I’m not a morning person and tend to ease into the day slowly. As I pulled out of the driveway this morning I saw two bicyclists travelling with traffic just ahead of me. I’m in the country, so “traffic” consists of one car and two bikes ahead of me, and one car turning onto our street. That car was making a right turn at the T, and we had a stop sign. But the bicyclists had taken it on themselves to act like pedestrians and cross the street she was turning onto, where I was headed the other way toward the T (there’s no crosswalk, even if they had been walking). When she continued with her perfectly legal right turn, the one bicyclist yelled “Asshole, you’re not looking where you’re going”, etc. The driver looked befuddled and continued on. The two bicyclists continued on, travelling against traffic till they turned on to a nearby street.
I was incensed that he would do this, but continued on to the post office. Then I realized this was going to bug me so I figured out where they probably went and found them. “Are you lost?” “No, but back there? Where you crossed and yelled at the driver? I thought bicyclists were supposed to follow the rules of the road and cross like a car would?” “She wasn’t even looking! It’s dangerous enough with all the trucks, then you have a young girl who’s not even looking at the road?!” Keep in mind we’re on a two-lane road in Buttfuck, VT; yes, there are trucks but they probably expect you to follow the rules of the road too. I didn’t call him out beyond that, but said I needed to understand how things worked since there are a lot of bicyclists around.
But you know, sometimes drivers do things on automatic, WHEN THERE SHOULDN’T BE A DANGER! Once you’ve looked and see that there is no one there and no one who should end up there, you are supposed to be able to just turn.
It was also an experience thing for me. I knew I would brood over how they yelled, but now I am brooding more over having confronted someone. But maybe they will reconsider when they get mad at a legal driver when they themselves are acting illegally?
You were driving up the base of the T, toward the crossbar, with the bikers (and a stop sign) ahead of you. Another driver driving on the crossbar, who didn’t have to stop, made a right turn onto the base.
The bikers “acted like pedestrians”? Did they stop and get off their bikes, or did they just veer across the street and bike into the lane she was coming from? Or onto a sidewalk?
Please, I wish further information so I can condemn the correct people.
They veered across the street they had been on, on their bikes, in front of a right-turning driver who had the right of way. Their destination was the wrong side of the other road. I’ve tried to show it here:
Actually if you try to violate the laws of physics you die. The big difference between auto racing and football. No 5 yard penalties in auto racing.
My father used to refer to this as the right of weight.
Oh, yeah, they were so wrong. thanks for the graphic. I wish everyone on this board would provide one when discussing traffic-related events…I get so disoriented! But I would never make a left turn into the wrong side of the road in front of a car.
Forgot to clarify too, there aren’t any sidewalks, just narrow shoulders.
Whew, I feel better. I know they were in the wrong, and even so they might try to hope the person would stop. It was calling her an asshole when their ploy didn’t work out that galled me.
