I have been pushed off the road by a Tesla merging into a right turn lane -- a vehicle with a million sensors that should have been screaming at its driver. My friend, who was on a bicycle and following the conventions and laws of the road, was killed by a driver making a right hand turn.
Many states (in the US) have minimum safe passing distances required for drivers to adhere to when passing a bicycle. Maybe 90% of the time (anecdotally, in very liberal-leaning, bike-heavy areas of the Bay Area in California!) they don't. And so in return, we take the lane (as we are permitted to do, by law), and pissed-off motorists try to kill us.
The biggest difference is motorcycle riders don't ride in the bike lane until suddenly and without warning they pop into the road lane and ride straight through stop signs and red lights.
Cyclists are often the plague of the road. Can't decide if they want to be treated like a real vehicle, or a pedestrian. They often choose both, whichever being convenient for them at the time. This often leads to the interactions you have described.
Can cars be better around cyclists? Sure, without any doubts. But... cyclists need to do better around cars too. After all, the cyclist will always lose that fight.
I've had cyclists collide with me as a pedestrian and run right into parked cars because they aren't looking where they are going. Way too many of them think that everybody is responsible for their safety except for them.
Another cyclist and I stop at a stop sign, him waiting to turn left, I waiting to turn right, onto a main road (which notably does not have a stop sign).
A car traveling straight on the main road comes to a complete stop and waves at us cyclists with a "go ahead" hand gesture. We remain stopped, because the car has right of way.
Meanwhile there's a small traffic jam forming on the main street as some maintenance vehicles are waiting for the car to move so they can turn onto the side street. If us cyclists were to follow the car driver's "instructions" we would have to violate right-of-way for multiple flows of traffic.
Finally the car driver gets fed up at everyone else's insistence on following the law. Makes a rude gesture, shakes their head, and continues straight. The maintenance guys can finally turn, then the bikes.
I guess my point is: car drivers need to do a better job of following the conventions and laws of the road.
This includes people who put on their hazard lights when slowing down in traffic on the freeway. The entire world has decided brake lights are the universal signal for slowing down and/or stopping - yet these knuckle heads think that's not enough. So they do unexpected things and unintentionally create more unsafe conditions where people might not understand what's going on and try to go around thinking it's a disabled vehicle, etc.
In general, people need to stick to the well-defined and accepted rules and conventions of the road. That's how everyone stays safe.
I appreciate people who do that when the traffic ahead of them is stopped, not just slowing. It's hard to anticipate or evaluate a full-speed -> stopped situation, and hazard lights in addition to brake lights clearly communicates "this is an extreme case". If they're being used routinely in slow-and-go traffic then I will agree with you, but fortunately I don't see that where I live.
I think not.
18 percent – driver failed to see cyclist
24 percent – cyclist ran a red light or failed to stop for a stop sign
22 percent – driver or passenger opened a car door into an oncoming cyclistIt is arguable the 22% caused by open car doors is also negligence on the cyclist's part. Riding that fast and that close to doors that may or may not suddenly open without warning is negligent. It would be akin to a lane-splitting motorcyclist failing to anticipate someone might change lanes without warning during heavy traffic.
disagree. the most typical bike lane in America is nicknamed "dooring lane" - a painted lane that forces cyclists to ride in the dooring zone. As for speed, I've been stopped at a light and had a parked driver open their door into me without even looking. If riding next to parked cars is dangerous, then it's the street designers who are to blame.
To ride out of the door zone in many cases requires taking the lane and riding outside of a marked bicycle lane, if present. Cyclists can and should do this, but it is no surprise that many don’t, and it is no surprise that drivers complain of those who do.
I cannot but believe that every person that says that has never done any significant cycling on an urban area. If you’re riding a bike you don’t need to do a “stop” and every sign, (note that I said “need” not “should”) just pay attention and slow down as needed, same as red lights. Stopping means wasted energy but you also have to remember that you are the one losing in ANY crash, doesn’t matter if you’re right or not.
Cyclists are pretty much the least predictable "vehicle" on the road.
Are we a car today and following the laws? Or are we going to blaze right through that red light intersection because we're a bike! We're so close to a new Strava PR, after all! Sudden left turn across traffic - look out for me, I don't even look over my shoulder!