Illegal turns, unsolicited favors
I am riding on a two-lane road, leaving room for motorists to pass — releasing. This is a semi-rural road with a residential driveway here and there. Almost all traffic continues straight through, and I have made the considered decision to allow motorists to pass. Illegal turns are rare here. But now a car pulls ahead of me and stops, just short of a driveway on the right.
Almost every time this happens, the driver thinks that allowing me to pass on the right does me a favor.
Legal vs. illegal turns
The everyday rules of the road and the traffic law are clear: it’s no favor. Right turns from the middle of the road are illegal turns. The driver should slow and follow me for the few seconds it takes me to get past the driveway, merge to the right edge of the road, and then turn right. (It’s MGL Ch. 89 § 2 and 90 § 14 in my home state, Massachusetts, in case you care to look)
I want to encourage drivers to do the right thing. How do I handle this?
Traffic is a dance of large objects with limited maneuverability. But with my forward view and a rear-view mirror, I can interact smoothly with motorists as long as they are predictable. Rules of the road make for smooth and cooperative interaction, as long as everyone is obeying them. If a driver just slows to follow me for a couple of seconds, I can pass the driveway and the driver can then turn right. This is the way things are supposed to work. It even takes less time.
Anticipating illegal turns
It’s actually easier to anticipate an unsignalled and illegal right turns when the speed of passing traffic is high, because drivers have to slow before turning right. I check my rear-view mirror and when a driver slows, I merge to lane-control position, or make the “don’t pass” signal: arm outstretched, palm facing to the rear. If speeds are slow, a car going little faster than me could turn right and cut me off without warning, so I need to control the lane whenever approaching a driveway.
But sometimes I miss the cue and a driver will invite me to pass on the right. I have to admit, I haven’t always handled this well. Bicycling gets me into “the zone”, a so-called flow experience, living in the present. That is one of the joys of bicycling for me. But I am also keyed up with the exercise, and it can be jarring when my flow experience is interrupted.
How to react?
When a driver pulls up just ahead of me and stops, what do I do?
I also stop. (I have seen bicyclists shoot through on the right. Don’t – a misunderstanding could be injurious.) I need to resist the temptation to have a conversation with the driver, and that is where I have failed at times. I am not in the best mood when my flow has been broken. Here in New England, people drive with the windows closed except on blessed days with fine weather. And often then too. So, I have both the incentive and the need to raise my voice. That doesn’t make for a good conversation. Drivers can get offended that I don’t appreciate their nice favor.
What is better? If I’m sure that the driver isn’t waiting to turn left, I could pass on the left. That confounds the driver’s expectations and sends the lesson: “I don’t pass on the right.” Sometimes I have to back up first, because the car has stopped next to me. But just staying stopped sends a stronger message.If a long vehicle has stopped next to me, I am in danger and I need to get out of there.
So, to sum up, you face an uncertain situation when almost almost all traffic is going straight through and you want to let it pass, but there is a driveway on the right. The best I can say is to have a mirror, use it, check it, anticipate and forestall illegal turns when you see them about to happen. Use lane control and the “do not pass” signal. When it happens anyway, stop, don’t say anything. The longer this continues, the more mind-bending it is for the driver. Or if it will be safe, you could pass on the left with a friendly wave. Better only to confound the driver’s expectation than to try to start a conversation!
I’m thinking that the motorist is just not thinking ahead and wants to undo their thoughtlessness, to be courteous by stopping, a non-verbal “Pardon me, you first, I insist.” Of course, this defies the safety of the rules of motion of traffic, ignorance of which far too many motorists are guilty.
My first thought would be to not just stop, but move behind the stopped motorist, giving them the unmistakable cue that you are not going to pass them on the right. However, this requires the awareness that another motorist is not following too closely to sandwich you between the two. Not to be morbid, but that appears to be what happened here, the cyclist swerving into the path of a pick up truck to avoid a right hook: https://www.lakemchenryscanner.com/2022/06/08/coroner-identifies-57-year-old-bicyclist-killed-after-being-hit-by-pickup-truck-in-mchenry/
It is a great reason to not ride along the curb anywhere there are driveways to your right. That gives you margin to execute (an unfortunate word) an emergency right turn. In case the adjacent driver was not actually being courteous. As Todd Lee Nelson said, “take the lane”. And/or stop.
A much more common situation to refuse courtesy is when a cyclist is waiting in the middle of the road intent on making a left turn. Especially when waiting for a red light to switch. A courteous driver facing the unfortunate cyclist might wave that poor cyclist across. But that oncoming driver likely does not know who is overtaking him.
Make it standard practice to refuse. Otherwise, you as a cyclist can become flustered. And you as a cyclist might then fail to observe who is overtaking that courteous driver.
Thanks Gary. I’ll be covering the left-turn unsolicited favor in a future post!
Todd, I don’t think that it is thoughtlessness: rather, many motorists have trouble wrapping their heads around the concept that bicyclists are drivers. So they treat us as they do pedestrians. I often find it necessary to perform driver behavior theater – emphatic use of lane position and hand signals – to get the message across. Sometimes when a driver is inappropriately yielding to me as I’m waiting to enter the street, or at a stop sign, I have to dismount to make it clear that I’m not accepting the invitation! In a few special cases, I do accept it – mostly if I wouldn’t be able to proceed otherwise, or my not proceeding would lead to more confusion and delay.
John, I agree with everything you said about motorists not wrapping their heads around the concept. I think, though, that given the chance, regardless of not thinking of cyclists as drivers of vehicles, that if they thought ahead more than the two or three second rule when they have a vehicle ahead of them that they could potentially pass before they plan to turn, that they would hold back. The thoughtlessness is in not thinking ahead. It’s more basic to driving skills than grasping the driver versus pedestrian concept, I think.
Brief question. In this scenario, seems like there is no mention of the motorist’s right turn signal.
If so that’s a huge omission. With it, there is near certainty about his intention. There’s even likely confirmation that’s he’s seen you. Without it, you really know nothing and are left with logical deduction — that is, mind reading.
Is the signal important, and if not, why?
Thanks.
You are suggesting that a driver’s blinking right turn signal is a a good indication that it is safe to pass on the right. You don’t avoid conjecture by assuming that!
Good point though that I didn’t mention the right-turn signal. Why not? Mostly, the turn signal doesn’t make any difference to me.
* I don’t know that the driver was waiting specifically for me until *after* I am safely far enough in front of the vehicle that the driver can see me and avoid me when turning. In other words, not until *after* I have passed the danger zone. With large trucks, particularly, assuming otherwise can be a deadly mistake.
* The driver stopped for something. Perhaps it was a pedestrian crossing in front, screened from my view, or to leave a gap for an oncoming vehicle to turn left. I wouldn’t want to collide with them either.
* I don’t want to take the invitation to pass on the wrong side, and so encourage drivers to consider cutting across bicyclists’ line of travel to be acceptable.
* Collisions happen when people take rare and unexpected actions, or look like they are about to do one thing but then do another. It’s that one time in 1,000 that gets you into trouble.
To summarize, just avoid riding into the danger zone. Wait, or pass on the left with plenty of clearance.
There is a very limited set of conditions under which I’ll pass on the right. This is not one of them. It’s a topic for another post. Thanks for inspiring me to write it.