Drivers have been really bad lately

[verticaldoug]

Roads were quiet and people well mannered through end of May. After that, it has been a steady increase of rage. Westchester is back to normal with impatient drivers with a few people thrown in who think you don't belong on the road. Horns are quick now too.

Some of the anger may be from people having to commute instead of taking the train. That's added stress. Plus if anyone has driven in NYC proper lately, the take-out deliveryman on e-bike kamikaze specials really piss off drivers. I was in Alphabet City/Bowery Sunday and bikes were flying every which way. Wrong way down avenues, running lights, the whole 9 yards. And these e-bikes are fast. Guilt by association in my book for Westchester cyclists.

[sailorboy]

less cars on the road, so maybe it seems like less incidents?, but honestly it happens so often anymore I've stopped keeping track.

My favorite is when I take the center of the lane on a dangerous stretch of road where a driver can't see the road ahead and therefore shouldn't be overtaking (as our driver handbook instructs cyclists to do), only to be honked at, given the finger, yelled at or all three after I move over to let them pass.

[cal_len1]

I found it interesting in that when everything went into lockdown, drivers were super nice, but as time went on, they got worse and worse. Now, I think the drivers are the most miserable I've seen in the past few years. They have so much less patience now, which is odd.

[Mr. Pink]

Originally Posted by CNY rider

Hang in there man and stay safe.
Tourism will be winding down in a month.

You forgot foliage season.

[Mr. Pink]

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

one thing is for sure, the thruway was way worse than it has been in months coming back to NYC land yesterday. i sat i a LOT of traffic, which has been curiously absent for the last several months. i suspect you are correct that people are sick of being home and tourism in the catskills is booming again.

No international travel, most wont get into a plane, so, day tripping.

[campy man]

Originally Posted by b33

It's happening all over the place - 100mph plus tickets are up 87%.

The interaction between riders and cars seem about the same out here but +90mph drivers on the freeways are pretty common now. In addition to the speeding, probably 2-3 times a week I see Fast & Furious type driving ... high speed lane changing and tailgating.

Not really a car guy but Dodge must giving away muscle cars these days ... they are all over the place with their tuned exhausts. Any stretch of open freeway and these drivers can't resist going +90mph in their cars and SUVs.

[Mr. Pink]

Yeah, well, if you were a cop, would you now risk your life to hand out a ticket?

Good argument for speed cameras. The technology is already established. License plate readers are everywhere, and they work at upper highway speeds.

[R3awak3n]

Originally Posted by C40_guy

I was running on a gravel road in the Berkshires last weekend. Saw maybe 10 cars over a 90 minute period.

At one point, I was cresting a hill, with a car coming in each direction. Not enough room to step far enough off the road, so I signaled the oncoming car to slow down. Then I turned and signaled the other car to slow. (Neither could see the other at that point).

Both did indeed slow down. When the first passed, I got a friendly wave. When the second passed (a pickup truck), I got another friendly wave, a nod and a thumbs up.

I think they understood that I was trying to keep *them* safe.

Must have been locals.

I know drivers usually are annoying with cyclists taking up the road. Sometimes people ridding in pacelines, ect. but I am 99% of the time by myself. I got the radar so when it tells me a car is coming I go as much as I can to the right, usually over the line. If a car is behind me and I can see nothing is coming I usually wave em pass me. I go above and beyond to help things be smooth and keep traffic going. I don't think everyone needs to do this and even when people are ridding with other people, cars can wait 10-30 seconds to safely pass.

I have to say that most people are nice and do give space and a lot of them wave but all it takes is 1 a-hole to ruin your day.

[zap]

Originally Posted by R3awak3n

If a car is behind me and I can see nothing is coming I usually wave em pass me. I

Please stop doing that.

If nothing else, it makes signaling left turns useless as so many motorists keep passing on the left as these knuckleheads think we are waving them around.

[jtakeda]

Originally Posted by zap

Please stop doing that.

If nothing else, it makes signaling left turns useless as so many motorists keep passing on the left as these knuckleheads think we are waving them around.

Why? I do this all the time. On a country road with lots of ups and downs and hill crests there arent many safe places to pass, give as much help as you can.

Im guessing the poster is riding roads where there are no left turns

For the most part I've found drivers to be fairly nice--Ive had one person get close but not enough to really scare me. Ive had more people roll down the window to cheer me on than yell at me recently

[CAAD]

Originally Posted by R3awak3n

Actually funny you mention this. Up until covid, usually when I had someone scream out the window or buzz me 9/10 times was a florida plate :P

Probably from Miami! Why people like that dump is beyond me!

[mdeth1313]

Originally Posted by SlowPokePete

Now that I'm here in Columbia County, NY, I have sought the dirt and back roads and have, in almost two months, had no memorable bad driver experiences.

Have you ever ridden a bike in Westchester?

I used to say that riding a bike in Westchester was by far the most dangerous thing I used to do.

Glad that's behind me...now all I gotta do is keep from having a heart attack climbing all these hills!

SPP

I've been on the road in Dutchess and Columbia (counties - NY). Columbia is far, far better, but also less populated. I've had hardly any issues in Columbia County - Dutchess is mostly fine as long as I stay on the eastern side of the county (Dover-Dover Plains is always a moronic crap shoot). As for Westchester - I did ride south a bunch of times this summer and things were definitely a lot better than they have been in years past.

What's been more alarming are the increased number of license plates I've seen on cars indicating they've come from COVID land.

[R3awak3n]

Originally Posted by zap

Please stop doing that.

If nothing else, it makes signaling left turns useless as so many motorists keep passing on the left as these knuckleheads think we are waving them around.

Originally Posted by jtakeda

Why? I do this all the time. On a country road with lots of ups and downs and hill crests there arent many safe places to pass, give as much help as you can.

Im guessing the poster is riding roads where there are no left turns

For the most part I've found drivers to be fairly nice--Ive had one person get close but not enough to really scare me. Ive had more people roll down the window to cheer me on than yell at me recently

this exactly. I am in the country. I don't remember the last time I signaled a turn be it left or right. Not that any car gives a crap about bike signaling. What I do when I want to turn is just make sure there is no car behind me and make the turn, I don't rely on signals.

Also I have noticed that cars are always appreciative when I signal them to pass and I only do this when a car is behind me more a little bit which I appreciate them doing this so I move to the side and if I see its clear tell em, hey its clear and I am paying attention.

[Kirk007]

Originally Posted by paredown

and my new favorite, the refusal to wait for the oncoming car to clear before passing uphill--they just pull out and expect the oncoming car just to move over tor for them.

My real fear is that one day the downhill car will fail to move, and they will pull back into their own lane and take me out...

This. I live on a relatively small hilly island; most roads have 25 mph speed limit, limited if any shoulders, and it takes no more than 15 minutes to get anywhere on the island, and of course, there's nothing to get to with deadlines these days.

Yesterday, on a close to 90 degree blind curve some asshat with a big truck and construction trailer passes me just as I was entering the curve. If an oncoming car had been present either there would have been a head on collision or I would have been smacked and launched into the hillside. This blind passing phenomena has become an almost every ride occurrence.

I'm in the camp of waving drivers through when it is safe to do so but I am also increasingly taking the center of the lane on these blind hills - rather piss off the driver than be put into the ditch or worse.

Overall, I am amazed, dissapointed and disheartened by the large percentage of Americans who are so self centered and so short term in their perspective that they can't control their impulses, whether its being behind the wheel or going to parties (Sturgis anyone?) for what is, in the relative scheme of an average life span, a very short period of time during which we need to be patient and cautious.

[parris]

One of the earlier posters brought up something that I've seen. There's a number of drivers that don't know how big/wide their vehicles are. I could very well be wrong but I think that some of it is that you have drivers that go from something in the Civic/Accord size class to full size SUV/Pickup class. Add blind spots AND especially distracted drivers and you have a sketchy situation.

Also don't forget that some, not all but some older/old drivers can't see are in the mix. Last weekend a buddy of mine got clipped by in his words, "a lady that was old as f**k". She not clipped him he went over a guardrail and down an embankment. He said she was so clueless that she didn't even know that she did it.