Ours were a bit more concise. 
I’m being clear.
It means it only takes a few idiots to create the impression that everyone is an idiot. Or, the cyclists who break the laws are not in your social circles and not likely to have spoken with you.
A bicyclistis a moving vehicle and by law is required to obey the VC. So the first at the stop has the right of way. If they arrive simultaneously like two cars the one on the right has the right of way.
Agreeed. What really gets me is when the cop stops to let a bicyclist cross against the VC, and then continues on because the cop does not what was wrong.
When I commuted on a bike I would say that 90% of bike ridders do not obey the VC.
I tend to agree with OP: coping with traffic is far simpler when drivers simply follow the rules of the road.
I drive in rural Thailand where a complication is that the de facto and de jure rules are quite different. For example, those entering a roundabout should yield to those already in it; this is the traffic law everywhere including Thailand. But in practice, if you’re in the roundabout you’d better be ready to yield to those entering: they think they have the right-of-way.
Pedestrians never have the right-of-way in Thailand, whether they’re in a crosswalk or not. Stopping politely for them usually just irritates and confuses them! … And puts them at risk: if they do cross, the driver behind you is likely to swerve illegally to hit the pedestrians.
Some rural Thai drivers believe that turning on hazard lights or turn indicators gives them the right-of-way. I would have collided with one were it not that my anti-lock brakes were in excellent working order. “I had my turn indicator on,” he exclaimed as we rolled down our windows to comment to each other on the near-collision. I didn’t know what to reply: even if he thought the indicators gave him the right-of-way, did he think they affected the laws of physics and braking distance?
Just a note of right of way: Most, if not all, states specify who must *yield *right of way, not who *has *it. It seems like a technicality but a driver can be found at fault if he causes an accident by aggressively insisting on taking the right of way. For example, you arrive at a stop sign at the same time as a car opposing you. The other car has his left turn signal on, planning to turn. This means he must yield to you. But he stops and quickly continues through before you can, making his left turn right in front of you. Which really pisses you off. You floor it and T-bone him. He failed to yield but you do not have right of way to the extent that gives you the right to cause an accident.
Be aware of state law here. In Virginia in many situations a cyclist is treated as a pedestrian, such as when traversing a crosswalk.
Thanks. I give a wide berth to cyclists anyway, even when they don’t have the right of way and are taking it. In my younger days I cycled to school, including riding in San Francisco when I went to SF State (from near the Cow Palace). I also commuted to work by bike, sometimes taking it on the train and sometimes riding the 20-odd miles between Burlingame and Mountain View.
Bicyclists have enough of a challenge without me making it tougher on them, even if I’m in the right. When I bicycled, I had a saying, “I might be right, but I don’t want to be dead right!”
A similar thing happened to me a while back, though in my car and not on a bike.
I was waiting to turn left at an intersection with a solid green light (no arrow), yielding to oncoming traffic. An oncoming driver in the left lane decided to stop and wave me through to turn in front of him. Wisely, I declined his offer, since the driver to his right was having none of it and proceeded (quite rightly) through the intersection. Meanwhile, the stopped guy got an earful of horn from the car that suddenly had to stop short behind him because he was stopped at a green light!
If he’d just gone ahead I’d have been able to turn in about 10 seconds, so he wasn’t really doing me a favor in the first place. What a jackass.
But, a nice jackass he was!
Quibble: a driver can yield right-of-way practically but not legally. Someone can offer you right of way and then smash into you. The cops will look at the arrangement of the vehicles and make a snap judgment on who’s in the right of way. Saying “But he waved me through!” might not help you out much, even if the other guy admits it.
Basically, when you have to yeild the right of way, if someone else hits you, you’re assumed to be at fault. Often, it doesn’t matter even if there are extenuating circumstances (e.g., “but the other guy was speeding!”)
I remember when my son was a beginning driver. I had to caution him not to try to be nice, but to just follow the rules of the road. My point was, if he waves someone in or through, is he SURE he sees EVERYTHING that matters to the situation, making it safe for the other driver? For a new driver, there’s enough going on to know that about one’s own situation, and it’s a mistake to try to extend that. After you’ve been driving a few years, then you’ll see there are cases where a little kindness on your part helps a lot, like when coming to a halt due to stopped traffic in front, leaving a space for the car that’s trying to pull into your lane.
I also cautioned him about waves of other people. In the case above, where it’s clear that the driver waving is the ONLY vehicle that matters, ok fine. But in any other case, are you willing to put your life and/or vehicle at risk to that other guy’s judgment? Not me, thanks.
Had one this very morning. 4 way stop, I am headed South, she was headed West (so I am on her left.) and already stopped long before I arrived. As I rolled to a stop near the center-line dayglow glove out signaling my left turn. I refuse to look at her, but I can see her waving me through with my peripheral vision. Finally she turns right. So there was not even a potential conflict, yet this sub-epsilon moron was trying to yield to the bicycle on the left. Worst part was she had a kid in the car. Hopefully it was adopted, so she didn’t pass those genes on.
(Yelling) "You!
Out of the gene pool!"
My turn signal is information, not a request.
In heavy multi-lane traffic, if I need to change lanes (same direction) and that lane is crowded, a signal can be a request, IMO. However, the request does not need to be granted. It also might not be seen. That lane is “owned” by the cars occupying it.