I’m seeing more and more of relatively new phenomena. Allow me to describe the situation.
A cyclist (or a small group of them) is riding along any
road in our state. It is a typical
Georgia secondary road. That means
it’s two lanes, none too wide, and has no improved shoulders. The cyclist is operating in a
predictable and legal fashion. The
road is carrying light to moderate traffic. The road’s posted speed limit is 35 or 40 mph. Usually there is a hill or curve in the
situation. There is a clearly
marked double yellow line down the center of the road. Got the picture?
Now something happens.
A car (or several are approaching the cyclist from the opposing
direction. At the same time, a car
or truck is overtaking the cyclist from behind. Now, without hesitation, the overtaking driver hits the gas,
pulls over into the oncoming lane, and accelerates sharply. The driver is now playing “chicken”
with the oncoming cars, and with the cyclist.
The passing driver does not
slow down. Oncoming cars sound
their horns and move to their right, but there is still no room. Worse, they are not slowing down. Eventually, the oncoming driver brakes
sharply, possibly even running off of the road. The overtaking driver speeds away.
Am I missing something? Isn’t this highly illegal? Isn’t it homicidally insane? Oddly, I almost never saw this particular kind of psychotic
behavior until about a year ago.
That’s right, the sudden rise of the “forced chicken pass” seems to have
coincided with a public awareness of the “Three Foot Law.” Perhaps that’s just a coincidence, and there
is a simpler explanation. I don’t
get it.
The real wonder is that there isn’t more bloody carnage as a
result of this hyper-aggressive behavior.
These folks seem perfectly willing to risk a head-on collision. Good grief!
What am I missing here?
Do see this occasionally. I seem to experience the driver that waits more times than not these days. I always try to wave thank you as they go by. I think they understand what I am saying. Several even wave back. Other cyclists? Maybe.
ReplyDeleteThe rule I go by is that drivers are nice and give cyclists plenty of room, ONLY if there is no one coming, in which case everybody just goes regardless of how narrow the road is or how close the cars are or whatever. Maybe it's just me but it seems like this has always been true. It makes drivers in rural areas seem nicer but in reality it's just there's fewer oncoming cars to make things scary.
ReplyDelete