This afternoon, I was on my bike in the bike lane (blue arrow) and as I was approaching this intersection, a car sped past me and had their turn signal on to make the right turn into the subdivision (red arrow). Most of the time when I approach this intersection and there are cars behind me and want to run right, they usually slow down and let me pass the intersection and they’ll turn right after I’ve cleared the intersection. Today, since the car sped past me I yielded to allow the car to turn right, but they decided to stop and let me go past the intersection. It created a weird situation of you go; no you go. I ultimately let the car turn first and then I went.
For a moment I thought I was going to t-bone the vehicle as it didn’t seem like the driver was going to stop. So is there a clear right or wrong here?
by JMav12
29 Comments
You should have right of way if there’s going to be a conflict. Driver’s responsibility to look for someone in their right hand mirror and wait for you to go past
Bike has right of way regardless if it’s going straight or turning right since it is closer to the entrance. Car must yield to bike traffic no matter what.
The driver that sped up was a dick. If a bored cop had watched the whole thing, they could have lectured the driver for being reckless at the very least.
The right hand rule. You have to give a way to the vehicle coming from your right. The car did the right thing. And you did the safest thing too – it’s better than get cut
They could have/should have waited a few seconds to let you through. IMHO you had right of way, but not sure what official road rules would state. It sounds like the car was not far enough ahead of you to pass, merge, and signal their turn.
Here are some more people talking about this https://www.quora.com/Who-has-the-right-of-way-a-car-turning-right-or-a-cyclist-going-straight
No matter what, r/fuckcars (or car-centric roads and car-dependency)
The simple answer: the bike going straight has the right of way
The long answer: this exact problem, called a “right hook” is a design flaw of most bike lanes at intersections. The infrastructural way to fix this is through protected intersections that make sure turning cars can see bicycles and intersect more perpendicular: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protected_intersection
As for what to do on your daily commute,
I almost never assert my right of way in these situations as a bicycle as the risk of not being seen is too high. When there isn’t much other car traffic I like to change lanes into the car lane directly behind the car, to make it clear that I will proceed after they turn. Or I slow down to a stop/till I can make eye contact with the driver through their mirrors. This is especially important with trucks and buses.
Don’t turning vehicles yield to vehicles moving straight? If the bike is going straight the car has to wait until the lane is clear before making its turn.
If you are in the US, bike has right of way
The person trying to make a right turn from the left hand lane has to yield.
there is a clear right and wrong and they were in the wrong. person turning yields to the person continuing straight, even if they’d been a bike and you’d been a car. sorry that happened, stay safe
The car is crossing a lane of traffic when taking their right. (The fact they are prohibited from the rightmost lane and the bicycle is allowed doesn’t make it any less of a lane of traffic). The car driver has to ensure the lane is clear before crossing it
They’re supposed to but, you do because, you see the right hook coming and you know better.
gotta yield to pedestrians and cyclists, not difficult. driver on the left yields to bike lane before crossing bike lane to make right since there are two lanes of traffic. unfortunately drivers believe they own the road so who knows what weird logic comes up when violating the above two rules
This looks like a lower speed street. If I was watching my mirror and noticed the trailing car had their directional on (do people use them where you are?) I would merge left into the travel lane so they knew I was going straight. This reduces the chance they could right hook me.
Motorists are legally required to yield to traffic in the lane beside them before turning, but they fail at this so often that cyclists have given the maneuver a unique name:
“The Right Hook.”
😞
Yup, I’m ready to soft battle at those intersections. Usually I will pull ahead and motor through, but I’m also prepared to be ready to yield and swerve up on the curb or stop behind the car. I usually don’t yell and flip the bird, I just do the tongue and head tilt at the driver. If their window is down, I’ll make whoa whoa sound, or a whoa dude call. Sticking one’s tongue out seems to do the trick of non verbal shame.
The bike has the legal right of way, but should never ever take it. The legal “I told you so” isn’t worth much to a dead man.
Straight has right of way but better safe than dead. Plenty of drivers will happily murder you to shave 3 seconds off their commute, and the cops will help them sue your estate for the damage to their grill
The right hook is statistically the most dangerous move for bikes. In CA cars are supposed to merge into the bike lane 250-500 ft before the intersection then make the turn but nobody does that.
If a bike gets whacked, the cops and the insurance companies blame the bike.
The best way to avoid the right hook as cyclist is to take the lane and get on the left hand side of right turning cars.
https://sfbike.org/news/bike-lanes-and-right-turns/
Bike has right of way, but if you’re on two wheels and they are driving a 1.5 tonne metal box – you yield every day of the week regardless
I see you, (far)northeast Tallahassee
if blue is also turning they can continue on the inside & it doesnt matter
if blue is going straight, local rules may vary but blue should yield or else go behind red
The cyclist has the right of way, and if I’m the cyclist I am absolutely assuming the driver will do the wrong thing.
I got hit by a car in this exact situation. Guy sped up and cut me off, and decelerated enough on the turn for me to slam into his wheel well and get knocked onto his hood. It’s a significant issue on slower speed limit roads where cars lack object permanence after passing a cyclist, assuming there’s no way they could be parallel in traffic
Legally, you have the right of way.
But you ain’t gonna win that fight.
Yield. Always yield.
They should yield to you because you are cooler
What other drivers do is the best way for them to turn, as you did have the right of way in the bike lane that they must cross to turn right.
Sounds like the driver either did not notice you until after passing (in which case I’m surprised they noticed at all) or they expected that you would swerve into the regular traffic lane allowing them to turn right a second or two sooner (many cyclists would if they feel safe enough in that traffic lane; mostly because no one expects the car that just passed with a turn signal to stop and wait for us even though they have a legal obligation to do so).
Nobody ever *has* right of way, you can only *yield* right of way, and this person did not yield like they should have. So the real question is what should you do in this situation? Brake hard, get behind the car and pass it on the left. That’s what I always do. It eliminates uncertainty and makes it nearly impossible for that driver to hit you. I never trust drivers even if they wave me thru
Refer to local and state laws.
doesnt matter if you’re right if you’re dead.