Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Locally I see bikers ignoring traffic law including stop sign; lanes; even traffic direction; you name it. So I don't think its any thing but mutual.
That hasn't been my experience. I've started to try to pay attention to ALL bike riders, and in doing so I've noticed that the overwhelming majority of them are perfectly decent, and are doing everything they can to ride safely and legally.
But then there's that one who goes out of his way to be an absolute dick. Unfortunately, he's the ONLY one that gets remembered.
I heard in Europe you're more respected as a cyclist. I ride in San Francisco and it's not too bad if you're in the right parts.
That's because in SF the problem isn't motorists but cyclists. All you have to do is hit up Mission, Valencia or anywhere downtown and watch idiot after idiot rolling through red lights, hogging entire lanes and any number of other stupid things all without a helmet.
That hasn't been my experience. I've started to try to pay attention to ALL bike riders, and in doing so I've noticed that the overwhelming majority of them are perfectly decent, and are doing everything they can to ride safely and legally.
But then there's that one who goes out of his way to be an absolute dick. Unfortunately, he's the ONLY one that gets remembered.
My experience is the opposite. I will wait in a queue of cars at a stoplight while four or five cyclists pass right by all of us in the gutter.
Maybe if the cult of cycling and its members bothered to respect any traffic laws, something positive might result. Instead, you get people blowing off traffic controls, salmoning (hello, Charles Darwin?) and generally being outright ass holes. I should set up a camera pointing at the corner intersection near my house. I live about a half a mile from a huge university, and EVERY cyclist blows off the stop signs. Every. Last. One. And, to make it even more entertaining, on some days there are multiple road rage incidents after a car stops like they should, then starts going, and "fails to yield the implied birthright of cyclists to do whatever the **** they want" as the rider completely blows off the stop sign and almost collides. I'm surprised that there haven't been any fatalities, either from collisions or the aftermath of a disagreement.
What's really sad about the above statement, is that I *am* a cyclist--road and off road--and apparently I'm one of the few of us who still have some common sense and don't treat the rest of the world like we're a protected group.
I've been bike-commuting for about ten years. I have saved a ton of money on gas, parking, and car maintenance. I get regular exercise and it's better for the environment. I can see the argument from both sides.
I think one of the reasons there is such a battle between cyclists and drivers is the physics of it. You have objects of totally incompatible sizes being required by law to share the same space. Unfortunately, the law is completely oblivious to this fact. The law does not consider that a car weighs 20 times what a bicycle does and moves five times faster. Force equals mass times acceleration. Car wins every time.
So if we're serious about bike-commuting, then we need to get serious about revamping the laws and providing lanes for cyclists. It is my opinion that bikes do not belong in the same lanes and roadways as cars. Drivers don't want us there, and I don't want to be there.
I'm guilty of salmoning (a stupid word if there ever was one) on certain roads, mainly if the road does not provide a bike lane on the correct side. The reason is because all it takes is one clown on his cell phone, and I won't see it, and I'm dead. If I'm looking at oncoming traffic, at least I have a small chance of taking evasive maneuvers. If I'm required to ride in the gutter on a busy street to ensure I'm riding with traffic, then I'm tempting fate. It's dangerous. It's not a comfortable thing to do.
That's because in SF the problem isn't motorists but cyclists. All you have to do is hit up Mission, Valencia or anywhere downtown and watch idiot after idiot rolling through red lights, hogging entire lanes and any number of other stupid things all without a helmet.
Exactly right....they are a public menace and that's putting it much more politely than I'd like.
I think part of the problem is that the bicycle is the one form of transportation (besides horses) that we can ride as children, and some bike riders never get over the idea that because you're on a bicycle, you're a child to be protected and catered to, and they behave accordingly. In other words, their mother taught them they are the center of the universe, AND they never grew up (why would they?). This segment of the biking world then gives a bad name to all of the very responsible bikers out there, because they are more visible.
When I was growing up and learning to ride a bike way back in the Dark Ages, I was carefully taught that the legal and safe thing to do was to ride facing the traffic, NOT with it, and why that was safer was likewise carefully explained to me. We'd all be better off if that were still the case so that bikers could see the dangers more clearly and thus be more likely to be able to avoid them. Likewise, drivers would be looking bikers in the face, which tends to humanize them and make the driver more likely to actually SEE them.
Of course, we'd all also be better off if bicyclists, just like motorists and motorcyclists, were required to pass a test and get a license in order to ride on the public roadways. And for those of you who are going to cry "but I already HAVE a driver's license and know the rules of the road and shouldn't be required to get a license", if you get a motorcycle and already have a driver's license, you have to pass a test for the separate motorcycle license. Same thing.
I am a Driver as well as a Bike Rider . . . there's definitely room for improvement on both sides.
Many drivers are completely oblivious and disrespectful to the bike riders, however, many bike riders are extremely arrogant and unnecessarily "challenging" towards the drivers.
Both attitudes are uncalled for.
Yeah, the specific video seemed like a mix of some people in cars being total a-holes, some obeying the sprit of the law at least but just hitting the line but not really blocking and the bike guy being unecesarily whiny and the guy on the bike breaking rules. So, it does seem like there is plenty of blame to go around.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
