding. I almost ran into a guy's driver side door once. He never even turned his head to the left. Pat in TX Yes this always happens to me too. The other thing that freaks me out in this situation is when a person who I thought had already seen me suddenly starts doing the quick left-right head checking that you normally do right at the last second before stepping on the gas and starting a left turn. Why would a person do the fast double-take if they know that they need to wait 5 more seconds for a bike to go by? To me, the quick back-forth motion of the head is a warning sign. |
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Car making a left turn in front of me
"Pat" wrote in message ... I haven't had that happen, but more than once I have been riding straight on the road when a car will pull up to a stop sign on my right and proceed to turn left without even looking in my direction! The come to the stop sign, stop, look to the right, and pull out turning left! What's up with that? I have decided to yell something the next time this scenario seems to be unfolding. I almost ran into a guy's driver side door once. He never even turned his head to the left. Pat in TX I sometimes think they're relying compeletely on their peripheral vision to tell themselves there are no cars or trucks coming from their left. I feel safer when a car is filling the lane behind or beside me in these situations. If there is not motor vehicle to fill the lane (and their peripheral vision) I keep my feet moving, sit up and move out further into the lane to increase my the odds of my being seen. Of course, your case sounds like that guy didn't even want to see. jb |
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Car making a left turn in front of me
" wrote:
If you ride very much in the city, and you obey traffic laws, this sooner or later happens. ... For those of you who associate behavior with car model (including me), it was a Lexus mini-SUV. A wierd association I have noticed of late is immigrant drivers who dont know hand signals. Much more than once I've drifted away from the curb to prepare to turn left. An oncoming car seems to want to turn left 'behind' me, I want to turn 'behind' her ie after we pass. I am going slow because a) I have only one hand on the brakes and b) thats what the timing calls for. I signal to indicate my intentions and to let her know WHY I am going kinda slow. 9 out of 10 times they get the Deer-in-the-headlights look of Total Horror look wondering why I am pointing at them or why I want them to move or pull over. |
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Car making a left turn in front of me
"Pat" wrote:
I haven't had that happen, but more than once I have been riding straight on the road when a car will pull up to a stop sign on my right and proceed to turn left without even looking in my direction! The come to the stop sign, stop, look to the right, and pull out turning left! What's up with that? I have decided to yell something the next time this scenario seems to be unfolding. I almost ran into a guy's driver side door once. He never even turned his head to the left. Pat in TX My fave is a red light with a Gomer on a cell phone turning left at a light across from you, you are going straight. Or Gomer is pulling out of a parking lot just ahead of you. In either case, they should yield to the bike, but they start to go then see your intention to follow thru on your legal right of way. The reaction is almost universal. They start to go, then stop and motion you to go like they are doing you a big favor by yielding as called for. We need a hand signal to mean 'I dont need your permission to proceed when you are required to yield.' |
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