Every time I head into traffic on my bicycle have both high and low expectations.
I have high expectations for how I’ll generally be treated by my fellow road users — especially those driving cars. People hereabouts are very polite. That politeness translates into a high degree of tolerance for road users who are not driving cars. The general politeness of Missouri makes riding a bicycle here a real pleasure. I have these high expectations because of my direct experiences in traffic.
I have low expectations about the general driving ability of the general public. I have these low expectations for two reasons. First, I believe it is a good idea to have low expectations for safety’s sake. If you expect every driver to be a blithering numskull, you won’t be surprised when they meet your expectations. Second, I see enough actual numskull behavior to make me wary.
How all this comes into play can be illustrated by an occurrence this morning at the corner of Fremont and Bennett — both roads part of the Springfield Bicycle Route System.
I was heading east on Bennett and arrived at the 4-way stop at Fremont intending to go left. Both roads are fairly narrow. Bennett is not sharable. I was positioned on the left side of the lane and signaled a left turn.
Traffic was light. A driver on my right — heading north on Fremont — arrived at the intersection first. I arrived well before the person heading south on Fremont. So the order of right-of-way could not have been clearer. The guy on my right took his turn. Then it was my turn.
As I began to pull into the intersection I expected the guy on my left — heading south on Fremont – to be a blithering idiot. So I pulled out carefully and kept a sharp eye on him. Sure enough, here he came out of turn. I stopped. I frowned. I yelled: “My right-of-way!” He passed less than two feet in front of me. I then proceeded to make my left after he had driven on.
Had I simply busted into the intersection confident in the rightness of my right-of-way, I’d be writing a very different post from a hospital bed right now.
Comments 3
Was the near left-hook by a crazy or lazy driver? I suspect he thought no cyclist moves that fast or would cross big car. Good catch!
Luckily your street smarts kick in and you averted a nasty bump even you had the right-of-way. A fourth layer of bicycling safety that no bike lane or mandatory bike helmet law will teach or prevent.
Drive Your Bike!
Thanks for sharing!
Posted 12 Aug 2010 at 3:26 pm ¶I must confess that I rarely encounter problems such as you describe. I see distracted drivers all the time, but it’s been the better part of a year since I felt compelled to yell at some motorist doing something really idiotic. While also rare, I’ve encountered more motorists who were into harassing.
Posted 13 Aug 2010 at 9:48 pm ¶I almost got clobbered one day by a driver who arrived after I had stopped, yielded to another driver and was already riding through the intersection. This guy in an SUV rolled up on my right and proceeded to do a California stop with me right in front of his truck.
That was the last of too many similar close calls on that residential bike route. I changed my route to a busier 4-lane road.
Posted 15 Aug 2010 at 12:18 pm ¶