Car right of way

[Circuitmage]

Ok, so after a couple years of doing this, I am getting annoyed at how cars will stop in driveways, at intersections, or even right in the middle of a busy roadway when they see me, and wave me on expecting me to go in front of them. I don't do it.

For me, personally, with my motorcycle experience and knowing I have little chance of surviving any crazy driver that decides to run over me, I NEVER take the right of way in front of ANY car, ANYWHERE. I will stop, wave them on, and get on my phone until they decide to move. Trust no one, is my motto.

If a car stops at or before a street on a driveway ramp and expects me to go in front of them, I will always go behind them.

Am I being too cautious here?

How about you? 

[Elder Meat]

22 minutes ago, Circuitmage said:

I am getting annoyed at how cars will stop in driveways, at intersections, or even right in the middle of a busy roadway when they see me, and wave me on expecting me to go in front of them.

I understand your safety concerns, but it hardly seems fair to get annoyed at people who are trying to be courteous to you. As for your poll, I think you could have worded it better. I believe you meant the first question to be something like "I try to ALWAYS stop for a car even when I have the right of way".

[RockyTop]

I try to follow the rules of my position on the road or sidewalks. So sometimes I am a car and sometimes I am almost a pedestrian. ( one foot on the wheel one on the ground ? What am I ?) 

My thought is that cars either don’t know how to treat you or want to see you ride that crazy thing. If you watch the Chooch videos you can see other people’s confusion and interest. Chooch just waves and goes on. 

[meepmeepmayer]

That happens. People just want to see wtf that thing is that you're riding  Let them look

If it's a controlled situation (no other cars where you could be in a blind spot or so, you made eye contact) I see no harm.

[Marty Backe]

In the scenarios that you describe, I wave to them and take advantage of their curiosity. I really can't envision someone gunning their accelerator to run me down.

I ride very defensively and will go around behind cars when there's any doubt. But if someone is stopped and looking at me and either waves me on or nods, I'll ride it front of them and give a little nod, wave, and smile.

To answer your question, I do think you're being too cautious. But I suppose if you're going to error on one side or another, better to be too cautious.

[meepmeepmayer]

8 minutes ago, Marty Backe said:

I really can't envision someone gunning their accelerator to run me down.

Yea this is what it boils down to. If they're already actively looking at you and nothing else unpredictable is nearby... you're happy, driver's happy.

[Hunka Hunka Burning Love]

What I find is that when you're riding on one wheel, it doesn't immediately register in people's minds so they often need some CPU time to process things.  I've had cases where I'm crawling on the wheel in a marked pedestrian crossing, and cars will roll right past me by a few feet.  It's crazy!  If I were to have gone ahead I'd be roadkill!  

[Marty Backe]

14 minutes ago, Hunka Hunka Burning Love said:

What I find is that when you're riding on one wheel, it doesn't immediately register in people's minds so they often need some CPU time to process things.  I've had cases where I'm crawling on the wheel in a marked pedestrian crossing, and cars will roll right past me by a few feet.  It's crazy!  If I were to have gone ahead I'd be roadkill!  

Someone around here made an observation that many people can see us as regular pedestrians, unless they are really paying attention to their environment. So they see via a glance that a "pedestrian" is at some distance from the car and they don't understand that the "pedestrian" is moving at 10+mph. Thus they may continue driving not realizing how fast the "pedestrian" is capable of "walking".

Kind of makes sense.

[mezzanine]

9 hours ago, Elder Meat said:

I understand your safety concerns, but it hardly seems fair to get annoyed at people who are trying to be courteous to you. As for your poll, I think you could have worded it better. I believe you meant the first question to be something like "I try to ALWAYS stop for a car even when I have the right of way".

 

The problem is when that attempt at courtesy goes against the accepted driving conventions; it actually creates more risk by violating expectations.  Ask any NYC rider or EUCer who does a lot of riding in high traffic environments and they'll confirm it's actually riskier.  I'm convinced there's only a small number of us here that use our EUCs in these conditions.  It's why it's hard to generalize when discussing riding experiences because everyone assumes everyone else rides in the same type of environment.  

My favourite was the woman recently who became transfixed by my wheel for at least 30 seconds at a stop sign as I approached the intersection with no cars in either direction and I was approaching the intersection opposite her.  I watched her sit at the stop sign while I approached, waiting to see her make her left hand turn.  What did she do?  She waited until I got annoyed with her sitting there stopped for no reason and then started her turn EXACTLY when I decided to enter the intersection. 

So many weird experiences like that as an EUCer.  It's why I'm on the hyper-defensive side of this debate.  I don't trust anyone on the road anymore.  At all.  

[Circuitmage]

I can totally envision someone running me down.

 

 

[Circuitmage]

19 hours ago, Marty Backe said:

Someone around here made an observation that many people can see us as regular pedestrians, unless they are really paying attention to their environment. So they see via a glance that a "pedestrian" is at some distance from the car and they don't understand that the "pedestrian" is moving at 10+mph. Thus they may continue driving not realizing how fast the "pedestrian" is capable of "walking".

Kind of makes sense.

I agree with that as well. It's a kind of acknowledgment of the spectacle of someone riding on one of these. I've even had people pass me, slow down and stop in the middle of the road with people behind them, just to look at me. And I've had several people slow down to shout something at me...usually a good comment. And, I am guessing many cars are sitting at green lights watching me while a car is honking at them to move. All of these activities are bad news for whomever is driving and not paying attention to their own ride.

[LanghamP]

In my opinion, a big contributing factor is the design of vehicles with their massive front hoods that drivers cannot see over. Hence, the vast numbers of trucks and SUVs you see "high and dry" on intersections and driveways; their drivers have no choice but to stick their hoods into traffic because otherwise they cannot see.

When people drive my Kia Forte they always comment on its great visibility; almost 100% of the people I know have SUVs and so getting in a car with virtually no hood comes as quite a shock, although I do admit most people dislike being in my car.

You can probably get away with running your EUC in front of a stopped car since you are in the driver's line of sight, indeed you're probably blocking his line of sight since you're taller than him. With a truck or SUV you probably shouldn't ever run in front of him since he'll see little of you AND if he does run you over he might not notice since you end up under his vehicle instead of on the hood.

And maybe that's the point of having a truck; pedestrians instinctively know they are three times more dangerous than cars are, and so they let the truck/SUV go first.