Thanks to good grace you came through safely, Patrick. This is the reason I signal right turns with my right arm and a pointed finger. The collective driving population (even with the finest students of the esteemed institutions of renowned higher learning around here) is virtually incompetent of hand signals as a baseline. Me pointing my left arm upward with pointing finger has been greeted by passing traffic with utter confusion. It's as if they get their DLs online.
Literal as possible with my hand and arm signals around here. At worst, I take the lane to protect the uncomprehending behind me. Andy Cheatham Pittsburgh On Tuesday, September 26, 2017 at 2:45:46 PM UTC-4, Deacon Patrick wrote: > > A friendly, though after dangerous circumstances, interaction with a > driver, who attempted to pass me on a narrow blind curve despite me > signaling with my left arm out and down, palm spread, then eventually > waving in earnest because I could see the oncoming car, and they could not. > > Driver (as I heard him): “I didn’t know there was a bike lane.” > Me (waving and smiling because everyone was now safe from the driver’s > stupidity): “This IS a bike lane." > Driver: “No. I said I don’t know bike language.” > Me (still waving and smiling, then giving a dumbfounded thumbs up): Oh. > > Thoughts: > — Drivers too moronic to not pass when they can’t see if it is clear are > not likely to know “bike language." > — Taking the lane (riding where the right tire of the cars is) works. > Thoughtful but stupid drivers give lots of room when they pass, though they > fail to think through “I can’t see if there is oncoming traffic, therefore > I ought not pass”. When I do not take the lane and instead ride as far to > the right as I can (which I almost never do anymore), most drivers fail to > see me any “fellow traffic” and only see me as obstacle on the side of the > road, like road kill." > — I take it hand signals are no longer taught as basic driving knowledge? > Maybe they are relegated to being “bike language.” Sign. > — You can’t fix stupid, just stay as safe as possible by being visible, > being seen as traffic, and making stupid go around you. > > Still haven’t puzzled out how to handle this any better. > > With abandon, > Patrick > > www.CredoFamily.org > www.MindYourHeadCoop.org > > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
