What’s your view? Bike riders, are they cockroaches on two wheels holding up honest people on their way to work? Or are they legitimate road users?
Presently in Australia, a law is being proposed down here that all vehicles must leave a minimum 1 meter of space between a vehicle and bike riders when passing, assuming the bike rider is legally obeying the road rules at the time.
Comments by motorists in the various national Australian newspapers indicate some very hostile attitudes exist towards cyclists. In Australia at least (but this could be different in other nations) the laws are clear, if there is a bike lane, cyclists are obliged to ride in it, without exception. Equally true however, if there is NOT a designated bike lane, you are entitled to use a road lane, like all other road users, and you are legally entitled to do so two abreast. Courtesy and common sense never go astray of course. Indeed, you are entitled to ride no more than two abreast in every state in Australia, with the conditions stated above.
There are indications a high percentage of motorists are of the belief that roads are not designed for cyclists, and that single file is enforced by the law. By extension, hostility is rampant.
Should bike riders have to pay for registration before using the roads? Should bike riders have to have driver’s licences to ride a bike on the roads? Would it really make a difference, at the end of the day?
I did not even have a car until I was 26 years old; I rode a bike. Even after I owned a car, I would ride a bike whenever possible, commuting more than 26 miles each way to work and back. And then when I moved to Las Vegas, I gave up my car and rode a bike exclusively for more than 20 months.
In my experience, the vast majority of drivers are fairly courteous but very sloppy and careless. A significant minority (perhaps 1 in 10) were outright hostile and deliberately dangerous.
In my experience as a driver most bicyclists are at least courteous and try not to get in the way.
At least 1 in 10 ignore traffic rules almost completely, and I can’t remember the last time I saw a bike stop at a stop sign even though there was a car that had the right of way through the intersection. They seem to think they get a pass on all right of way laws.
Don’t even get me started on those messenger bike assholes who have no issue what so ever with knocking down pedestrians in a crowded downtown area. It’s a minority who act like this but they create such havoc I hate them almost as much as the coach bus drivers and taxis who think red lights are optional.
I think a lot of the unsafe behaviors associated with bicyclists can be attributed to the fact that roads aren’t made to accommodate them. Yesterday a bicyclist was just a second away from getting swiped by my car door. Now, that would have been my fault because I should have looked in the sideview mirror first. But if the street had been made just a tad wider, maybe he wouldn’t have had to worry about swinging car doors taking him out and I wouldn’t have to see another guy’s life flash before my eyes just because of an innocent mistake.
I don’t know if it’s realistic to widen every street, though.
I would like to see more driver education around sharing the road and road rules / bike rules. And I would also like to see some sort of registration or licencing so that dangerous and unlawful behaviour could actually be cracked down on by police patrols when it becomes an issue. And it is an issue in some places. I’m just not sure how to do that so it applies to those who commute, or otherwise are serious road users and not to kids riding their pushies up the road to their friends house.
Other than that, I’m a firm believer that the road is there to share and it’s a good thing to encourage bike use. As always, there’s a small minority that behave badly and that get a lot of the attention, while the majority are just doing their thing and being mostly law abiding. Same as for any other group that gets vilified on the road (4WDs, volvos, motorbikes, pedestrians, etc).
Stockholm is very friendly towards cyclists but I have had my fair share of near incidents with cars (including one this morning where I was legally using a crossing and was just ignored by a driver, causing me to emergency stop and be missed by a couple of inches), but the only time I have ever been forced off my bike was by another cyclist.
I have been shouted at for the crime of cycling in a bike lane, ignored by buses and whatnot, but I also see many, many cyclists cycle dangerously, ignoring the rules of the road. They make life difficult for the other cyclists and they annoy the tits off of me.
I think a lot of car drivers simply do not appreciate that for a cyclist, momentum is something that is hard won and not given up lightly.
The other thing about motorists is simply lack of realism - they have a certain speed and a cyclist is in the way, the motorist will take insane risks with the life of the cyclist simply to maintain their current speed. There seems to be a lack of appreciation that to slow down or stop for a few seconds isn’t going to significantly affect their journey time.
When a motorist comes upon any obstruction, they have several choices, slow down, stop, go wide, or squeeze past with no change of pace and its the latter they invariably select.
When you are held up because a cyclist in the way, there seems to be something in the mind of many motorists that causes them to react in a way they would not do if the obstruction was something such as a slow road maintenance machine. The right course of action for both might well be to slow down, but the motorist will only do that for the large lump of moving metal, but not for the cyclist. Why is that?
I mean, if something is in the way, then it’s in the way, and you should drive accordingly, it doesn’t matter what is causing the obstruction.
There’s some middle ground here. Are cyclist a pain in the ass? Yes, they can be. You tell me they’re not a pain in the ass when you’re stuck behind twenty of them while driving up a winding mountain road in Colorado at about ten miles per hour and you’ve got no way to safely pass them. Do cyclist have a right to use the roads? Of course they do.
The main reasons cyclist are a pain in the ass is because American roads aren’t designed to accommodate them. I rarely see a cyclist doing anything that is outrageously unsafe. For example, I’ve never seen a cyclist on his cell phone meandering through traffic barely aware of his surroundings. When I see them on the streets of Little Rock they usually stop when they’re supposed to and obey other traffic signs and signals.
Isn’t there some law requiring them not to block traffic? I mean if they rode single file or even in 2 rows that would reduce the problem significantly.
I’m in NYC and routinely see food delivery guys on phones and with phones tucked between shoulder and ear. I think they must go through a lot of phones. I also see bike-riding and texting but mostly by younger guys. Most people just pull over and deal with their phone stuff.
Why should drivers have to appreciate this? Any momentum problems inherent in cycling are the problem of the cyclist, not everyone else who chooses a mode of transport that does not have this problem.
I think there’s also a bit of recognition that, aside from stalwarts like Snowboarder Bo, most cyclists are on the street for recreation/exercise purposes. The guy driving the front end loader isn’t out for spin to get a little fresh air, he’s going to a job.
Not that cyclists don’t have a right to recreation, but if I’m going to be annoyed, it’s more likely to be directed at the person who’s in my way for recreation purposes, than the person who’s trying to get to his next job.
“Adequate”. And that poster lives in The Netherlands, where bike lanes are everywhere and commuting by bike is extremely common.
I do a lot of cycling, and I live in a pretty bike-friendly area of the US. But still, bike lanes are often where all the broken glass ends up, and if you allow parking in a bike lane, you open up the possibility of a “door prize”, as we like to call the sudden opening of a car door as you approach.
In the US, some cyclists can be obnoxious morons, but there are so many more cars, and so many of the cars are behemoths driven by clueless people talking on their cell phones, that I think it’s no contest-- cyclists win over drivers, hands down in terms of who are the victims!
It depends greatly on where you are. I live in NYC and my bike is my main means of transport. Personally I am NEVER riding recreationally. And the streets are so narrow here that sometimes I am the one being held up by slow-moving cars! Oh, the irony.
Try driving around Palo Alto when school is in session-- the streets are flooded with kids (and their parents) riding to school in the AM, and returning home in the afternoon.
Cycling on the road is fine in the right situation. If there’s enough space, like bike lanes or paths or whatever, it’s ok. But bikes have to follow the rules of the road, and a lot of places have minimum speeds.
I get mad at bike riders when I get stuck behind someone on a bike doing 2mph on a crowded 1 lane road during rush hour. In cases like that bike riding might be legal, but sure as hell isn’t appropriate. I’m all for building better bike lanes, but right now there’s a lot of roads that bikes just don’t belong on.