Quote:
Originally Posted by CliffFletcher
Yes. Again, I’ve been a cyclist in this city for over 40 years. Longer than I’ve been a driver. Only a fraction of cyclists follow the basic rules of the road - hand signalling at turns, stopping at stop signs, keeping to a lane rather than lane drifting, announcing when they’re overtaking. Maybe 20-25 per cent. With drivers, the numbers are reversed: 75-80 per cent signal when they turn, stop at stop signs, etc.
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I gotta call complete and utter BS on those numbers. You must be using dishonest criteria for what 'basic rules' mean for each user. If we are going absolute letter of the law then it's probably closer to 1-5% for each group.
The problem is it's harder to estimate a 'IRL reasonable rules of the road' figure because we've normalized incredibly ####ty behaviour for drivers, so a motorist turning without signalling probably doesn't even register in your brain anymore. Or maybe sometimes I just can't see their signal until they are already in the slip lane. Maybe it's a bad headlight design. Or maybe they didn't flip it on until very very late.
Just like maybe sometimes you don't hear a bell that was actually dinged. Over the sound of your own bike and/or the wind in the trees and/or the wax in your ears.
And you know what? I've very intentionally stopped signalling my left turns when I only have a car approaching head on and nobody behind me. Because at least half the time that approaching driver comes to a complete stop and tries to wave me through. So I have to shake my head and wave them through, because they are just making things more dangerous for me and slowing us both down (though I appreciate that their heart was in the right place).
Things are just clumsy sometimes. Just like when there are no wheels involved at all (save maybe a shopping cart at Costco). Cyclists are not a unique breed of bozo.