In my area, as I’m sure in most areas, the struggle between cyclists and motorists is very apparent. Include pedestrians, joggers, and other users of the road as well. (I won’t even get into the explosion of ebikes as of late). The relationship doesn’t seem to be getting better, despite the fact there is a growing number of both cars and cyclists on the road, with no sign of slowing down anytime in the future. I get a constant reminder of this disparity when I am around my in-laws (who know I’m a cyclist so all the venting happens at family gatherings, typically at me), and non-cyclist friends. “Why can’t they be more respectful? Why do they take up the whole road? Why do they blow through stop signs??!” Which are all legitimate frustrations. There are a LOT of inconsiderate cyclists out there. I see it as a driver. Of course, flip all of this when I’m around cyclists.
But not one party is right. There are good drivers and bad ones. Same in the cyclists world. So what to do? What I’ve constantly advocated was more education. Both of cyclists and motorists. I wouldn’t mind if cyclists had to be licensed or at least go through a mandatory course on a regular basis. Simple as watching a video online and printing a certificate. There are lots of cyclists who simply don’t know the rules. Same with motorists. Can we not include some better training when getting licensed? More than the “be sure to yield to cyclists when possible” in the dmv manual today. But that will be a long time coming. This battle will continue which means we have to be more thoughtful in our actions. Nonchalant attitude toward the rules will hurt more than help. We can’t have this tit for tat mentality of, well, if they can text and drive, I can ride wherever I want. If they can ride where they want, I can park in the bike lane. ...... Who wins here? Not us. Of COURSE I value life more than obeying the letter of law. But really, is breaking the law really unavoidable? Can one not walk the bike on the sidewalk whether there are pedestrians or not? People driving by still notice. Is it that hard to stop at stop signs? Throw up a hand signal when turning? Just do what you can to be a better ambassador. I’m a little surprised by having to defend this here. But at the same time, not really, as it’s a common conversation with a lot of other “cyclists“ I’ve run into. Ride safe everyone. On Saturday, February 1, 2020 at 7:19:44 AM UTC-7, Mark Roland wrote: > Regarding the legality of sidewalk riding, I used to be in the camp that > riding illegally on sidewalks gives bicyclists a bad name. And in fact, lots > of people who do ride on busy sidewalks can endanger pedestrians with excess > speed. Riding a bicycle doesn't turn jerks into considerate citizens. > > > > Over the years, though, I've changed my viewpoint. The main reason is > because, while in most places cyclists are supposedly considered "vehicles" > and supposedly have the same "rights and responsibilities" as other road > users, the real truth is that all of the laws, all of the infrastructure, all > of the traffic controls, were built almost exclusively for motor vehicles (or > to keep walkers from impeding motor vehicles), and we must make do as best we > can within a system that at best gives lip service to human-powered transit. > So I generally obey the rules. But I reserve the right to opt out when they > make no sense, or, more to the point, put me in danger if I follow the rule > rather than my instinct for survival. > > > In this day and age, sadly, using a bicycle as a means of transport for > things like shopping, going to school, social visits, errands, essentially > puts you in the role of a revolutionary dissident to begin with, so might as > well take a few prerogatives!;^) > > On Friday, January 31, 2020 at 8:18:16 PM UTC-5, Bicycle Belle Ding Ding! > wrote: -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/c8d97205-9fa8-4881-805e-139fa9a5004f%40googlegroups.com.
