conversation with a motorcyclist
Oct. 1st, 2004 01:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
topaz[this is a copy of a message I posted to the massbike mailing list, for those of you who saw it there]
My commute from Cambridge to Bedford takes me on Mass Ave from Porter Square all the way through Cambridge and Arlington into Lexington. Since Mass Ave has two lanes most of the way to Arlington Heights, I tend to stay more or less in the middle of the right lane and let traffic pass me to the left. When traffic's heavy, as it was last night, I will stay a little bit more to the right to make it easier for other vehicles to pass.
Last night, as I was passing through Arlington Center at about 6:45pm, a motorcyclist roared past me on my left, yelling "move over!" as he went by. Of course, we were both approaching a red light as he passed me, so I stopped next to him at the intersection. A conversation like this followed (and while it is not quite exact I'm pretty sure it's almost so):
Me (chuckling): You're in a big hurry to get to the red light, huh?
Him: You were in my way, dear.
Me: I'm just saying, you're not getting anywhere any faster than I am right now.
Him: You were riding in the middle of the road.
Me: Sure. I'm a vehicle, just like everybody else around here.
Him: You should be riding in the shoulder.
Me: I do have the right to ride in whichever part of the lane I need to in order to be safe.
Him: Yeah, well, you're not safe around me.
(at this point I briefly considered getting his license plate number and reporting him, but decided that was silly since it obviously wasn't a direct threat -- he was being argumentative, not menacing.)
Me (chuckling again): Yeah, I can see that!
The light turned green, and I waved him on ahead. I caught up to him again at the next intersection, and fell behind at the following one; when he stopped to wait to turn left a short while later, I passed him, waved and yelled, "Have a good evening!"
I recite this here not to complain about aggressive drivers in general but to think about how to respond in situations like this, where we have a very small window of opportunity for one-on-one education. In this case I think that I would have done better to emphasize the fact that it's not safe in the shoulder (as if there's any shoulder to speak of on Mass Ave) and therefore not reasonable to expect a cyclist to ride there.
Interestingly, visibility is not generally a problem for me: at night I ride with a blinky red light on the back of my bike, a 5-LED CatEye headlight, a fluorescent yellow vest and (most memorably) a plush green alien doll strapped to my CamelBak. This guy obviously saw me in front of him and waited until he could pass; ironically, while he may have been annoyed about it, it seems that I am safe around him. :-)
My commute from Cambridge to Bedford takes me on Mass Ave from Porter Square all the way through Cambridge and Arlington into Lexington. Since Mass Ave has two lanes most of the way to Arlington Heights, I tend to stay more or less in the middle of the right lane and let traffic pass me to the left. When traffic's heavy, as it was last night, I will stay a little bit more to the right to make it easier for other vehicles to pass.
Last night, as I was passing through Arlington Center at about 6:45pm, a motorcyclist roared past me on my left, yelling "move over!" as he went by. Of course, we were both approaching a red light as he passed me, so I stopped next to him at the intersection. A conversation like this followed (and while it is not quite exact I'm pretty sure it's almost so):
Me (chuckling): You're in a big hurry to get to the red light, huh?
Him: You were in my way, dear.
Me: I'm just saying, you're not getting anywhere any faster than I am right now.
Him: You were riding in the middle of the road.
Me: Sure. I'm a vehicle, just like everybody else around here.
Him: You should be riding in the shoulder.
Me: I do have the right to ride in whichever part of the lane I need to in order to be safe.
Him: Yeah, well, you're not safe around me.
(at this point I briefly considered getting his license plate number and reporting him, but decided that was silly since it obviously wasn't a direct threat -- he was being argumentative, not menacing.)
Me (chuckling again): Yeah, I can see that!
The light turned green, and I waved him on ahead. I caught up to him again at the next intersection, and fell behind at the following one; when he stopped to wait to turn left a short while later, I passed him, waved and yelled, "Have a good evening!"
I recite this here not to complain about aggressive drivers in general but to think about how to respond in situations like this, where we have a very small window of opportunity for one-on-one education. In this case I think that I would have done better to emphasize the fact that it's not safe in the shoulder (as if there's any shoulder to speak of on Mass Ave) and therefore not reasonable to expect a cyclist to ride there.
Interestingly, visibility is not generally a problem for me: at night I ride with a blinky red light on the back of my bike, a 5-LED CatEye headlight, a fluorescent yellow vest and (most memorably) a plush green alien doll strapped to my CamelBak. This guy obviously saw me in front of him and waited until he could pass; ironically, while he may have been annoyed about it, it seems that I am safe around him. :-)
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no subject
Date: 2004-10-01 02:09 pm (UTC)Cyclist: Do you know what the Mass highway code recommends for bicyclists? (then quote some of the more extreme things from there - the connection I am on now is too slow for me to look it up, but most highway codes I know recommend that bicyclists ride in the LEFT of their lane, to PREVENT anyone from overtaking them, without performing a full lane-change as if they were overtaking a car.)
Motorcyclist: You're making that up! That's insane!
C: No, I'm not making it up, but yes it is insane. That's why I was cycling to the right, to let you go by. Let's hope there aren't any cops around to ticket me for not riding far enough left!
no subject
Date: 2004-10-01 03:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-02 04:32 am (UTC)