Adherence to the law, common courtesy, etc aside, what I don’t understand is the mindset of some of the cyclists around here who seem to have a death wish.
More than once I’ve almost hit a cyclist riding at dusk or at night with no lighting and dark clothing on.
East of the city there are 2 highways that run parallel to each other. The old 2 lane is narrow, ditches on both side, and has virtually no shoulders for its 15 arrow straight miles.
The divided 4 lane running parallel has wide lanes and smooth wide shoulders on both sides for its 30 miles of arrow straight length.
So which one do most of the cyclists ride on? The old 2 lane which has a pretty fair number of 90k pound grain haulers on it and who constantly have to veer completely into another lane to avoid squashing the cyclists.
Same for the highway north. A divided four lane posted 65 with wide shoulders and where do the cyclists ride? In the middle of the outer lane instead of the shoulders. This really goes over well with the grain and oil field truckers.
ok4450: You describe my “Ninja” cyclists to a “T”. Wow! divided four lane at 65mph and they ride in the traffic lane. That is the equivalent of cycling on our interstates where thankfully they are banned. This is the applicable section from Oregon traffic law " Bicyclists must ride in the direction of traffic and as near to the right side of the road or street as is practical. On a one-way street in a city, a bicyclist may ride as near as practical to either the right or left side of the
street or roadway". I’m guessing they somehow enjoy harassing motor vehicle drivers. I suspect these cyclists that also drive motor vehicles are the ones that drive 10mph below the speed limit in the passing (fast) lane forcing others to pass them on the right.
It has always seemed that the vast majority of drivers and cyclists were quite reasonable and sensible as they cross paths with each other. But there is always that 1% in every arena who stand out in their efforts to look and feel important. Everyone else must live down their poor attitide.
I had a strange encounter with a bad driver yesterday. I had turned left from the 35mph state highway that runs through my small town into a corner restaurant parking lot to have lunch. I had just got out of my car when I heard a revving engine. A BMW convertible with California plates driven by a 20 something female on the 25mph side street was avoiding the stop sign with 1 vehicle already stopped by turning right into a driveway of the parking lot, cutting across the corner, and exiting on to the state highway through the same driveway I had just entered missing my parked car by about 2 ft. This was accomplished at approximately 45mph! She immediately made a continuous 270 degree left turn to another side street, apartment building parking lot, and parking space facing the state highway. I expected her to jump out and run to the building (maybe she had to pee really bad) but she stayed in the car. I waited a few minutes out of curiosity but she did not get out. About 30 minutes later when I had finished lunch the car was gone. Technically she was a very good driver. Difficult maneuvers accomplished with amazing precision. It would have been very impressive on a race track. Definitely not appropriate for city streets. My verdict: Bad driver.
@sgtrock21, I saw something along those lines the other day. At one of the 2 most heavily traveled intersections here and also the most accident prone I saw some young guy on a Japanese rice rocket motorcycle avoid the lights and dart through a parking lot on the corner. This lot is horribly cramped and always packed.
He was wearing the usual; shorts, tank top, and sneakers. While zipping through this lot at speed I saw him glance down a few times and noted that he was actually texting someone while cutting through the lot.
I ended up behind him once he was back on the 4 lane and he was still alternating operating the clutch and texting while in traffic. A few blocks later he appeared to be frustrated, cursing, and pulled over into a closed motorcycle shop parking lot to finish his yapping.
What was amazing was that he made it there without dumping it.
A couple of days ago, while getting gas at my local Costco, I spotted another driver who was acting…a bit strangely. While his tank was filling, he was walking around, leaning into other cars, and engaging those drivers in brief conversations. Yes, it’s nice to be social, but I have never before seen somebody do this. The folks who were accosted by him appeared to be uncomfortable, but I wasn’t able to overhear what he was saying to these random strangers.
Anyway, as soon as he had been given his receipt, he got back into his late-model Acura, and decided to “peel rubber” away from the pump. He then proceeded to drive through the Costco parking lot at what I would estimate to be somewhere between 40 & 50 mph. Thank God that there weren’t any people in his path while he tore through that lot.
My best guess–based on his extreme talkativeness and his driving behavior–is that he was high on something like methamphetamine.
I would suspect that VDCdriver is correct about that guy being under the influence.
Many years ago I lived in CA and shared an apartment with another guy. My roommate had a friend who would drop by now and then and who was on various types of chemicals to bump his pulse up so to speak.
That guy had the metabolism of a hummingbird and would never stop moving or talking. While carrying on a conversation at the table he would dump a container of toothpicks and count them back into the container at a high rate of speed.
Once counted he would dump them again to repeat the process and would do this as long as he was sitting there.
Odds are he’s long dead because even back then he looked like an escapee from the morgue.
One good pedestrian + one good cyclist versus bad drivers. I was driving on a 2 lane 30mph city street last week and saw a young lady walking her dog waiting to cross the street at a well marked crosswalk at a high school. She was dressed in light colored clothing, her dog was white, and she was standing under a street light. It was after school hours and the yellow flashing lights were off. Pedestrians still have the right of way at marked crosswalks and unmarked crosswalks which are a 4 way intersection. Three vehicles ahead of me paid her no mind. I stopped and she started to cross but had to stop halfway as a giant oncoming pickup blew through the crosswalk. I suspect these jerks are not distracted or unaware of the traffic laws. They may actually believe their $50,000 giant trucks/SUVs have right of way over all of us “lesser” people. I am amused when their status symbols are repossessed and “McMansions” are In foreclosure. Idiots! The good cyclist was on the same street after dark riding properly on the street close to the curb with a required by law headlight on his bike plus a headlight on his helmet with reflectors on the spokes and flashing red LEDs on the back of his helmet and bike. Definitely a survivor!