Benevolent Drivers

[Jiggles]

For as many crappy bloodthirsty drivers there are out on the road, I've noticed there are also a lot of great, well meaning drivers. Very often when I am riding on the freeway (80+ ), cars in the fast lane will see me coming and will move out of the lane until I pass and then move back into the lane. Honestly I would just go around them but the fact that they see me coming and choose to be nice and kindly move out of the way leaves me with a great feeling inside. I'll typically wave to these drivers (I hope they understand my motorcycle wave )

Thank you awesome drivers

[Trailerboy531]

I do the same thing; I always like to show other drivers that we notice them considering us and we appreciate it.

[mholme]

When I see a bike coming up in my lane(the left lane), I turn on my blinker as soon as possible since the gap will most likely be closed very quickly and I'll wait until they are close enough and then I switch lanes. The theory is that they see the blinker and that it's likely I'm going to switch lanes. This way, hopefully they won't get jumpy from a distance(seeing a slower vehicle in the lane they are in) and dart into the next lane over at the last minute to overtake.

[Mountain Dew]

Being a biker in a cage usually means being very mindful and wary of bikers. But most of the cagers I see are complete dicks, and treat bikers even worse than they do other cages. But of course there are a nice few.

But just expect everyone to not see you. To be a dick. You'll live longer and safer.

[ally99]

I notice this too. It's easy to focus on the a$$hat drivers, but there really are more considerate ones than not.

[akima]

Originally Posted by Jiggles

Very often when I am riding on the freeway (80+ ), cars in the fast lane will see me coming and will move out of the lane until I pass and then move back into the lane.

It's the other way round here. I'm doing 80+, but have to pull into the nearside lane to let cars and other bikes pass. Our maximum legal speed limit is 70MPH, but is probably going to get raised to 80MPH soon.

[bluesinorbit]

Awww. This thread is all positive and stuff.

[Liist]

It really has a lot to do with the time of the day and how bad traffic is.

I don't think I've seen a single benevolent driver during rush hour in Orlando. Usually on a sunny day, there are people who would move over for you, and people who would let you in traffic if you're trying to pull out of a parking out.

I still can't get over the fact that someone purposely did not let me in the right lane to get off on an exit the other day. I'm going to strangle him if I see that car again.

[Jiggles]

Originally Posted by bluesinorbit

Awww. This thread is all positive and stuff.

Yes it is lets keep it that way

Post up your stories about other great drivers on the road

[Live2ride]

I tend to do the head nod at drivers who don't pull out in front of me from a side street or people who wait until I pass them to turn across my lane.

[Firehorse]

Yup, good to acknowledge all the good drivers out there, maybe they will mention responsible motorbike riders to their friends and having more cagers even THINK about bikes is good.

I get lots of waves from cagers because I tend to go overboard with caution while learning to ride in traffic. When I'm on the main road and stopped at the small turn-off area near my house, I'll wave the cagers waiting to turn onto the main road to go ahead of me. They are sitting in a blind curve and I can see all the way. They're usually quite surprised that a biker is 'helping them' when they can't see so I hope they think and return the favour to some other biker out there.

Obviously I can't do that if someone is behind me but if no one's there, hey why not? Karma points.

We should all do what ever it takes to raise the reputation of motorcycle riders. We've got a long way to go.

[bluepoof]

I like it when the inverse happens too -- I was in stop-and-go traffic in my car on the way home from work the other day and I saw a motorcyclist in my rear-view mirror safely lane-splitting up to me (i.e. not being a dick by going super fast and weaving around). I was in the left hand lane and pulled as far over to the left as I could to give him room. He gave me a nod and a big wave as he rode past. I really appreciated both his safe lane-splitting and the wave.

[Firehorse]

Originally Posted by bluepoof

I like it when the inverse happens too -- I was in stop-and-go traffic in my car on the way home from work the other day and I saw a motorcyclist in my rear-view mirror safely lane-splitting up to me (i.e. not being a dick by going super fast and weaving around). I was in the left hand lane and pulled as far over to the left as I could to give him room. He gave me a nod and a big wave as he rode past. I really appreciated both his safe lane-splitting and the wave.

That's awesome. Probably made him feel good that someone out there was paying attention. Maybe made some other drivers think too.

I think some people that hate lane splitting (illegal here) are simply jealous. But having less traffic in the lineup overall is good for all the people on the road ? A little bit of responsible riding on his part and courtesy on yours didn't hurt anyone.

[Lil_Green_Demon]

I don't encounter benevolent drivers too often, but that's because I'm normally riding in rush hour traffic in SoCal.
In the rare instances that someone does something nice/thoughtful for me on the road, usually gets messed up by other drivers using it as their own opportunity to move forward or enter a parking lot, etc.
For instance, a few nights ago, a lady left room for me to make a safe left turn into a gas station while she was on the opposite road as me. There was traffic everywhere in front of her. Before I even let go of my clutch to start the slow turn left, some dude behind the lady cut right in front. Alas, my left turn opportunity went down the drain.
The lady did wave to me afterward and did a gesture that seemed like, "sorry THAT a-hole there didn't let you go."

[Jinx250]

There are times when I'll get held up lane splitting because a cager has some phobia about being anywhere except as close as possible to the next car over. More often than not, the next person over will try and make room to let me through. Kinda hard at a full stop though. But I always take time to give them a friendly wave when they do.