A super annoying (but well-intentioned) thing some drivers do

As a cyclist, it’s easy to come up with a laundry list of things that motorists do that irk us. Not merely annoy us but endanger us. Not checking blind spots when they turn. Parking in bike lanes. Driving in bike lanes. Close-passing. Distracted driving. Speeding. You get the drift.

There’s one thing that many cyclists have noticed that can be a pain, even though the driver thinks it’s a nice thing to do for us.

Picture this. You’re riding along, you come up to a stop sign. A motorist has arrived a second before you and is stopped. You approach the intersection and stop and take your foot out and on the pavement. You are now stopped. The motorist smiles and waves you ahead.

No! They were there first. You came to a full stop. Not an Idaho. Not a casual roll-through. You were being a good little citizen and stopping and obeying the laws of traffic and letting the other guy go since they were there first.

So there’s this weird three seconds where you’re each waving each other. The driver, smiling, keeps doing it. Then you start. Then they start. Then they stop. After five seconds of confusion that would rival a Black Mirror plot line, you finally go.

The motorist thinks that they are doing you a favour. Maybe they are. But by treating you as a special little creature, instead of an equal who shares the roads, it creates this strange and awkward moment. This is not what is meant by “vulnerable road user.”

Don’t get me wrong, this little bit of annoyance is far lower on the list of grievances than so many of the other things drivers do to threaten and endanger cyclists’ lives. But it’s still a pain in the butt, so both things can be true at once.