Cagers do the strangest things

Commuting via bike this morning through Mount Vernon and the Bronx, I was once again pondering the bizarre behavior of people in cars. A portion of my commute is along Bronx River Road, a very wide road that is 2 lanes on either side for a good deal of the time I’m on it. I stay “as far to the right as is practicable and safe,” as the law puts it; most of the time this puts me about 8-10 feet from the curb. It’s far enough to avoid being doored, but not smack dab in the center of the lane. I should also add that it’s not a particularly busy road; there are stretches of time where I have it mostly to myself, with regular bursts of 3-5 cars.

Given these conditions, I cannot for the life of me figure out this scenario:

A car appears far behind me in my mirror in the right lane. The driver accelerates, comes up behind me fast, beeps when he is about 20 feet behind me, and then swerves at the last minute into the left lane to pass me, missing me by what feels like about a foot. This is generally accompanied by more honking and an occasional imprecation out the window. From the time I saw them in my rear-view to the time they pass, the left lane was completely and totally empty. I do not understand this. At all. And it happened twice this morning.

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