So once again I establish that I would not be a very good bike ambassador. But then I’ve taken my curmudgeonliness to a whole new level of cranky, so it’s not unexpected.
Came to a 4-way stop today. Car on my right, which got to the intersection first, had the right-of-way (two of the rules). I could sense that the driver was hesitant so I put my foot down as a signal that I had come to a complete stop and was acknowledging her right of way. When she didn’t proceed I looked over to see her waving me through accompanied with an annoying “go ahead” in a sing-song voice.
I waved her through with the reply that she had the right of way. As she proceeded, she offered that she was “just trying to be nice.” To which I retorted:
Just follow the rules. Don’t be nice.
The look on her face was as if I had just thrown a sack of kittens into a raging river. Not going to lose sleep over it — I’m not responsible for her emotional state.
It didn’t help that this was at a 4-way stop, which most users of the road seem to find complicated to the point of befuddlement.
Just follow the damn rules. Don’t make things up on the fly–it only triggers confusion (or in my case ramps up my inner curmudgeon).
I commute by bike everyday. Many of my problems with car drivers result from exactly this sort of situation. They try to be ‘nice’, and only make things more dangerous – for me. Then, they come away from what should have been a normal traffic flow interaction with a bad feeling about ‘those ungrateful cyclists’.