There’s no point saying ‘on your left’ to inexperienced cyclists- they don’t know what it means.
As they’re not expecting it, they’ll probably only hear ‘…left’ and may well swerve left into your path.
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I propose a simpler hypothesis: Most automobile drivers simply do not see anything they do not regard as a threat to themselves or their car.
Since half of all people are worse than average drivers but think they are better than average, this easily explains the common phenomenon of someone pulling out directly in front of an oncoming fire truck or ambulance with lights on and siren/horns roaring.
This will also explain why drivers will cheerfully make right turns straight into pedestrians crossing on a green light as the driver is only concerned with oncoming vehicles.
People accept, without outrage, behavior from drivers that, if demonstrated with firearms would cause marches and protest petitions to ban such things.
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How should inexperienced bikers progress into experienced bikers?
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This from the linked article:
“Crashes between drivers and bicyclists are frequently attributed to a driver’s failure to see a bicyclist, due to inattention or "looked but failed to see (LBFTS)” (Wood et al., 2009), and there is ample evidence from psychology that “seeing” is not purely objective but is influenced by socially directed thoughts and beliefs.”
Pretexts above for defense attorneys.
Interesting article, but no clear message on errant drivers who may simply lie to a judge about how they crashed a biker? “Sorry your honor, but I never saw the biker [because if I admitted that I did see them… then things could be a lot worse for me].”
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They need to just pay attention to their surroundings. That’s it. Not doing this while on a wheeled vehicle of any sort makes you a menace.
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[citation needed]
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Of course there’s a point. If I say “on your left” and then pass them on their left, they are no longer as inexperienced as they were before I did that, and they’ll know what it means next time.
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Right. Also I will say to the more wobbly folks a full sentence of, “Hey man, I am coming on your left”. But just about everyone that can hear gets the meaning of the short phrase.
The problem is people not hearing, from what I have seen.
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Bike rider here. This s**t is endlessly depressing.
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I guess I don’t see an inherent connection between not paying attention and inexperience. My kids have been yelled at by people in cars to “pay attention” while riding in bike lanes, they were not talking, listening to music, or distracted, but they did have steer around parked cars. I assume that is what angered the motorists.
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I have seen this play out and come to a similar conclusion. As an urban bike messenger for several years, I noticed that even when cyclists were three across, laughing loudly and covered with blinky lights, it takes visible effort for others in traffic to pay attention. People on motorcycles have it a little easier mostly as a result of increased noise. People in cars will recklessly try to squeeze into spaces against other cars with whom they have parity. But - they tend to be instantly alert to semi trucks, busses, construction vehicles, and other modes of transit which could instantly wreck their car and access the soft chewy bits inside.
Also, it has become a cliché that the “invisibility” of cyclists makes auto drivers resistant to prosecution. That was never more disheartening than one instance where I had an irate driver speeding forward and reverse deliberately trying to run me over for a few minutes, screaming out the window “Oh no! I couldn’t see you!”
Much of the problem I think is that of a feeling of entitlement to unused space. So if somebody is on a bike, many drivers feel a need to pass them, even in a no-passing lane, without changing lanes, or even signalling. My perspective has always been that if you don’t feel obliged to follow those simple passing rules for all vehicles, then I am not obliged to let you drive your car illegally.
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I don’t really have a problem with even fairly egregious behavior of cyclists on streets. If I am driving a car, it’s my responsibility to be mindful and yield the right of way to the vastly more fragile bikers and pedestrians.
It’s the people who are not mindful in the same way when they are on a bicycle, on a shared (and busy) bike path.
I can promise you, it’d start to become clear if you tried to get in a cycling workout on the Chicago lakefront. Especially a sunny day. Lordy.
For assholes, every waking moment is a battle ground for social domination, and you’re doing it to them first.
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Good thing exercise and fresh air are natural anti-depressants.
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i think that in time your kids will come to learn that adding “TO ME, PEASANT” at the end of such sentences will help their responses immediately.
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Is that a bike path? As in no cars?
Correct. 17 miles of bike path. They are even building out a 4 lane section because of the amount of traffic it gets. Of course, twice now I’ve almost been hit by people taking up 2 entire lanes in the oncoming traffic lane. Rent-a-bike people, too, if you were wondering. And yes, wearing headphones.
Appealing as this theory may sound, I think it fails when you fill in “first amendment rights” for X. Heck, any of the Bill of Rights.
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Yikes. Just one more data point making me think we’re barely holding it together as a species.
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Oh, I don’t ride in places like that much, which explains our different perspectives. I generally ride on the street in the city.
