There is no "tit for tat" here, the playing field is completely lopsided. Even if every cyclist rode like a jerk, we are talking about a human being on a 30-pound bicycle vs. one in a 3,000 pound car. They can do stupid stuff and get killed for it, but generally, morally, they must be given the right of way whenever possible, even when doing annoying stuff. (But a lot of that "annoying stuff" is survival stuff--and often legal. Such as riding to stay out of debris on the right hand side of the road, riding so that a car does not attempt to pass on a blind curve, moving to the left of the lane to execute a left-hand turn, etc.)
Ninety percent of the complaints from motorists, when you really look at, come down to, My way was impeded for a few seconds. My way is the right and true way, so I should not be impeded for a few seconds by people who don't belong on the roads. Roads are for driving your car and texting your friends and watching funny videos. Not for bicycles. One summer evening I was coming home from work. I had just gotten off the path over the Newburgh Beacon bridge and was heading down 9D toward town. There was the typical huge backup of traffic going the other way, as a commuter train had pulled in, and many of the people parked at the Beacon station live across the river in Orange County. With no traffic behind me, I took a bit of the lane to avoid the sewer grates. A guy in a pickup truck, stuck on the other side, yelled out "Get the f*&! out of the road. Use the f*&@! sidewalk, a##ho&* He was on the other side of the road, going in the opposite direction. The idea of me being on the road incensed his delicate sensibilities of right and wrong. Many motorists harbor this feeling to some degree. On Saturday, February 1, 2020 at 1:18:07 PM UTC-5, PaulS wrote: > > “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 [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/f4fd0bbe-f8da-4a82-82c4-88787a6b931b%40googlegroups.com.
