Bicyclists have started doing a new thing that makes me furious

[JulesMaximus]

I still don't understand why you care so much about what other people drive, so much that you enjoy seeing people get in accidents, and post your glee in a thread that has nothing to do with them

They are impossible to see around. That annoys me.

 

[SparkyJJO]

They are impossible to see around. That annoys me.

<shrug> I have driven cars most of the years I've been driving and I've done just fine. Don't hug other people's bumpers so much

 

[serpretetsky]

Speed != speeding. Everywhere else they say speeding, there they say speed.

You know what causes a lot of highway accidents? Speed differential. Some jackass going 10 under in the left lane getting hit by someone doing the speed limit or higher. The self righteous "I'll make you slow down!" types and whatnot.

I agree with you, large speed differentials can be more dangerous. However, you must admit, in such a situation, where someone is driving at a steady slow speed pretty predictably, it would most certainly be the other person's fault for crashing into him. You should be driving safe enough to be able to avoid obstacles on the road, if you can't even avoid someone driving slowly i must question things.

However, if the slow guy is also doing jackass stunts and swerving like crazy/braking it's a different story.

 

[serpretetsky]

They are impossible to see around. That annoys me.

Hatred towards them isn't going to help them see your viewpoint better. Usually it builds a larger barrier between people.

 

[RampantAndroid]

I agree with you, large speed differentials can be more dangerous. However, you must admit, in such a situation, where someone is driving at a steady slow speed pretty predictably, it would most certainly be the other person's fault for crashing into him. You should be driving safe enough to be able to avoid obstacles on the road, if you can't even avoid someone driving slowly i must question things.

However, if the slow guy is also doing jackass stunts and swerving like crazy/braking it's a different story.

I do wonder how state patrol in WA would handle an accident where someone was doing the limit, came around a turn to find a car doing 35 in a 60 and then rear ended the slower car. Who is at fault there? I imagine the guy doing the limit would be in trouble, but that's wrong.

Since getting my new A4 I've driven along I90 between Seattle and the Snoqualmie Pass a bunch at night and it's insane how often I find someone in the leftmost lane (when there are 4-5 lanes to choose from, all empty) doing 55 in a 70 zone. Cops are all too happy to pull someone over for speeding but do nothing to the morons sitting in a passing lane without passing.

 

[pcgeek11]

I do wonder how state patrol in WA would handle an accident where someone was doing the limit, came around a turn to find a car doing 35 in a 60 and then rear ended the slower car. Who is at fault there? I imagine the guy doing the limit would be in trouble, but that's wrong.
Snip

That is easy the car that hit the other in the rear is in the wrong. It is called going to fast for conditions. He could not see far enough ahead around the curve in order to slow down or stop if need be.

 

[Dr. Zaus]

That is easy the car that hit the other in the rear is in the wrong. It is called going to fast for conditions. He could not see far enough ahead around the curve in order to slow down or stop if need be.

No matter the marked limit, if you can't stop in time for a bolder in the road you're doing it wrong. Though if everyone else is doing exactly the same thing you're caught between a rock and a hard place.

 

[RampantAndroid]

That is easy the car that hit the other in the rear is in the wrong. It is called going to fast for conditions. He could not see far enough ahead around the curve in order to slow down or stop if need be.

No matter the marked limit, if you can't stop in time for a bolder in the road you're doing it wrong. Though if everyone else is doing exactly the same thing you're caught between a rock and a hard place.

Except there are places where the marked limit is 60, there's a curve and if there's traffic blocking you into a lane, you can do nothing beyond hit the brakes as hard as you can, or leave the road. It's hard to prove who was doing what speed, but in a perfect world I'd blame the retard doing under the limit. And the analogy of a boulder to a car isn't really a good one. If there's a stationary object blocking the road, emergency responders will mark it off, put up lights warning you to merge and slow down and so forth (something that is done on I90 and 405 as needed, especially in winter around the 90 pass.) It's not uncommon to see people (I find the most common car they use is a Prius) sitting in the left lane not passing and intentionally blocking people from passing. They do it because they're "forcing people to observe the speed limit."

I say all of this because yesterday on the way home at night from the airport there was a van NOT in the right lane (in one of the left lanes) on 405 doing about 10-15 under the limit, with busted lights no less. If I had been in an overly vindictive mood I would have called state patrol and stayed on the line until I was told patrol was responding. Had I rear ended them (I didn't, I was able to just hop one lane to the left since the HOV lane opens up to all at 7PM) I would have been "at fault."

It is a traffic infraction to drive continuously in the left lane of a multilane roadway when it impedes the flow of other traffic.

 

[Dr. Zaus]

Yes you would RA, because you are being un-safe. Despite the marked speed limit, if you can't stop then you are going too fast (sans speed of traffic making you unsafe; which I admit is a trafic paradox).

It's asinine to assign responsibility for a rock in the road to the government. No doubt the person driving too slow around the bend is going to be there for a MUCH shorter time than any rock that might be in the road before it is marked off by officials.

Nope, you're just going way to fast around curves in the road.

 

[RampantAndroid]

Yes you would RA, because you are being un-safe. Despite the marked speed limit, if you can't stop then you are going too fast (sans speed of traffic making you unsafe; which I admit is a trafic paradox).

It's asinine to assign responsibility for a rock in the road to the government. No doubt the person driving too slow around the bend is going to be there for a MUCH shorter time than any rock that might be in the road before it is marked off by officials.

Nope, you're just going way to fast around curves in the road.

I did not assign responsibility to the rock.

Again, I point to the RCW (revised code of washington) which calls impeding traffic in anything other than the right lane an infraction. So someone sitting in the left lane doing 10 under the limit when the flow of traffic is 10 OVER the limit (making the differential 20MPH) is in violation of the law being there; in the case of the van I saw with no lights on, that's two violations (driving without illumination is another violation.)

There are turns in the road that hide some things in the distance and aren't marked with a yellow caution sign either.

 

[serpretetsky]

I did not assign responsibility to the rock.

Again, I point to the RCW (revised code of washington) which calls impeding traffic in anything other than the right lane an infraction. So someone sitting in the left lane doing 10 under the limit when the flow of traffic is 10 OVER the limit (making the differential 20MPH) is in violation of the law being there; in the case of the van I saw with no lights on, that's two violations (driving without illumination is another violation.)

There are turns in the road that hide some things in the distance and aren't marked with a yellow caution sign either.

You're right, doing 10mph under the speed in the left lane of a two lane highway is kind of lame thing to be doing. Hell, like you say, it might even be illegal and a cop might pull them over and give them a ticket (I dont think it is slow enough personally, but let's roll with it).

The point here, is that when you crash into this guy doing 10mph under the speed limit, he's doing something slightly wrong, you are doing something HORRIBLY wrong. I don't know under what conditions you could crash into someone doing 10mph less then the limit that is otherwise driving steadily and safely, and have more than 50% of the blame fall onto him.

Now the bad lights changes things a bit. If both his rear lights are out then you may have a case. I would still argue that you shouldn't have crashed into someone only doing 10mph less then the limit, unless there's some other information im missing, but you might actually have a case.

 

[BikeJunkie]

Though if everyone else is doing exactly the same thing you're caught between a rock and a hard place.

:hmm:

 

[PottedMeat]

This is now a biking fail thread:

lol

is that bearing grease vaporizing?

edit: or is there a engine i can't see?