The most bike-friendly drivers in my area - alternative power

[Gone in 60]

Due to my freeway commute, I split lanes for about 8-9 of my 12 mile door-to-door ride in the morning. I'm on the 55 Freeway, which splits Orange County north-south, riding in the carpool lane, which is still pretty backed up during rush hour. In the interest of promoting positive rider-driver relations, when safe, my left hand is always at the ready to give a quick wave to any car that noticeably moves to the left as I approach to give me more room.

I've found that as I tend to pass many of the same cars and trucks that are on the same commute, more people have started to move over. Not sure, but maybe drivers watching their mirrors might see the car behind them move left, and see that quick wave as I pass. Maybe they want to get that wave too, so they move. I've never had a car knowingly crowd or block me.

In any case, over the past few weeks, I've paid closer attention to what kinds of cars tend to move most frequently for me, and how far to the left they move. The cars that are the most attentive and most accommodating in descending order are:

Tesla
Nissan Leaf
BMW I3
Toyota Mirai
Honda Clarity
Contractor pickup/flatbed/van
Plug-in Hybrids, regardless of brand

I can see contractor trucks moving over - these are working guys, maybe they're riders as well.

But the rest of the list represents single drivers in the car pool lane who are there by virtue of the car they are driving. In California, electric, hydrogen and plug-in hybrids can use the car pool without a passenger, just as a motorcycle can. As I made the list, I wondered if they share some sort of camaraderie with me as someone who is enjoying the car pool lane based on vehicle choice.

Just an interesting observation.

 

[LongRanger_imp]

You'd think Colorado would be a "green" state, but it's far from it. Most everyone drives an Audi or huge jacked-up F150 on steroids. The gorp-eaters drive Subaru's. I don't even know what a Mirai or Clarity is. Gas here is cheap, about $2.50/gallon, so there's little incentive to drive electric.

My last commute when I lived in San Diego, twenty years ago, was an hour to go 11 miles. I can't imagine how horrible it must be now.

 

[Gone in 60]

We've got hydrogen fueling stations around here, so hydro-cars are pretty popular. Yeah traffic here sucks. My 12 mile commute in a car is about 45 minutes. If I have to carry something large to or from the office, I'll still ride, then wait until the middle of the night and go back with my car.

 

[Charlie Bravo_imp]

I, too commute in SoCal, mostly on the 405, the busiest freeway in the U.S. I also acknowledge with a two-finger rider wave, or a helmet nod to the right, any vehicle that moves over for me, and I also attest that the most frequent of vehicles to move is a contractor pick-up, followed by sporty cars, i.e. 'Vettes, performance coupes, and Teslas. I have actually had Prius-pr!cks move over to try and crowd me, both on the freeway and on surface streets, in both the HOV and fast lanes. I don't respond, but I am sure they'll crowd an outlaw biker one day who will be po'd enough to take serious steps to teach them a lesson. I plan on moving to TX next year for family reasons, and will miss legal lane-splitting.

 

[GoldOxide_imp]

My best anonymous, multi-wheeled freeway friends are by far, hands down, tractor-trailers. Being so many on the 401 (North American's busiest freeway, and in Canada for sure), we help each other out. That may sound foolish, however, cagers just don't get it and leave no room for the rigs. Often I will help out and hold back the lane for the rigs so they can safely merge. The rigs let me know they really appreciate the help.

On the 401, forget most of the cages. They are in it for themselves.

RE Teslas: I will say they I do not see them weaving between lanes, and they seem to always signal lane changes. That is something I have noticed.

 

[Gone in 60]

Echoing Charlie's comments, there is a definite difference in driver etiquette toward motorcycles between my bread-and-butter area of OC compared to parts of L.A. On my commute to my weekend job in L.A., I ride the carpool lane and split as necessary on the 405 (the 5 is a non-starter until they complete the expansion between L.A. and OC)

I find most drivers between the two areas are fairly average, but once you get into L.A., and particularly on the west side, the kindly "we're in this together" single drivers in electrics and hydro cars in the carpool lane become self-empowered "hey, I deserve to be here, get outa my way, I'm busy saving the environment" types.

And Gold, as a sometimes rig driver, I appreciate your courtesy. I'll flash my lights for you the next time you leave me some room.

 

[GoldOxide_imp]

Echoing Charlie's comments, there is a definite difference in driver etiquette toward motorcycles between my bread-and-butter area of OC compared to parts of L.A. On my commute to my weekend job in L.A., I ride the carpool lane and split as necessary on the 405 (the 5 is a non-starter until they complete the expansion between L.A. and OC)

I find most drivers between the two areas are fairly average, but once you get into L.A., and particularly on the west side, the kindly "we're in this together" single drivers in electrics and hydro cars in the carpool lane become self-empowered "hey, I deserve to be here, get outa my way, I'm busy saving the environment" types.

And Gold, as a sometimes rig driver, I appreciate your courtesy. I'll flash my lights for you the next time you leave me some room.

Just by the nature of physics surrounding a rig-in-motion, they provide natural opportunities for m/c's, assuming the m/c rider is not a turd (which is, I believe, is uncommon around a rig ... but I could be wrong).

 

[Gone in 60]

The key words here being physics and in motion. Physics dictates that once they are in motion, they tend to want to stay that way.

 

[Stichill]

Interesting. I never thought about what the most courteous drivers are driving, but I'm aware that the most discourteous drivers around here are the guys in their 20s driving clapped-out sedans, rusty pickups, and abandoned amateur attempts at making a tuner car, complete with primered bondo and an ugly wing bolted onto a car that burns oil.

I think the killer app for anything "self-driving" will someday be self-flying commuter drones. There would be no way to manage air traffic control in say L.A. with humans at the stick, but if all the craft are powered by interconnected A.I. it would be possible. The algorithm just needs to make sure no two craft occupy the same place in 3D space at the same time.

 

[Bheezy27403_imp]

Why is it, that every time you see one of those tuner car attempts they are never finished. I mean NEVER. Always some primer here or there. Lower skirts half attached and flopping about. Wing as an after thought. I don't believe I have ever seen a finished product on those types. I'm really intrigued as to why? In fact I always ask my friends when we see one if they've ever seen a finished one....nope. Strangest thing.

 

[GoldOxide_imp]

lol - Primed Bondo seems to go way back to the early 1980's ... same thing ... incomplete projects. Always seems to be young males who probably ran out of stash.

 

[Gone in 60]

Stitchell, I do a lot of business in Bowling Green - I know exactly what you're talking about. Heck, throughout my teens and early 20s, I don't think I owned a car that didn't have a little primer on it somewhere...

 

[Charlie Bravo_imp]

Why is it, that every time you see one of those tuner car attempts they are never finished. I mean NEVER. Always some primer here or there. Lower skirts half attached and flopping about. Wing as an after thought. I don't believe I have ever seen a finished product on those types. I'm really intrigued as to why? In fact I always ask my friends when we see one if they've ever seen a finished one....nope. Strangest thing.

When the tuner craze started some years ago, I heard someone say that UCI, which is University of California, Irvine, really stands for University of Civics and Integras, since the parking lots are full of tuner cars driven by young Asian guys, of which there are a lot around here.

 

[Gone in 60]

Hey man, my wife went to UCI, and she drove a Civic

Been there lately? Ain't Civics anymore. My wife and I go to the theater and restaurants in the university center. BMWs and Mercs are the baseline. Saw a few Lambos in the parking lot last weekend.

Right after the bottom fell out of the tuner market years ago, it was fun to see Civics with taped off holes in the trunks after the huge wings were removed.

 

[LongRanger_imp]

Ah yes, SoCal. Around these parts, MB's and BMW's are uncommon, and I doubt there's a single Lamborghini in the entire state. "Tuner car" here means a clapped-out Subaru with a rusty coffee can for a muffler. No wings. Most kids are into murdered-out, jacked-up Ford 4x4's with gun racks and an array of LED driving lights instead.

 

[Gone in 60]

I grapple with the amount of wealth that must make this a sound statement: "Son/Daughter, we'll pay your tuition to UCI, and you'll need a good reliable car to get to classes. How about a new BMW I8?"

 

[GoldOxide_imp]

Ah yes, SoCal. Around these parts, MB's and BMW's are uncommon, and I doubt there's a single Lamborghini in the entire state. "Tuner car" here means a clapped-out Subaru with a rusty coffee can for a muffler. No wings. Most kids are into murdered-out, jacked-up Ford 4x4's with gun racks and an array of LED driving lights instead.

Sorta makes sense, ... isn't snow imminent?

Can't account for the gun racks though ... for snow shovels?

 

[Charlie Bravo_imp]

Hey man, my wife went to UCI, and she drove a Civic

Been there lately? Ain't Civics anymore. My wife and I go to the theater and restaurants in the university center. BMWs and Mercs are the baseline. Saw a few Lambos in the parking lot last weekend.

Right after the bottom fell out of the tuner market years ago, it was fun to see Civics with taped off holes in the trunks after the huge wings were removed.

Ha-Ha! My daughter went to UCI some years ago and I used to drop off and pick her up sometimes. There were a lot of tuners then, and there still are around here, but that area of OC is stuffed with Italian sheetmetal, too. I ride down to Newport pretty much every week since it's a nice beach ride.

 

[the Ferret]

The friendliest people around here drive Pickups. The meanest people around her drive Pickups. Where I live nearly everyone drives a ...you guessed it...Pickup.(their wives drive SUV's)