Cars and Cyclists

Okay drivers, here’s the deal.

If you and I are on the roadway together, and I am on a bike and you are driving a car, if you start acting weird I am going to slow down or stop until you stop acting weird. This includes stopping when you aren’t supposed to and motioning at me to go ahead. Yes I am staring at you. Yes I realize you are trying to be nice.

I do this because my cycling philosophy is that you want to kill me. It’s the best explanation for the way cars behave around bikes. Stop getting all huffy about it and move on with your day.

For one thing, I can’t see all that well into your car. How do I know you are motioning at me to go and not brushing aside something your wife said? How do I know you aren’t about to jam on the gas and flatten me? I don’t know that, and in fact, I suspect that you are about to jam on the gas as soon as I get near you because I know that you want to kill me.

The best way for you to behave is “predictably”. Let me do what I do and you go about your way, and remember this. You might suffer a small dent. I might die.

As such, I get to dictate our interaction as much as I want.