Cycling awareness 101 - give peace a chance

[phrench_phried]

More on this: http://laist.com/2008/07/07/road_rage_motorist_vs_cyclists_on_m.php

Disgruntled motorists,

I feel your pain.  Or, rather, I'm sure I have at some point in the past.  It's a question of perception.  Some of the problem is that Americans tend to view bicycles as toys.  As in, "Get your goddam toy out of the road!"  Even before I was a

Comments

[tonytraductor]

Well done.

My gosh...reading that article was sickening.
I hope to hear of the outcome for this "Doctor".
I can't imagine how anyone could possibly try to justify such behavior.

I don't currently own a bicycle, but I rode a lot when I was younger, and was even the only freshman to make the Purdue cycling club team in 1987.
I've been thinking of purchasing a bicycle again.
One for me, one for my daughter.
But with people like this on the road...

Of course, my daughter and I currently terrorize the city together on wheels, already, I on my inline aggressive skates, she on her scooter.

[garden_faerie]

I''m really not upset about bikers. REALLY. I think there are better routes to take rather than the 193 canyon. (think really tight corners that you can't see around until you are already around them with steep shale on one side with frequent rock falls and steep drop down the other side, no curb) This isn't something you speed on. However, it's not something that you want to take too much time on depending which way you are going, up or down. If you are too slow on the up you run the chance of overheating. Thus the road rage that comes with slow vehicles that will not pull aside

[phrench_phried]

I don't think I've ever been up there. The only thing I can say is that cyclists will probably pick that route for one or several of three reasons: First, it's pretty. Second and more important, it's physically challenging (the turns are a challenge on the downhills too). And three, it's infrequently traveled by automobiles. Cycling around cars is dicey, so it's better if they're are fewer of them.

In fairness though, it's probably not the kind of route I'd choose unless there really are very few cars through there. Do you think it's very popular with cyclists? More than other Sierra routes?

[garden_faerie]

It's not a daily or weekly route, it's more a holiday route.

I had one other comment about the "share the road" thing. The road is there because of the taxes motorists pay for license and registration and (*cringe*)petrol. Cyclists aren't required to pay anything but they do get to use the road.

[phrench_phried]

I'm pretty sure that most of the cyclists have registered automobiles that they drive fairly regularly; they've paid their share. Even if they don't, property taxes, federal income taxes, and others all contribute to the roads (maybe to the tune of about 5% on non-federal highways). Considering that cyclists don't consume petrol nor cause wear-and-tear to the asphalt, they've easily paid their way in other ways. Keep in mind though that your registration and fuel taxes (especially sales tax) go to fund a whole slew of things, a lot of which you probably don't even take advantage of like public transportation.

[sroit]

I'd read about this earlier. (Head shake) Such manners.

My only problem with bicyclists is the ones in town that go through red lights and weave past cars to get to red lights so they can pass the cars...etc. I was always taught that if you are on the road, you obey the *same laws.* (Bicycle safety course, when I was a sprout.)

And so, while I usually don't wish them any harm, and they do have nice legs, those that insist on cheating that way--I often say (to self) that it would serve them right to get hit. Ehem.

[phrench_phried]

You're probably right. There are guys on the bikepirates group who admit to what I would call seriously reckless behaviour and "mixing it" with traffic. I say, "live by the sword die by the sword". Those guys are asking for it and they know it so they don't get that much sympathy from me. The guys I worry about are the ones who are obeying the laws and still get run over and yelled at.

Come to think of it, you're living in the U.S. urban cycling capital aren't you? I've never been there, but I heard that Seattle leads the nation for number of cyclists, cycling advocacy, etc. Yay!

[sroit]

There's a lot of them about around here, yup.