Comments on: How Cars Can Be Nice to Cyclists

By: neilfein

neilfein — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 16:46:43 +0000

I agree completely. In general, I think many drivers simply see us as nearly stationary obstacles, similar to pedestrians.

On several occasions, I've been on the receiving end of the right-hook maneuver you describe. The most recent was this past Thursday, when a driver turned in front of me to go to a bank's drive-through window. I saw she'd be waiting in line, so I followed her and I politely tapped on her window and explained the problem. She was apologetic. I smiled and told her, "no harm was done. Have a good day!"

I like to think that the problem is mostly one of education. Will this woman keep a closer eye out for cyclists in the future? I don't know, but if I had been angry and confronted her, this would have been a more unpleasant story.

By: Paul Morriss

Paul Morriss — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 10:58:37 +0000

Cars sometimes assume that all bikes go slowly, so pull out of a side turning in front of a cyclist, causing them to brake sharply. Please check the speed of a cyclist, just as you would a motor vehicle, before working out if you have time to pull out before they reach you.

By: neilfein

neilfein — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 05:37:31 +0000

@Kibbee - That's a good point. Gonna add it into the post, thanks!

By: Kibbee

Kibbee — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 13:59:49 +0000

I think what was left out was the part about being careful to look behind you when you open your door. Although you mentioned a whole lot about getting doored, you didn't mention a simple thing drivers could do to prevent this from happening. When opening any driver's side door, always look back to ensure there aren't any cyclists coming toward the door zone.