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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I was driving on Irving st NW a few hours ago, and also had a crash involving a cyclist.

The street has a dedicated, marked bike lane on the right side of the roadway. I came to a 4-way stop sign, and was going to turn right. I had my turn signal on and was sitting there for a moment because the car to my left had already stopped for the stop sign on their side, and had started to move across the intersection, so I had to wait for a bit longer than a normal stop before I could turn right.

As I started to pull away from the stop sign and make the turn, this I hear a loud shout, and then a thump, and look over my right shoulder and this guy on a bike was all the way up against the rear right side of my car and just slammed his hand down on the back window.

I stopped right there in the middle of the turn because I didn’t realize right away what had just happened. For a second I thought I’d run over him, but then realized I couldn’t have. And then he pedals around beside and is yelling about how I almost ran over him. Then he kept going. He looked unharmed to me.

Then I started thinking about what had to have happened, and if I was already stopped, and had my signal on and was turning, how could it be my fault? Don’t I have a right of way since I’m already at the stop sign? Is a cyclist allowed to pass a car in front of them that is turning right at a stop sign, if the car is already at the stop sign and starting to make a turn? The only possible way he could have been trying to go around me mid-turn was if he hadn’t stopped at the stop sign, and bikers are supposed to stop at stop signs. So I don’t see how any of this could’ve been me “almost running over him”.

Who is in the wrong here? [/quote]

You were. Just another oblivious driver behind the wheel not paying attention to your surroundings. People like you are the bane of people like me. The exact same scenario has happened to me several times. I’ve almost run into the sides of cars on several occasions because some idiot turns in front of me. Most cyclists don’t do stop signs. [b]We’re not a car so we’re not required to [/b]and it takes too much energy to stop at every block and then get back up to speed again. So we’re trying to maintain our cadence and momentum and when you stop and then turn you literally force us to run into you if we don’t take evasive action. You’re lucky he just pounded on your window. I would’ve smashed your car with my lock. [/quote]

You are 100% wrong. You are required to stop at a stop sign. When you blow one and get hit, you’ll be charged. [/quote]

It’s accepted practice that bikes don’t have to stop for stop signs or red lights. I don’t care what the law says. If it’s a law and almost no one follows it then it’s not really a real law. It might be on the books but in reality cyclists do not have to stop for stop signs or red lights. Don’t like that ? Too bad so sad get over it. The whole rest of the world basically disagrees with you so you’re the one in the wrong here regardless of whatever the law says. [/quote]

As a cyclist who stops at red lights and stop signs I utterly and completely despise you and your Neolithic attitude.  [b]You give us all a bad name and increase the danger presented to us by pissed off motorists.  And your assessment of the law is what one might expect from a fairly average six year old[/b].[/quote]

NP. Thank you for this. I want to be supportive of bicyclists (I am one intermittantly myself), but it's hard when we don't call out the egregious behavior in our own.[/quote]

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