I’m driving home from work today and there is some widget-head, some dingle-ball, some half-baked cretin, bicyling in the center of the right hand lane. Traffic was backed up behind him, swerving to the left lane to avoid him, and this bufoon, this self-centered little twit in his fashionable spandex tights and matching colored helmut, keeps peddling down the road as if nothing was happening. I would have paid American Dollars to see him get creamed, and additional dollars to see him get run over, yet again.
Notice there’s no shoulder and the road is quite narrow as it nears the bridge. A bike trying to keep right will be at risk of being hit as the road is too narrow for a car and bike. He is allowed to take the lane as needed for his safety.
What’s your rush? Can’t spare a few seconds in your mad rush to get somewhere else?
Use the other lane.
The name of the road is Oregon Expressway, located in Palo Alto Ca. It is a heavily used expressway, traveled by cars and trucks. The Google map image referred to in the post, looks as if it were taken on an early Sunday morning. At rush hour, on a week day, it is very congested. If you look closely, there are nearby on and off ramps which are heavily congested during rush hour during the week days. Average speed is 40 MPH. Also, the bicyclist was in the center right hand lane and wasn’t yielding. Get it?
I grew up in Palo Alto and drove there as part of my job for many years. I am very familiar with the area. Congested traffic means no one was moving very fast anyway. Certainly, not much faster than a bike.
I am under the impression you haven’t been around for awhile. People here now drive according to the laws of the country of their national origin :rolleyes:
It’s your life 
Didn’t read all intervening posts, but my take on bad bicyclists is that they had their licenses taken away because of DUI’s.
Bad drivers become bad cyclists. Type of vehicle is irrelevant. I’ve seen bad baby carriage drivers.
Yeup. I’m driving down the street and this Darwin Award candidate is pushing a baby stroller with a baby on board in front of her. She’s got ear buds in and is looking down at her cell phone while texting. Pushes the stroller right into the crosswalk without looking and leisurely strolls to the other side of the street. Cars in both lanes come to a screeching halt. The pinhead doesn’t even look up. This is why I am installing one of these in my car next week. This and to tape bicyclists frantically waving the
California Vehicle Code V C Section 21202 at motorists as they take their last bike ride down the center lane of an expressway. Seems they assume that all drivers adhere to the same principles as they do. Was planning to get a Dahon folding bike to zoom around town on. After some close observing for a few weeks I figured the ride wasn’t worth the potential fare. :eek:
It’s funny how worked up people get about something being illegal. So is jaywalking. Whatever. Given the lack of maneuverability of a bicycle at low speeds, I’d rather they keep moving when it’s safe to do so. It also gets me (in my car) where I’m going faster when I don’t have to wait for them to stop and go. That’s why it’s legal in some places for bicycles to slow and yield instead of stopping.
Despite the name, Oregon Expressway is nothing more than a surface street with stop lights and a speed limit of 35 mph. There are only two lanes so a cyclist can’t be in the center lane. There is also a bike lane for most of it’s length, just not the section you were bitching about.
I’m more impressed with how worked up people get over legal behavior! Little_Pig is in here openly wishing death on someone behaving safely and legally.
Bicycles are usually prohibited on expressways. Is that not the case here?
It’s not a true expressway, it’s a 2 lane surface street with a posted limit of 35 mph.
Sadly, it is fairly typical among drivers to have this attitude towards things that slow them down that are not other cars. Psychotic wishes for death to cyclists is fairly typical in some circles.
Notice how he also blames a woman for pushing a pram into a crosswalk…my California law may be a little weak and certainly she should have been paying more attention but aren’t cars supposed to yield to pedestrians in crosswalks?
I would love to see cyclists around here obeying traffic laws as they are required to do. They are supposed to be following EXACTLY the same laws as auto drivers. But literally 90% of the time, they sail through stop signs, ignore traffic lights, cut across lanes without signalling, go over the 20-25 mph speed limit on residential streets, and so on and on and on. I am doing everything I can to pay attention to every scrap of traffic on the road, including bicycles, pedestrians, kids running out into the street, people standing around in the MIDDLE of the street, and just about everything else you can think of. I can’t speak for anywhere else-- but cyclists just do not pay attention to these things in the Pacific NW. And they routinely hit pedestrians on streets and sidewalks (my sister was almost knocked over in front of a New Seasons last month.)
All I’m saying that they should do is to FOLLOW THE LAW. There should not be anything controversial about this. It isn’t an outrageous request. I have never, literally NEVER, seen a cyclist get a ticket for ignoring traffic law-- which should be happening BY LAW-- that category is printed on every traffic ticket. I don’t see how anyone can argue against this.
Regarding, “speed limit of 35 mph.”.
- Close observation (ya know, facts) has revealed that this is a theoretical limit. I drive every day from El Camino to the 101. I also do the reverse in the morning. Have you seen the new curbs?
"There are only two lanes so a cyclist can’t be in the center lane. "
- You’re right! There are two lanes … each of which has a center.
“There is also a bike lane for most of it’s length, just not the section you were bitching about.”
- Now you’re getting it. And bitching has nothing to do with it.
Pax
I’m not wishing death on anyone but I sure expected to see it on that day. Look, when I was a kid I would ride my bike everywhere but there were certain streets I avoided because traffic was just bat-shit crazy. You can have the green light, you can have the right of way but within minutes someone can be pulling you and your bike out of a wheel well. If its anything like seeing truckers pulling dear antlers, heads and hooves out of theirs, I don’t want to be there.
I hate this.
Yes, and they do, or rather did, very abruptly I may add. There was a child involved. Guess you had to be there.
Agreed. New law in California requires drivers to give cyclists 3 feet of space while passing on the left or else face a fine. If I can give more than 3 feet, I do so.