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Wit-nit, you have a point, just about every detail of our lives are regulated by the government, so perhaps it won't be long before all bicyclists are required to have a license so policemen can more effectively interfere with our freedom & joy.
When I was 11 years old a policeman was staked out at a stop sign after school and ticketed many of us bicycling kids at that T-intersection that day. We all had to spend a couple hours in a Saturday traffic school class.
Bicyclists breeze through reds (when the coast is assuredly clear!) not to be cavalier, but it's due to energy efficiency & conservation. We operate on full-body muscular exertion and thrive on momentum, and being required to suddenly stop robs a lot of built up energy, then requires a lot of energy to get going again. Please turn an understanding, forgiving eye and let us breeze through reds when the coast is assuredly, absolutely clear. I am a proponent of traffic circles by the way, at which cars & bicyclists alike are trusted with the common sense to proceed whenever the coast is clear. Much more efficient for all.
LOL! Another bicyclist excuse to run traffic lights and stop signs, what are you riding that bicycle for then if you, or they can't handle exertion? It would be like a motorist saying well I didn't stop because accelerating from a stop sign or traffic light would lower the miles per gallon of gas used. Always some excuse for a bicyclist to not share the rules of the road that they force motorists to share.
I am most assuredly a rule follower and don't ever go through a red light on a bicycle. Stop signs, especially the "don't sue me" type some like to spruce up grade-separated bike trails with, can be more problematic, at least for me, beyond the momentum theory of post #35 (momentum applies to cars as well).
On my good bike the seat has to be so high up to have my knees extend fully at the bottom of the crank, that a stop puts me on extreme tippy-toes. The bike fit guy says at a stop I'm supposed to move my butt forward off the seat to stand over the bar to put my feet flatter. Whether due to lack of balance or whatever, I just can't manage a maneuver like that and get back on the seat when the time comes to move ahead. I have to totally dismount and remount the bike leaning it sideways. I wind up standing on a curb, or holding a gate or bollard, when stopped. If there is no curb, gate, or bollard (especially problematic on a rural road with a falling away shoulder for drainage), it's major pain in the tippy toes.
I will use those hand signals from the book they handed me in high school drivers' ed too. I don't ever see another bicyclist doing that.
I am most assuredly a rule follower and don't ever go through a red light on a bicycle. Stop signs, especially the "don't sue me" type some like to spruce up grade-separated bike trails with, can be more problematic, at least for me, beyond the momentum theory of post #35 (momentum applies to cars as well).
On my good bike the seat has to be so high up to have my knees extend fully at the bottom of the crank, that a stop puts me on extreme tippy-toes. The bike fit guy says at a stop I'm supposed to move my butt forward off the seat to stand over the bar to put my feet flatter. Whether due to lack of balance or whatever, I just can't manage a maneuver like that and get back on the seat when the time comes to move ahead. I have to totally dismount and remount the bike leaning it sideways. I wind up standing on a curb, or holding a gate or bollard, when stopped. If there is no curb, gate, or bollard (especially problematic on a rural road with a falling away shoulder for drainage), it's major pain in the tippy toes.
Your bicycle is too big for you. You need a smaller bike. I have the same problem, up on my tippie-toes or leaning to one side every time I stop. I need a 13"-15" frame bike but the reason I ride a bike to begin with is conservation of $$$, not even in the market to buy a properly-sized bike.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ki0eh
I will use those hand signals from the book they handed me in high school drivers' ed too. I don't ever see another bicyclist doing that.
Arm signals are good. They don't have to be as complicated as bending the elbows or hand up or down either. Acceptable universal signals can include simply extending arm out in the direction you're turning. As for the "stop""signal, have never used it or seen anyone else use it, and I imagine few people would understand it if they saw it.
Oh gee, another "bicyclists are evil and deserve to be ran over and/or barred from the roads" posting.
As long as they're not being a real nuisance, bicyclists have the RIGHT to be on the roads. Get over it, or go hump yourself. As long as they're not being a menace to YOU, what business is it of yours? And what's with this nonsense of expecting a bicyclist to drive exactly like a car? That's like asking a fish to swim like a dinosaur. By that I am NOT advocating nuisance behavior, and I do recognize bicyclists are obligated to follow the rules much the same as cars, but to expect them to be just like cars with certain things is just silly. To wit:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Zelpha
Bicyclists breeze through reds (when the coast is assuredly clear!) not to be cavalier, but it's due to energy efficiency & conservation. We operate on full-body muscular exertion and thrive on momentum, and being required to suddenly stop robs a lot of built up energy, then requires a lot of energy to get going again. Please turn an understanding, forgiving eye and let us breeze through reds when the coast is assuredly, absolutely clear. I am a proponent of traffic circles by the way, at which cars & bicyclists alike are trusted with the common sense to proceed whenever the coast is clear. Much more efficient for all.
This. It's silly to ask a bicyclist to stop at a stop sign located, say, on "back" residential roads and when no one's coming, especially when many of those stop signs really aren't necessary. Especially when the road engineers who apparently got their degree from a box of Cracker Jacks think they have to have a stop sign every 4 feet practically rather than letting one side be able to GO for, maybe, 2 miles or so consecutively without being unnecessarily interrupted, having to stop and stop and stop is especially annoying in light of how cycling works. It's annoying enough dealing with that in a car, but to deal with that on a bicycle is something else again. It's pointless, too, if the coast is clear and no one's coming. It's harming no one to be able to just keep on going.
We're not talking about people blowing through a stop sign and on a heavy road and without even looking, we're talking about slowing down a little if need be, looking, and going only if no one is coming, and again, doing this on very secluded roads. When I bicycle--yes, on stop signs on busy roads and where I can't see if the coast is clear, I stop, and do likewise at stop lights as well thank you very much.
And let's give it up for "Don In Austin," who nails it as well.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Don in Austin
And I have had enough of drunk, senile or inattentive drivers killing cyclists who are obeying the law 100%. {snip} And I have had enough of jay-walking pedestrians playing chicken with cars who have a green light by stepping out in front of them..
But guess what...there are law-breakers in every group and always will be.
It is NOT that cyclists are less law-abiding than any other group, its just that they break different laws. Some place themselves at great risk, some do not. Most any motorist would argue 56 in a 55 mph zone is "no-harm, no-foul," but it is illegal. Rolling a stop sign after making sure the intersection is clear and safe is illegal, but that's not what's killing cyclists here in Austin. Can't think of a recent example of such, but I can think of too many examples of cyclists killed by drunks running right into them -- frequently compounded by hit and run afterwards. (sarcasm) "If motorists want to be provided with roads, they should obey the traffic laws."
You're so right about that. I could go on all day about the arrogance of pedestrians jumping out in front of a line of moving cars very last minute and then thinking everyone is just supposed to slam on their brakes. Right of way notwithstanding, that's selfish, it's basically saying "I'm more important than everyone else around me." To me, your'e no more important just because you're a pedestrian, those people in those cars are headed somewhere too. Maybe some pedestrians ought to, I don't know, WAIT a minute and let some of the cars just head on uninterrupted.
The one that gets me--when a trucker hits a cyclist and then the spouses and friends etc of truck drivers go off on their holier-than-thou rant of how "you like that phone in your hand? Thank a trucker, because without them you wouldn't have one." Oh, I see, so that makes it okay for a trucker to kill a cyclist? All of us should just get off the roads and let the truckers have it all to themselves because they obviously should have carte blanche to do whatever they want? You hear the same thing when some of us complain about certain truckers' behavior on "back" roads they have no business being on (often times there are signs saying they're not allowed there), even as we do acknowledge the hard work they do and that we all need to be on the lookout for each other.
Gee it's funny, if it weren't for farmers (I'm not one) none of us would be eating, but you don't see farmers, around here anyway, getting their tractors all in the way of everyone else or running over someone and then playing that "if it weren't for farmers you'd have no food to eat" card. The way I see it, ALL of us are important, ALL of us who work are serving an important role in society, and no one has any moral right in getting all superior over the perceived importance of their occupation vs another's. Otherwise, maybe doctors should be able to own the roads, or firefighters, and maybe we should look the other way when certain police officers cross the line or when a given solider commits a criminal act.
Oh gee, another "bicyclists are evil and deserve to be ran over and/or barred from the roads" posting.
As long as they're not being a real nuisance, bicyclists have the RIGHT to be on the roads. Get over it, or go hump yourself. As long as they're not being a menace to YOU, what business is it of yours? And what's with this nonsense of expecting a bicyclist to drive exactly like a car? That's like asking a fish to swim like a dinosaur. By that I am NOT advocating nuisance behavior, and I do recognize bicyclists are obligated to follow the rules much the same as cars, but to expect them to be just like cars with certain things is just silly. To wit:
This. It's silly to ask a bicyclist to stop at a stop sign located, say, on "back" residential roads and when no one's coming, especially when many of those stop signs really aren't necessary. Especially when the road engineers who apparently got their degree from a box of Cracker Jacks think they have to have a stop sign every 4 feet practically rather than letting one side be able to GO for, maybe, 2 miles or so consecutively without being unnecessarily interrupted, having to stop and stop and stop is especially annoying in light of how cycling works. It's annoying enough dealing with that in a car, but to deal with that on a bicycle is something else again. It's pointless, too, if the coast is clear and no one's coming. It's harming no one to be able to just keep on going.
We're not talking about people blowing through a stop sign and on a heavy road and without even looking, we're talking about slowing down a little if need be, looking, and going only if no one is coming, and again, doing this on very secluded roads. When I bicycle--yes, on stop signs on busy roads and where I can't see if the coast is clear, I stop, and do likewise at stop lights as well thank you very much.
And let's give it up for "Don In Austin," who nails it as well.
You're so right about that. I could go on all day about the arrogance of pedestrians jumping out in front of a line of moving cars very last minute and then thinking everyone is just supposed to slam on their brakes. Right of way notwithstanding, that's selfish, it's basically saying "I'm more important than everyone else around me." To me, your'e no more important just because you're a pedestrian, those people in those cars are headed somewhere too. Maybe some pedestrians ought to, I don't know, WAIT a minute and let some of the cars just head on uninterrupted.
The one that gets me--when a trucker hits a cyclist and then the spouses and friends etc of truck drivers go off on their holier-than-thou rant of how "you like that phone in your hand? Thank a trucker, because without them you wouldn't have one." Oh, I see, so that makes it okay for a trucker to kill a cyclist? All of us should just get off the roads and let the truckers have it all to themselves because they obviously should have carte blanche to do whatever they want? You hear the same thing when some of us complain about certain truckers' behavior on "back" roads they have no business being on (often times there are signs saying they're not allowed there), even as we do acknowledge the hard work they do and that we all need to be on the lookout for each other.
Gee it's funny, if it weren't for farmers (I'm not one) none of us would be eating, but you don't see farmers, around here anyway, getting their tractors all in the way of everyone else or running over someone and then playing that "if it weren't for farmers you'd have no food to eat" card. The way I see it, ALL of us are important, ALL of us who work are serving an important role in society, and no one has any moral right in getting all superior over the perceived importance of their occupation vs another's. Otherwise, maybe doctors should be able to own the roads, or firefighters, and maybe we should look the other way when certain police officers cross the line or when a given solider commits a criminal act.
You say bicyclists have a right to be on the road, but you get all bent out of shape when bicyclists are expected to drive like a car, maybe the reason for that is, because some fools consider them as a MOTOR VEHICLE.
As most of your post is loaded with hypocrisy, and contradictions, I won't bother to even address them all. You make excuses to not follow the road rules, yet you want motorists to share the road, and not question the actions of bicyclists.
You say bicyclists have a right to be on the road, but you get all bent out of shape when bicyclists are expected to drive like a car, maybe the reason for that is, because some fools consider them as a MOTOR VEHICLE.
As most of your post is loaded with hypocrisy, and contradictions, I won't bother to even address them all. You make excuses to not follow the road rules, yet you want motorists to share the road, and not question the actions of bicyclists.
The sense of entitlement is very much reflected in the way the overwhelming majority of cyclist operate their vehicles.
Many cyclists expect drivers to watch for them, not the other way around. They need to start paying attention to vehicles on the road if only for their self preservation.
And yes, there are of course bad distracted drivers out there. But they have a license and their vehicle is registered which means they are traceable and there are ramifications for most of their actions.
Cyclists are anonymous and can get away with most of what they do.
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Always some excuse for a bicyclist to not share the rules of the road that they force motorists to share.
