Driver refusing to yield, best approach?

Driver refusing to yield, best approach?

On my way into work I ride along a main road that has on/off ramps to
a major 4 lane highway. Heading NE along that road (toward work), the
SL is 35 at the Interstate junction, raising to 45 within 100 feet of
where the last off ramp “yields” onto the main road. It’s not
uncommon for drivers approaching the yield sign to see me coming on a
bicycle and refuse to yield, requiring me to brake hard so they can
merge into my ROW under acceleration, as opposed to yielding. (Side
note: if they have time to accelerate and get in front of me without
requiring me to slam the brakes I really don’t care, it only bothers
me when I am forced to slam on the brake because they refuse to
yield). Today I ran into something a bit different: I was already
past the yield sign and the line marking the separation of the off
ramp and the main road (and my lane) when a minivan blew through the
yield, right tires by the white line on the right of the road,
drifting into me. A yell from me got the driver to look at me, but
still not yield, and his looking at me caused his vehicle to drift
left (toward me) even farther. I ended up braking, but was still
required to pull left into the middle of the lane which could have
been rather unpleasant had there been a car in the process of passing
me on the left. I checked of course, but had there been I’d have been
in an emergency stop situation trying to avoid 2 different vehicles.
Thankfully there was no other traffic so the incident was relatively
minor. I’m wondering how the rest of you would handle such a
situation.

Seems to me the options are

1) slow to a near-stop for the merge, even though I’m not the one with
the merge sign. Not my favorite idea since this is on an incline, and
I don’t like having to regain my speed uphill in a location where I
shouldn’t have to yield in the first place.

2) Take the lane through here. Not a very good idea for 2 reasons,
first because the situation could still happen (though it’d be less
likely I’d be being overtaken on the left) and because this is a major
road where traffic and LEO are not going to take kindly to me taking
the lane and slowing them down, nor do I have any desire to slow down
the traffic through there to bicycling speed.

3) Hold my line. I did this for as long as prudent today, along with
an audible warning to the yielding vehicle they were about to collide
with me. Had I held the line any longer I’d have been sideswiped by a
minivan doing 40+ while I was doing 20. Not a good time in my book.

Any other ideas on how to handle? Here’s a pic of the situation,
where the red box represents the minivan and the blue line represents
me. http://i37.tinypic.com/msm3nm.jpg

wrote:

snip

Any other ideas on how to handle? Here’s a pic of the situation,
where the red box represents the minivan and the blue line represents
me. http://i37.tinypic.com/msm3nm.jpg

I don't know if it's the best approach, but it's one that works very
well for me.

See my commute bike at "http://www.nordicgroup.us/s78/images/img_0281.jpg"

The black horn under the lights is
"http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a-store/item/ES-14/12-VDC-SIREN-MULTI-TONE/-/1.html"

It's incredibly loud, and it hasn't failed to stop errant motorists that
are about to fail to yield right-of-way, including in a situation very
similar to the one you describe, see "http://i36.tinypic.com/2igja8o.jpg".

wrote:
Driver refusing to yield, best approach?

On my way into work I ride along a main road that has on/off ramps to
a major 4 lane highway.

I was already
past the yield sign and the line marking the separation of the off
ramp and the main road (and my lane) when a minivan blew through the
yield, right tires by the white line on the right of the road,
drifting into me.

Seems to me the options are

1) slow to a near-stop for the merge,

2) Take the lane through here.

3) Hold my line.

Any other ideas on how to handle?

I find merges are always tough. I don't ride often on roads with ramps,
but we have a lot of rotaries here (MA) that present a similar
situation. Usually I'm one to hold my line, but merges strike me as a
different situation. The big problem that I see is the unreliability of
a motorist judging a cyclist's speed. As Sheldon used to say, never
attribute to malice what can be explained by incompetence (or something
like that).

Most motorists seem to assume that cyclists are moving very slowly, so
that when you approach a merge at a higher speed than they expect
they're apt to misjudge the closing rate and merge into you. I'm not
sure that taking the lane improves the situation. Like it or not, I've
always felt that I had to take responsibility for the merge in these
circumstances and modify my speed accordingly. If the motorist is not
yet within striking distance, I'll often signal a right turn and move
across the merge lane to its shoulder. Usually the motorist will slow
down and let you get out of their way if you clearly signal that intention.

On Jul 15, 11:04*am, SMS wrote:
wrote:

snip

Any other ideas on how to handle? *Here’s a pic of the situation,
where the red box represents the minivan and the blue line represents
me. *http://i37.tinypic.com/msm3nm.jpg

I don't know if it's the best approach, but it's one that works very
well for me.

See my commute bike at "http://www.nordicgroup.us/s78/images/img_0281.jpg"

The black horn under the lights is
"http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a-store/item/ES-14/12-VDC-SIREN-MU..."

It's incredibly loud, and it hasn't failed to stop errant motorists that
* are about to fail to yield right-of-way, including in a situation very
similar to the one you describe, see "http://i36.tinypic.com/2igja8o.jpg"..

I've considered adding a loud horn, but just don't want to. 90% of my
riding is in the sticks, where it'd be totally unnecessary. It may
come to that though.

On Jul 15, 11:24*am, " wrote:
On Jul 15, 11:04*am, SMS wrote:





wrote:

snip

Any other ideas on how to handle? *Here’s a pic of the situation,
where the red box represents the minivan and the blue line represents
me. *http://i37.tinypic.com/msm3nm.jpg

I don't know if it's the best approach, but it's one that works very
well for me.

See my commute bike at "http://www.nordicgroup.us/s78/images/img_0281.jpg"

The black horn under the lights is
"http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a-store/item/ES-14/12-VDC-SIREN-MU...."

It's incredibly loud, and it hasn't failed to stop errant motorists that
* are about to fail to yield right-of-way, including in a situation very
similar to the one you describe, see "http://i36.tinypic.com/2igja8o.jpg".

I've considered adding a loud horn, but just don't want to. *90% of my
riding is in the sticks, where it'd be totally unnecessary. *It may
come to that though.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

horns are worse than useless, you need to train yourself to utter a
short sharp yell to grab a drivers attention while you need your hands
free to handle your bike/ braking or collision avoidance. the split
second you spend deciding to go for your horns lever or button could
make the difference between stopping in time or not stopping at all.
make sure you can use both brakes as a reflexive action the instant it
is necessary.

how to deal with that merge is to play it safe, even if you have the
right of way, bike vs car, car wins. just have to accept that, try to
tuck in behind the merging vehicle and go to the right. there are too
many yahoos who don't give a **** and think they have the obligation
to teach a cyclist a lesson if you annoy them. play it safe, live to
ride another day

wrote:

I've considered adding a loud horn, but just don't want to. 90% of my
riding is in the sticks, where it'd be totally unnecessary. It may
come to that though.

I don't know any other way to get their attention. It doesn't have to be
an electric horn, it can be an air horn instead.

"http://www.buycostumes.com/Air-Horn/24501/ProductDetail.aspx?REF=SCE-froogle"
is available in the party supply section of Wal-Mart for under $4.
Fashion a mount with some conduit clamps, i.e.
"http://nordicgroup.us/s78/images/homemadebracket.jpg".

Of course the other option is to simply yield to the motorists, even
though they should be yielding to you. Maybe ask the governing body
responsible for that road to add a "yield to bicycles" sign, though I
doubt if it would have much effect.

On Jul 15, 4:03*pm, wrote:
On Jul 15, 11:24*am, " wrote:





On Jul 15, 11:04*am, SMS wrote:

wrote:

snip

Any other ideas on how to handle? *Here’s a pic of the situation,
where the red box represents the minivan and the blue line represents
me. *http://i37.tinypic.com/msm3nm.jpg

I don't know if it's the best approach, but it's one that works very
well for me.

See my commute bike at "http://www.nordicgroup.us/s78/images/img_0281..jpg"

The black horn under the lights is
"http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a-store/item/ES-14/12-VDC-SIREN-MU..."

It's incredibly loud, and it hasn't failed to stop errant motorists that
* are about to fail to yield right-of-way, including in a situation very
similar to the one you describe, see "http://i36.tinypic.com/2igja8o.jpg".

I've considered adding a loud horn, but just don't want to. *90% of my
riding is in the sticks, where it'd be totally unnecessary. *It may
come to that though.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

horns are worse than useless, you need to train yourself to utter a
short sharp yell to grab a drivers attention while you need your hands
free to handle your bike/ braking or collision avoidance. the split
second you spend deciding to go for your horns lever or button could
make the difference between stopping in time or not stopping at all.
make sure you can use both brakes as a reflexive action the instant it
is necessary.

how to deal with that merge is to play it safe, even if you have the
right of way, bike vs car, car wins. just have to accept that, try to
tuck in behind the merging vehicle and go to the right. there are too
many yahoos who don't give a **** and think they have the obligation
to teach a cyclist a lesson if you annoy them. play it safe, live to
ride another day- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I did give a short sharp yell ("Hey!"), and it was heard and clearly
startled the driver. The problem is that this caused him to look at
me, and the car followed in the direction he looked, causing it to
drift toward me.

On Jul 15, 4:52 pm, SMS wrote:
wrote:
I've considered adding a loud horn, but just don't want to. 90% of my
riding is in the sticks, where it'd be totally unnecessary. It may
come to that though.

I don't know any other way to get their attention. It doesn't have to be
an electric horn, it can be an air horn instead.

As mentioned, my shout got his attention. It just didn't do any
good. The only advantage I can think of that a horn would have had
that my voice didn't is that drivers usually instinctively swerve away
from an unexpected horn blast, instead of toward it like he did with
my voice. Honestly, it seems the only safe way to deal with this
merge is to slow enough that any vehicles on the off ramp merge ahead
of me. The problem is that since this is the main road into an
industrial park, and it's happening between 7:30 & 7:45 AM, this could
literally mean I stop there and wait for a while until a big enough
gap appears that any approaching car couldn't possibly hit me without
accelerating and trying to do so. It's a rather lousy solution.

"http://www.buycostumes.com/Air-Horn/24501/ProductDetail.aspx?REF=SCE-..."
is available in the party supply section of Wal-Mart for under $4.
Fashion a mount with some conduit clamps, i.e.
"http://nordicgroup.us/s78/images/homemadebracket.jpg".

Of course the other option is to simply yield to the motorists, even
though they should be yielding to you. Maybe ask the governing body
responsible for that road to add a "yield to bicycles" sign, though I
doubt if it would have much effect.

Hitting the side of the car with a fist usually helps.

On Jul 15, 8:59*am, " wrote:
Driver refusing to yield, best approach?

On my way into work I ride along a main road that has on/off ramps to
a major 4 lane highway. *Heading NE along that road (toward work), the
SL is 35 at the Interstate junction, raising to 45 within 100 feet of
where the last off ramp “yields” onto the main road. *It’s not
uncommon for drivers approaching the yield sign to see me coming on a
bicycle and refuse to yield, requiring me to brake hard so they can
merge into my ROW under acceleration, as opposed to yielding. *(Side
note: *if they have time to accelerate and get in front of me without
requiring me to slam the brakes I really don’t care, it only bothers
me when I am forced to slam on the brake because they refuse to
yield). *Today I ran into something a bit different: *I was already
past the yield sign and the line marking the separation of the off
ramp and the main road (and my lane) when a minivan blew through the
yield, right tires by the white line on the right of the road,
drifting into me. *A yell from me got the driver to look at me, but
still not yield, and his looking at me caused his vehicle to drift
left (toward me) even farther. *I ended up braking, but was still
required to pull left into the middle of the lane which could have
been rather unpleasant had there been a car in the process of passing
me on the left. *I checked of course, but had there been I’d have been
in an emergency stop situation trying to avoid 2 different vehicles.
Thankfully there was no other traffic so the incident was relatively
minor. *I’m wondering how the rest of you would handle such a
situation.

Seems to me the options are

1) slow to a near-stop for the merge, even though I’m not the one with
the merge sign. *Not my favorite idea since this is on an incline, and
I don’t like having to regain my speed uphill in a location where I
shouldn’t have to yield in the first place.

2) Take the lane through here. *Not a very good idea for 2 reasons,
first because the situation could still happen (though it’d be less
likely I’d be being overtaken on the left) and because this is a major
road where traffic and LEO are not going to take kindly to me taking
the lane and slowing them down, nor do I have any desire to slow down
the traffic through there to bicycling speed.

3) Hold my line. *I did this for as long as prudent today, along with
an audible warning to the yielding vehicle they were about to collide
with me. *Had I held the line any longer I’d have been sideswiped by a
minivan doing 40+ while I was doing 20. *Not a good time in my book.

Any other ideas on how to handle? *Here’s a pic of the situation,
where the red box represents the minivan and the blue line represents
me. *http://i37.tinypic.com/msm3nm.jpg

On Jul 15, 5:15*pm, wrote:
Hitting the side of the car with a fist usually helps.

On Jul 15, 8:59*am, " wrote:



Driver refusing to yield, best approach?

On my way into work I ride along a main road that has on/off ramps to
a major 4 lane highway. *Heading NE along that road (toward work), the
SL is 35 at the Interstate junction, raising to 45 within 100 feet of
where the last off ramp “yields” onto the main road. *It’s not
uncommon for drivers approaching the yield sign to see me coming on a
bicycle and refuse to yield, requiring me to brake hard so they can
merge into my ROW under acceleration, as opposed to yielding. *(Side
note: *if they have time to accelerate and get in front of me without
requiring me to slam the brakes I really don’t care, it only bothers
me when I am forced to slam on the brake because they refuse to
yield). *Today I ran into something a bit different: *I was already
past the yield sign and the line marking the separation of the off
ramp and the main road (and my lane) when a minivan blew through the
yield, right tires by the white line on the right of the road,
drifting into me. *A yell from me got the driver to look at me, but
still not yield, and his looking at me caused his vehicle to drift
left (toward me) even farther. *I ended up braking, but was still
required to pull left into the middle of the lane which could have
been rather unpleasant had there been a car in the process of passing
me on the left. *I checked of course, but had there been I’d have been
in an emergency stop situation trying to avoid 2 different vehicles.
Thankfully there was no other traffic so the incident was relatively
minor. *I’m wondering how the rest of you would handle such a
situation.

Seems to me the options are

1) slow to a near-stop for the merge, even though I’m not the one with
the merge sign. *Not my favorite idea since this is on an incline, and
I don’t like having to regain my speed uphill in a location where I
shouldn’t have to yield in the first place.

2) Take the lane through here. *Not a very good idea for 2 reasons,
first because the situation could still happen (though it’d be less
likely I’d be being overtaken on the left) and because this is a major
road where traffic and LEO are not going to take kindly to me taking
the lane and slowing them down, nor do I have any desire to slow down
the traffic through there to bicycling speed.

3) Hold my line. *I did this for as long as prudent today, along with
an audible warning to the yielding vehicle they were about to collide
with me. *Had I held the line any longer I’d have been sideswiped by a
minivan doing 40+ while I was doing 20. *Not a good time in my book.

Any other ideas on how to handle? *Here’s a pic of the situation,
where the red box represents the minivan and the blue line represents
me. *http://i37.tinypic.com/msm3nm.jpg- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I agree. So does pushing off with a cleated riding shoe. However,
when I'm doing 20ish and the car is doing 40+ & accelerating, it's a
bit sketchy. In a lower speed situation it would be a whole different
story.