When I ride there are certain spots on my loops where I take up the whole lane. Almost always some drivers gets pissy with me, yells at me, and drives off. At which point I usually get out of the saddle and into full on Olympic sprint mode and catch them at the next light. It's funny how they have nothing clever to say then, except that riding in the road is illegal. I carry around a copy of the law that says riding on the road is perfectly legal, and riding on the sidewalk is illegal.
I like Scott's rules though. Making eye contact with drives is very important to me. When I'm riding down city streets, I always look through the rear windows of parallel parked cars to see if someone in them might be turning out or opening the door, but sometimes you just can't see.
Anyway, most drivers don't feel like a bike should be in the road. They also decide to attempt to pass me VERY close, pass and cut me off, etc, to try and "teach" me that. *sigh* The state of drivers is very unfortunate. They need to ask more questions about cyclists on the tests, and furthermore, the tests need to be a bit more stringent.
To put it in perspective, I have a driver's license from Georgia that expired two years ago. I went down to the DMV in Massachusetts to ask what I'd need to do to get a MA ID, and they said, "Oh, just proof of MA residence, your old ID, and a check for $65."
They give these things out like candy... driver's licenses are not a right, they are a priviledge! Some politician is lobbying to give illegal aliens driver's licenses now too... God, when does it stop?
[quote] ...I don't mind cyclists taking a whole lane, that's what they're supposed to do, and especially when snow banks have further restricted lane width,... <hr></blockquote>
Keep in mind that if there was snow on the street, good chance there was ice as well, which is bad enough for four-wheeled vehicles, let alone for two-wheeled ones. When those tyres are only 25 mm wide, braking suddenly on slick surfaces tends to end predictably. Also, going 30-35 kph in sub-zero temperatures tends to motivate one to get to their destination as quickly as possible.
or, more to the point, do car drivers endanger cyclists by not giving enough room or respecting their right to the road because cyclists break the rules so often (like, i dunno, maybe not staying on the road all the time?), or do cyclists break the rules so often (like riding on sidewalks, you know, where PEDEStrians are supposed to be) because people in cars endanger their lives and they need some space from the cars that could severely injure them?
i don't know. having lived in toronto for the past five years, i travel everywhere either by foot or public transit, and i have nearly been killed a half dozen times by cyclists (usually bike couriers, but not always...) who decide to glide through protected crosswalks, or "sidewalk slalom" in between people. i guess i side with the car drivers more, because, sure, everybody breaks the rules, but cyclists break the rules on sidewalks AND the streets, but i don't see many cars trying to drive up on the sidewalk or through pedestrian malls. one guy i worked with said "yeah, but getting hit by someone on a bike isn't that bad." compared to a car, no (both of which have happened to me). but he obviously hadn't been blind-sided by a 10-speed recently. OUCH!
(uh, oh... i can feel the flaming posts from cyclists going clickety-clack on the keyboards right now... duck and cover)
95% of the streets here in Portland have bike lanes but cylists just weave through traffic and go through stop lights and do whatever the hell they please most of the time. Sometimes I just want to give them a little love tap and send them into a ditch. I especially love it when they ride on the line instead of inside the bike lane so there's no way in hell you can pass them. And when you finally do get to pass them, they give you the finger. It's like they're all a bunch of activists that want to make driving cars as inconvenient as possible.
See I'm an advocate of just yelling at people. "Get the **** off the sidewalk you two wheeled mother ****er" or "the side walk is for kid you short dicked asshole" Create you own as needed.
I'm with Rok. The day is fast approaching where some cyclist, probably a messenger or a delivery guy is going to get tossed off his bike and have the living shit kicked out of him.
<strong>I'm with Rok. The day is fast approaching where some cyclist, probably a messenger or a delivery guy is going to get tossed off his bike and have the living shit kicked out of him.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Or maybe I'll just run over him with my big gas guzzling, planet killing, SUV.
Man-- I would never ride a bike in the city in the States anymore. A colleague was 26 when some lady in a minivan killed him while he was out riding.
At the same time, I'm always worried about American drivers in Germany, not paying attention to bikers or pedestrians. It's not that their bad drivers, it's just that they're not used to it.
See, I'm not against even adults riding on the sidewalk. Where I worked for a couple of years, in a rich uptown burb, I saw old ladies and moms riding the wide sidewalks all the time. The difference between them and a courier was that they went slow... and were generally careful and courteous, and didn't try to weave through pedestrians.
I bet the proportion of stupid drivers waaaaaay outodoes stupid cylclists. Let me tell you my story: I was biking down from the top of Vermont back to White River Jct a few years ago. Yeah it was fun, we biked through the McDonald's drivethrough, I have pics to prove it!
But then at this intersection an old guy and his wife pull up, wave me to go in front of them. I'm biking a mere foot away from their bumper, and at a mile an hour. When I'm directly in front of them the car slides forward to within 1 mm of my bike, it might have even touched it! I almost had a heart attack. And then the guy gave me a dirty look. I ALWAY let cars go first now!
Bottom line: we need more bike trails or better and safer ways for bikers to use roads. I hope more Americans start biking but I bet it will go in the opposite direction and we'll all be fat jerks in cars.
Oh yea. I hate getting waived through. I almost never go. Another rule I have is never get yourself in front of a driver you're having "trouble" with. Don't turn your back on them. Watch the movie Easy Rider.
Of course a lot of this trouble is caused by the vast legions of cyclists that blow off stop signs. Which I yell at too when I've driving.
Comments
A good rule to cycle by
I tend to take up the whole lane as there isn't really enough space for bike + car in the same lane + oncoming car (+ extra bonus overtaking car).
[ 03-01-2003: Message edited by: Stoo ]</p>
I like Scott's rules though. Making eye contact with drives is very important to me. When I'm riding down city streets, I always look through the rear windows of parallel parked cars to see if someone in them might be turning out or opening the door, but sometimes you just can't see.
Anyway, most drivers don't feel like a bike should be in the road. They also decide to attempt to pass me VERY close, pass and cut me off, etc, to try and "teach" me that. *sigh* The state of drivers is very unfortunate. They need to ask more questions about cyclists on the tests, and furthermore, the tests need to be a bit more stringent.
To put it in perspective, I have a driver's license from Georgia that expired two years ago. I went down to the DMV in Massachusetts to ask what I'd need to do to get a MA ID, and they said, "Oh, just proof of MA residence, your old ID, and a check for $65."
They give these things out like candy... driver's licenses are not a right, they are a priviledge! Some politician is lobbying to give illegal aliens driver's licenses now too... God, when does it stop?
Keep in mind that if there was snow on the street, good chance there was ice as well, which is bad enough for four-wheeled vehicles, let alone for two-wheeled ones. When those tyres are only 25 mm wide, braking suddenly on slick surfaces tends to end predictably. Also, going 30-35 kph in sub-zero temperatures tends to motivate one to get to their destination as quickly as possible.
or, more to the point, do car drivers endanger cyclists by not giving enough room or respecting their right to the road because cyclists break the rules so often (like, i dunno, maybe not staying on the road all the time?), or do cyclists break the rules so often (like riding on sidewalks, you know, where PEDEStrians are supposed to be) because people in cars endanger their lives and they need some space from the cars that could severely injure them?
i don't know. having lived in toronto for the past five years, i travel everywhere either by foot or public transit, and i have nearly been killed a half dozen times by cyclists (usually bike couriers, but not always...) who decide to glide through protected crosswalks, or "sidewalk slalom" in between people. i guess i side with the car drivers more, because, sure, everybody breaks the rules, but cyclists break the rules on sidewalks AND the streets, but i don't see many cars trying to drive up on the sidewalk or through pedestrian malls. one guy i worked with said "yeah, but getting hit by someone on a bike isn't that bad." compared to a car, no (both of which have happened to me). but he obviously hadn't been blind-sided by a 10-speed recently. OUCH!
(uh, oh... i can feel the flaming posts from cyclists going clickety-clack on the keyboards right now... duck and cover)
<strong>I'm with Rok. The day is fast approaching where some cyclist, probably a messenger or a delivery guy is going to get tossed off his bike and have the living shit kicked out of him.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Or maybe I'll just run over him with my big gas guzzling, planet killing, SUV.
At the same time, I'm always worried about American drivers in Germany, not paying attention to bikers or pedestrians. It's not that their bad drivers, it's just that they're not used to it.
Different cultures, different dangers.
But then at this intersection an old guy and his wife pull up, wave me to go in front of them. I'm biking a mere foot away from their bumper, and at a mile an hour. When I'm directly in front of them the car slides forward to within 1 mm of my bike, it might have even touched it! I almost had a heart attack. And then the guy gave me a dirty look. I ALWAY let cars go first now!
Bottom line: we need more bike trails or better and safer ways for bikers to use roads. I hope more Americans start biking but I bet it will go in the opposite direction and we'll all be fat jerks in cars.
Of course a lot of this trouble is caused by the vast legions of cyclists that blow off stop signs. Which I yell at too when I've driving.