Really the act of honking at a cyclist is just a warning that the driver wants you out of their way and off their roads. I got honked at twice on today's 26 miles ride, once was a full blaring long honk the second a double beep. The result was the same, two unsafe passes by inconsiderate drivers, one on a small rise in the road the other on a tight curve. Neither driver gave me the required 3 feet as they passed.
The standard response is that we cyclists don't follow the rules. Really I'm suppose to follow all the rules? How about the drivers go first! When I stop getting buzzed and honked at I'll start making complete stops at all the stop signs, oops cars don't always follow that one either. On to my solution to help car drivers see the light.
What I'd like to have happen to all the drivers that pass too close is they get buzzed by a tractor trailer. Sound unfair or maybe you think that isn't the same thing. I weigh in at 200 plus my bike is 23 pounds, the mini van from today weighs in at 3,900 plus passengers, a loaded semi 80,000 pounds. As you can see I'm about 5% of the weight of the van which is 5% of the weight of the loaded semi. So who wants to be the one to have a semi drive past even three feet away at two to three times your speed? Sound crazy, unsafe, you think the driver of the semi is an a**hole, while if you pass cyclists like that it's the same thing.
Just to be fair only two of the 10 or so vehicles I saw on the road today failed to give me at least three feet and most gave more. Oh well at least I got a great sprint giving chase to the mini van in hopes of "thanking" them at stop sign. I'm still wondering if I should have called the police on the van or the Village office on the utility worker in the pickup. I do however live where a hit and run on a cyclist was only investigated until the driver said "I didn't" then it was dropped. Maybe I should try a video camera to document the close ones?
