Sunday, August 30, 2009

Those who see, those who don't, and those who don't care.

Some friends and I went for a long motorcycle ride last weekend - up in the mountains in the cool air. It was fantastic but it reminded me that when you're on a motorbike, there are essentially three categories of car driver. Those who see you, those who don't, and those who see you but just don't care.
On narrow mountain roads, for the most part, the lanes are separated with a double yellow line. Passing opportunities are few and far between - you can ride for miles before coming across a broken yellow.

When you come up behind a car driver, those who see you are normally very accommodating. Realising you are infinitely faster than they are on a mountain road, they'll pull to the side and slow down, and/or pull in at a lay-by, and/or wave you past. This is nice - you know you've been seen and a friendly wave as you pass them helps seal the deal.

The drivers who don't see you are the same ones who cause all the motorbike accidents. They'll happily run you down as much as look at you, mostly because they're busy corralling the kids, arguing with the co-driver or more likely, texting on their phones. These are simply lost causes - you have no choice other than to sit well back to give them room to drive like total dicks, and then pass them when the markings allow. More often than not, taking them by surprise.

The last category are those drivers who've clearly seen you, and are deliberately doing everything possible to prevent you from passing. Normally this involves driving incredibly slowly when the lines in the middle of the road are double yellow, then speeding up and drifting to the left when you get to a passing area.

Motorcyclists all love driver type 1. We deal with driver type 2 because we have to. Driver type 3? Well, the less said about them, the better. You know who you are and you know where you can go.

From a motorcyclist to all the type 1 drivers who have seen me and acknowledged me: thank you. Especially the guy towing the boat up Mount Nebo loop a few weeks back who pulled the entire rig over on to the soft shoulder and waved me through. I appreciate it.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

So essentially you're saying motorcycles are above the law and can break rules as they please, and anyone getting in their way of doing so is an asshole... ?

I must be missing something because this isn't making me feel very sympathetic.

Chris said...

Umm. How did you get that from this post?

Anonymous said...

Three types of drivers:
Those that let you pass on a double solid yellow line, those that can't (they don't see you) and those that won't (those that see you but don't wave you by).
In my country, double solid yellow lines mean no passing, ever. How am I an asshole if I see you behind me but don't go out of my way to let you pass on a double solid? That would be breaking the law. And you appear to be upset about people who don't do this for you.
?

Paul said...

Yee Gods, how on earth did "Anonymous" get that impression???

I'm guessing he be a Type 3.

Paul said...

I believe you've missed one small piece of information, and that is that the cars could slow slightly and pull over to the shoulder etc to let the bikes past. I don't think Chris was suggesting anyone break the law.

Chris said...

Anonymous : did you miss this?

"you have no choice other than to sit well back to give them room to drive like total dicks, and then pass them **when the markings allow**."

At no point in my post do I mention, promote or condone passing on double yellow lines. That's the whole point - the drivers who see me move over and give me room to pass without crossing the double yellow. Those who don't see me mean I have to wait (sometimes for miles) for a passing area. Those who drive slowly on the double yellows then speed up in the passing areas are the third type.
How did you not get this from the original post?

Anonymous said...

Why should other drivers have to slow down or stop, just to let you go past? It's not like most car drivers drive much below the speed limit.

And double yellows mean don't pass, ever. They don't mean don't cross the yellow lines, they mean don't pass. It's for your safety, and others.

I think there's a fourth category of car drivers you don't mention. I think that these are one's that see you, but rightly don't see why they should stop to let you go past. They don't purposefully drive slowly to try to force you to drive slowly, they're going as fast as they safely can already. I suspect most drivers are in this category.

Anonymous said...

Paul said:

"that is that the cars could slow slightly and pull over to the shoulder etc to let the bikes past"

You mean, I should pull over, drive my tyres through all the crap and debris on the shoulder, and increase my journey time, just because you want to blast past on your bike on double-yellow lines?

And who, exactly, is the impatient and malignant driver in this situation?

Chris said...

It's funny to me how anonymous's comments are nicely illustrating exactly the point of my post. Anonymous is a type 3 but doesn't even realise it.

I come across drivers like Anonymous every day. They choose which laws to obey and then get on their high horse when someone points out a hole in their logic. Anonymous is clearly very irritated by motorcyclists in general - he must feel we've somehow wronged him in the past. He's also a bit misguided on exactly what the rules of the road are, especially when it comes to double yellow lines.

So to clarify, again.

Double yellows do not mean "don't pass ever" - they mean "do not cross the yellow line to pass". Look it up - it's in every driver's handbook. (The Utah drivers handbook in particular is here : http://des.utah.gov/dld/docs/handbook_2009.pdf - the regulation is on page 21. In England it's in the Highway code - http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAndTransport/Highwaycode/DG_070306 rules 128 and 129 except there it's double white lines, not yellow.

It's perfectly legal to pass on a double yellow as long as you don't cross the line. It's just that most vehicles cannot do this unless there are two lanes. Hence when drivers pull over enough to let me past, that's why I appreciate it. Think about it for a minute - if double yellows meant "don't pass ever" then double yellow lines in the centre of a 4-lane divided highway would mean "everyone stay exactly where you are despite there being two lanes on each side".

Most states in the US (and a lot of countries elsewhere) have laws about holding up traffic - ie. if you have 5 or more cars following close behind you, you should pull over and let them past. Utah passed the bill earlier this year : http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,705279984,00.html. In the UK it's in the highway code - http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAndTransport/Highwaycode/DG_070314 rule 169. You can find the relevant law in most countries and states with some googling.

That's no different to pulling over to let motorcyclists past because technically you are a slow vehicle holding up traffic behind you, except judging from the comments here, Anonymous doesn't consider motorcyclists to be traffic. I suspect we'd find Anonymous doing 60mph in the left lane of the freeway too :-)

Look - what I'm talking about here is basic, common courtesy. If you've ever driven in the mountains you'd know that. Drop me a line by email and I invite you to come for a ride on the back of my motorbike and you'll see exactly what I'm talking about, as we crawl at 20mph uphill behind a loaded SUV in a 60mph limit, for mile after mile after mile, as he ignores every stopping place and parking area.

Anonymous said...

I don't drive an SUV and I don't drive at 20mph, unless that's the speed limit.

But your post comes across as really arrogant. You say all car drivers are in one of three categories, (i) those that realise you are the ultimate driving machine and pull over to let your highness go past, (ii) idiots, or (iii) murderous assholes.

I'm saying I'm none of those things. If I were driving at 20mph I would surely pull over and let you past.

Instead, I get you saying that I'm (iii) a murderous asshole, and don't realise it.

Well, not only is that randomly offensive, it's also not true.

Believe it or not, there are car drivers out there who do give bikes as much room as they give cars and generally treat them with respect. But that doesn't mean we should pull over into the sh1t at the side of the road to let you go roaring past at ++speed limit, or run on the shoulder like somebody suggested (almost certainly not recommended in those driving codes you posted earlier).

Are you sure that you're not viewing your mountain roads as your own personal racetrack, and also taking the racetrack attitude towards other drivers, who are probably only trying to get from A to B as quickly and safely as they can?

Chris said...

Anonymous : If I'd actually used the words "murderous asshole" I could see how it would be offensive. But I didn't - you did.

Anyway - as you've resorted to putting words into my mouth, I give up.
Yes, Anonymous - you are right and I am wrong. I was wrong to thank drivers who do see me. I was wrong to point out drivers who don't see me. I was wrong to not overtake on a double yellow line. And I was wrong to know and understand the law.

Anonymous said...

You didn't use the words murderous asshole, you're right, but it was implied:

"The last category are those drivers who've clearly seen you, and are deliberately doing everything possible to prevent you from passing. Normally this involves driving incredibly slowly when the lines in the middle of the road are double yellow, then speeding up and drifting to the left when you get to a passing area."

Sounds incredibly dangerous, and definitely done with malice aforethought. If I were to do that, and you, an overtaking bike rider, died as a result, I would think there would be a pretty good case for a murder charge. Death caused in the commission of a crime, with malice aforethought. Come on Mr. Lawyer, that's more-or-less textbook murder, right?

And since I wouldn't drive through the shoulder to let you past, and since I definitely would see you, I must fit that category. Right?

Also, if you're hilighting unjusting attributing things to other people (like my words in your mouth), how about you unjusting attributing actions to other people?

Like: "I suspect we'd find Anonymous doing 60mph in the left lane of the freeway too :-)"

which is neither true, nor do you have any evidence for.

Or, like you dropping half the human race in your category (iii) (dangerous drivers, with malice aforethought, definitely assholes but not murderers unless you have the poor luck to actually die by their dangerous actions).