Good Motorist

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redsonic
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Re: Good Motorist

Postby redsonic » Fri Dec 05, 2014 11:47 am

I would like to thank a good motorist I encountered yesterday. I was approaching a red light and could hear her car close behind me: she wanted the left turn with care lane, so I moved more to the right to let her through. She slowed down beside me and leant out the window; I expected the usual insult. Instead, she told me I had dropped something. My Speedplay keep on Kover had fallen off as I unclipped. So thanks, she saved me $25 as they only come in pairs!

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Ross
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Re: Good Motorist

Postby Ross » Sun Dec 07, 2014 5:14 pm

120km ride today and all good motorists. Everyone gave us heaps of room when overtaking, didn't fly past at Mach 10, didn't yell abusive things, didn't throw things at us.

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hannos
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Re: Good Motorist

Postby hannos » Mon Dec 08, 2014 8:07 am

Ross wrote:120km ride today and all good motorists. Everyone gave us heaps of room when overtaking, didn't fly past at Mach 10, didn't yell abusive things, didn't throw things at us.
Which country were you in because it certainly wasn't Australia!
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RedlandSteve
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Re: Good Motorist

Postby RedlandSteve » Tue Dec 09, 2014 10:46 am

Motorists waited patiently behind whilst I navigated blind bends and evaded open car doors. Gave plenty of room whilst passing too. Usually motorists flaw it and cut the blind bends to pass me disregarding potential oncoming vehicles. In Qld, passing a bicycle rider over an unbroken line is permitted so long as it is safe.


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redsonic
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Re: Good Motorist

Postby redsonic » Thu Dec 11, 2014 7:00 pm

Thanks to the truck driver who gave way to me today. Turning right across my path on an otherwise empty road; he kinda had room to go but would have made me brake if he had. Got a wave of thanks for waiting.

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redsonic
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Re: Good Motorist

Postby redsonic » Tue Sep 15, 2015 10:21 am

Thanks to another truck driver the other day who approached me from behind coming up to a two lane roundabout. He waited back until I was through the roundabout and followed me at a safe distance then passed with heaps of room. If only they all had that level of courtesy! I have sent a compliment to his company and hope it gets to him.

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AlexHuggs
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Re: Good Motorist

Postby AlexHuggs » Wed Sep 16, 2015 6:53 am

I went for a short ride part way down one of my future commuter route options yesterday. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by the courtesy of nearly all the drivers. I was in a bike lane but it felt like most cars and trucks were giving me a slightly wider berth. Had to go around a cop who'd pulled someone up, got an acknowledgement from them. I got to some road works with a traffic controller and she let me through ahead of the cars. Perth has a reputation for poor driving and after reading the a lot of the comments on this forum I was expecting a lot more indifference on the road.

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BianchiCam
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Re: Good Motorist

Postby BianchiCam » Thu Oct 01, 2015 10:38 am

Mine today.
So nice to be able to post stuff here although I'ts getting quite rare.
A note to their office has been sent with thanks.

Cam


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AlexHuggs
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Good Motorist Stories

Postby AlexHuggs » Tue Dec 08, 2015 10:53 am

We hear a lot about the 'war on the roads', we love the Moron Motorist type threads and certainly there are too many unnecessary collisions and deaths. I haven't been commuting for long and I have had a few close passes, but I've found the majority of motorists to be considerate. Don't know if this will turn into a thread, but I feel some stories need to be told.

On a post-surgery recovery ride in preparation for commuting again. Riding down Millhouse Rd out of Aveley towards West Swan Road. I discovered too late there is a non-obvious footpath but no shoulder, cycle lane, shared path, etc., of any kind. Moderate to light traffic. Delivery van crosses the solid white line to give me a good 1.5-2 metres of clearance. Didn't see any identifying labels to contact the company, but I was very grateful to the driver for his/her willingness to break the law for my safety.

Riding up West Swan Rd out of Guildford between the bridge and shared path crossing I noticed many vehicles on or across the white line to give me space.

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redsonic
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Re: Good Motorist Stories

Postby redsonic » Tue Dec 08, 2015 11:06 am

Good idea, Alex. We are very quick to criticise the bad apples, but not so quick to praise the good deeds of the many.
This thread started by Gretaboy has been going for a while: viewtopic.php?f=12&t=58958&start=25#p1293007

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g-boaf
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Re: Good Motorist Stories

Postby g-boaf » Tue Dec 08, 2015 11:09 am

Bus driver yesterday could see I needed to take the lane heading towards the roundabout and gave me plenty of room to do so, with time to spare. Whoever the bus driver was, thank you! 8)

And a number of other considerate motorists who just generally gave me room, happy to wait behind me at times. Just makes it very nice to commute.

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AlexHuggs
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Re: Good Motorist Stories

Postby AlexHuggs » Tue Dec 08, 2015 11:24 am

redsonic wrote:Good idea, Alex. We are very quick to criticise the bad apples, but not so quick to praise the good deeds of the many.
This thread started by Gretaboy has been going for a while: viewtopic.php?f=12&t=58958&start=25#p1293007
Ah yes. Did a search but obviously used wrong terms. And I've posted in it previously!

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Re: Good Motorist

Postby Mulger bill » Tue Dec 08, 2015 9:41 pm

Fixed
...whatever the road rules, self-preservation is the absolute priority for a cyclist when mixing it with motorised traffic.
London Boy 29/12/2011

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find_bruce
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Re: Good Motorist

Postby find_bruce » Mon Jan 25, 2016 6:53 pm

g-boaf wrote:Like to give some kudos to the blue Hyundai I think it was on Saturday that held back behind me for at least a kilometre on a single lane each way road until I turned off. Thanks! 8)
Reading this post on the Moron Motorists thread got me thinking. What do you, as a cyclist, do differently when driving around cyclists.

Sure there is the understanding you are operating a potentially lethal bit of machinery & that your day will end a whole lot better if you are not responsible for the death of another human being, but apart from that, what do you do differently.

Being the rear guard for a cyclist is something I do - it's funny how fewer MGIF's I come across when doing so - it seems having a car in front is less of a challenge to their ego. Similarly I find myself hanging back further from cyclists who are riding in the door zone or when I can see they are going to need to change lanes

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Re: Good Motorist

Postby WhingingPom » Mon Jan 25, 2016 8:06 pm

find_bruce wrote:
g-boaf wrote:Like to give some kudos to the blue Hyundai I think it was on Saturday that held back behind me for at least a kilometre on a single lane each way road until I turned off. Thanks! 8)
Reading this post on the Moron Motorists thread got me thinking. What do you, as a cyclist, do differently when driving around cyclists.

Sure there is the understanding you are operating a potentially lethal bit of machinery & that your day will end a whole lot better if you are not responsible for the death of another human being, but apart from that, what do you do differently.

Being the rear guard for a cyclist is something I do - it's funny how fewer MGIF's I come across when doing so - it seems having a car in front is less of a challenge to their ego. Similarly I find myself hanging back further from cyclists who are riding in the door zone or when I can see they are going to need to change lanes
I tend to drive like the first car in this video from this morning...



Hang back, wait until it's safe to pass, then give as much space as I can. One thing I've noticed is that motorists can be a bit like sheep. If one leaves some space, those behind will. If one decides to close shave...

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redsonic
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Re: Good Motorist

Postby redsonic » Mon Jan 25, 2016 10:03 pm

WhingingPom wrote:
Hang back, wait until it's safe to pass, then give as much space as I can. One thing I've noticed is that motorists can be a bit like sheep. If one leaves some space, those behind will. If one decides to close shave...
I have noticed this as well. Perhaps if there is a critical mass of cyclists' friends, relatives, workmates driving carefully around riders, the tone of aggression on the roads will change.

An update on my good truck experience I reported on this thread in September. I contacted their employer who was very keen to identify the driver so that they could receive "driver of the month" or some such accolade. Hopefully a bit of good Karma passed on.

I haven't been riding nearly as much as usual lately, but have noticed how many considerate drivers there seem to be in my neck of the woods. A far cry from the silly season behaviour of a month ago.

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queequeg
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Re: Good Motorist

Postby queequeg » Tue Jan 26, 2016 10:00 am

When I driving I will happily hang back until I know it is safe to pass. I've acted as rear guard up McCarr's Ck Rd through the bends and not cooped any grief from following motorists.

Likewise, when I am driving in general, I seem to be able to spot cyclists from 400m away and make plans to change lanes/slow down etc, which is why I find it hard to fathom the behaviour of drivers who race up the left lane until they are right up the cyclists backside, then suddenly find the need to either abuse them or close shave them. I can only assume that driving properly is not a skill required to get a licence anymore.
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Re: Good Motorist

Postby eldavo » Tue Jun 21, 2016 4:53 am

I had a little contrast of conflict turned constructive, this interaction that reminded me most people do the right thing most of the time, and sometimes they're civilised when they do it wrong. It's mostly audio of the conversation and shows a life cycle from initial confrontation to parting with pleasantries.

Starts with getting honked at by some other car for no reason here:
http://youtu.be/mHkkfj9qt60?t=278
(YouTube embeds don't work with time markers)

Then the positive outcome clip below begins with a little conflict when hearing this car scream out of a driveway and down the street with no lights on, while I'm on a verge checking my many rear lights for any excuse of being honked at (no reasons found).
https://youtu.be/mHkkfj9qt60?t=312

Here's the embedded video but it starts with me riding stairs on the closed off beach on my fat bike ;)


I rode off after the driver chat feeling a really nice shot of hope for our contrived urban civilisations having a conflict and talk through it. Sadly it's often only when people are depressed that they're truly honest and not in the normal perpetual state of positive delusion we need to successfully get by with other people in the "rat race".

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silentC
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Re: Good Motorist

Postby silentC » Tue Jun 21, 2016 10:28 am

Maybe I am being obtuse, but I didn't really understand a lot of what was going on there...

Why did she do a U-turn and come back? As far as I can tell you weren't even on the road or anywhere near her when she came out of the driveway. What was she apologising for? Driving without her headlights or having a go at you about your light? Or maybe for driving at all in what appeared to be an emotionally unstable state? Very strange!
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Re: Good Motorist

Postby eldavo » Tue Jun 21, 2016 12:17 pm

She seemed to have conflict with her Mum prompting her to race out in a state, jumped in the car redlining it in reverse out the driveway and up the hill, then in gear down the hill all without putting her lights on or looking presumably.

It was all in the dark, I have headphones with music playing but heard the engine revving while looking at my tail lights.

I had my headlight on low pointed in her direction already and pressed it again to catch her attention for lights, it jumps from low to a high mode that probably surprised her.

She U-turned to question me about it and I think she realised from my reaction it's not her normal behaviour and explained she was in a state and was glad to be taken to task otherwise she would have been racing through the rest of her trip to her friend's house the same way.

It was also a full moon, and Friday night.

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BianchiCam
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Re: Good Motorist

Postby BianchiCam » Tue Jun 21, 2016 2:51 pm

Good timing.


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Ross
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Re: Good Motorist

Postby Ross » Tue Jun 21, 2016 8:05 pm

I've had about a month of good behaviour from motorists. No close passes or yelling or throwing stuff, even had tradies in Commodore utes hang back and let me get through roundabouts without trying to kill me.

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GeoffInBrisbane
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Re: Good Motorist

Postby GeoffInBrisbane » Wed Jun 22, 2016 8:24 am

Image

Thank you to this lady this morning - she was lining up to pass and then the truck approached from the other direction. I was half expecting whoever it was behind me to just barge past, but she hung back and waited, then passed safely. Thanks!
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silentC
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Re: Good Motorist

Postby silentC » Fri Jun 24, 2016 10:40 am

I was riding across the causeway this morning, just noodling along at about 25 when I heard a truck approaching from behind, changing down through the gears. I looked back and saw a smallish delivery truck, there was room for him to pass but he didn't seem to want to, so I put on a bit of speed to get out of his way, as I was turning left ahead in about 50 metres. Then I realised he was turning left also.

Sadly this is notable only because what I would normally expect in that situation is for the truck to overtake me and then left hook in front of me. So props to this fellow for not reinforcing my negative stereotypes today.
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sobmal
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Re: Good Motorist

Postby sobmal » Tue Jul 05, 2016 1:07 pm

Having lodged a complaint about a Sydney Bus after a very close pass by a bus along the Wakehurst Parkway the week before last, I was very pleasantly surprised by the pleasant way that I was passed this morning by three consecutive buses along the parkway.

Thanks Mr Bus driver(s) for you careful and considerate driving this morning, please keep up the good work!
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