Yesterday, I was riding my motorcycle on a busy road in Colorado Springs, when a driver to my right slowed well before a stop sign and kept creeping. I was in the right lane. It was pretty obvious he wanted to roll though the stop sign. The problem is, since he didn't stop I had to assume he wasn't going to and slow down. He kept rolling, and finally stopped when I came to an almost complete stop and pointed to him. From the way he drove after he turned behind me (Slowly and with good spacing) I think he was just unaware of the effect he was having. The same thing can happen in a left turn lane. If you stop with the wheels pointed straight ahead, it puts me in a position where I can either stop or accelerate past you should you start to roll. If you cock your wheels, or if you continue to roll slowly, the way the timing works out, I have to slow a LOT to make it safe for me. If a motorcycle is in a curve behind you, realize it's very difficult to slow a motorcycle in a curve. To do it safely, we have to straighten the bike, brake, and then go back in the curve. Overall, hypermilers present a much simpler traffic situation than the racers changing lanes all the time.
If I stop in a left turning lane to turn left my wheels will typically always be pointed straight ahead. That way if I'm rear-ended I go straight through the intersection rather than into the oncoming traffic.
This is sort of OT, but related to the guy rolling through the stop sign. When I'm riding and see people racing up to the stop sign -- I have no idea whether they're just driving like jacka... jackrabbits or if they are going to fly on through. So I slow down, which makes it take longer for that person to get moving again. It always strikes me as so counterproductive to race up to the stop sign, because even other car drivers are going to slow down and make the racer have to sit longer.
