That motor cycle
was riding between
the backed up traffic
right between the lanes
You know to me
that’s an act of war
I saw him coming
I opened my door
I knocked him over
I pulled out my pistol
and blew him away
I try to observe traffic laws. However, I have been known to run red lights. Particularly in the early morning when there’s precious little traffic to trip the pad.
Basically, assholes are assholes. Some of them (alack, alas &c.) are bicyclists. But far more of them, at least around here, are drivers. And in addition to the assholes, there are the oblivious. Fortunately for me and mine, bicyclists are seldom oblivious because if they were, then they wouldn’t be around any more. But I’ve seen bicyclists almost get turned into grease spots due to drivers who are paying no attention whatsoever.
Speaking of oblivious bikers, I was running one morning, and a bit ahead, there was this biker riding along on the biking path I mentioned. It’s actually a biking/running path. Anyway, a runner was running in the left lane, heard the biker coming, and moved to the right lane to avoid him. The biker, not paying attention AT ALL, sticks out an arm to signal he’s turning right, clotheslines this poor woman in the back of the head, gets annoyed with her for being in the lane, then takes off as quickly as possible.
You mean there’s a place where it’s legal to do something this stupid!!!??? Holy blistering fuck, that’s messed up. See, I was always of the opinion that them painted lines on the road were kinda there for a reason. You know, “you can pass here”, “you can’t pass here”, “this is how many vehicles fit across”, “hey, isn’t that the shoulder?” sorta thing.
I honestly can’t think of any good reason to cut up traffic like that. I’ve been a motorcyclist, and I know that people don’t see us well enough. Now I’m going to add a mysterious extra-special-don’t-look-for-me-HEREIAM!-motorcycle-lane? Nope. One unsignalled (it could be a word!) lane change and I’m toast. Me, I rode a motorcycle cause I liked it, not to get somewhere faster than everyone else. If I need to get somewhere faster, I’ll leave earlier.
You know, I’d make fun of the inherent idiocy of this statement, but I really should have some respect for the recently (or soon to be) deceased.
I’m an avid cyclist, but I’ve pretty much given up on it. I get yelled at about ever other time I go out. I’ve been spat at, honked at and screamed at. This usually happens when I’m just going down the shoulders of straight roads. Some people resent sharing the road while others just think they’re funny. I’m just sick of it. Do I go through stop signs? At busy 4-ways I try to cross alongside a car that is going the same direction as me, so sometimes I do. That is the only sensible way to get across without being T-boned by a car. No one seems to see bicycles and few people are willing to give a lousy bike a turn. To assume they will is to take your life into your own hands. I cannot count the number of times cars have pulled out right in front of me without seeing me slamming on my brakes to avoid hitting them. My cousin hit a car that did this to him and he flew over it entirely. Bike lanes are rare and when they exist they are often choked with walkers who ignore the markings on the path.
So I’ve pretty much quit. I run now. It allows me to use the sidewalk and put a few extra feet between myself and the cars.
Exactly. I don’t drive, but bike riders here seem to think the sidewalk belongs to them. They go full tilt, expecting walkers to jump out of the way. They slide past you, with a full quarter inch or so of space to spare, from behind, and then flash a dirty look at you for daring to be in their way. Back when I rode motorcycles, I hated stupid car drivers.
Wow. As much of a bastard as I can be (and I can be quite the bastard), this schmuck takes the cake. Sheesh.
First of all, apologies for missing the fact that the OP was on a bicycle. My bad.
Second of all, I’m not saying that cruising at 100 mph between people traveling at highway speed is legal and it sure as hell isn’t “safe”. Obviously when operating heavy machinery, judgement is key.
And third, if I’m not mistaken, in my area this is only legal if traffic is averaging 10 mph or less. That’s the way I learned it anyway. So I feel safe doing this in the right situation. If I’m riding somewhere where this is not legal, I’m going to be a hell of a lot more careful about it because then people REALLY aren’t expecting it. thus my statement “Obviously if it’s illegal in your area you have to re-evaluate the wisdom and safety of doing this type of thing.” I probably don’t have to point out that anyone operating a two-wheeled vehicle basically has to assume that all cars don’t see them and WON’T. (BTW, there are plenty of people in the bay area who ride to take advantage of the parking and to speed up their commute.)
And last, Dante, are you threatening me? You gonna run me over or something? You’d have to buy me a motorcycle first, then catch me. 
OK, as a year-round bike-rider I was surprised, for the most part, that I didn’t have much to say about this thread.
EXCEPT
For those who whine about cyclists ‘not obeying the rules’, I would point out that you have a tendency to notice the light-jumpers and ignore those of us who obey the laws.
I stop at all lights and stop signs. I do not go until, with very rare exceptions, I have the right of way. IN the case of stop signs, this means I actually obey them better than most drivers around here (to them the stop sign must just say “Awww, just slow down a bit”)
My reason for this is twofold: Its the law, and furthermore it doesn’t gain you anything. I’ve followed light-blowing cyclists and have found that unless they are suicidal in crossing red lights, they rarely gain much on me, 1/2 a block at most. That’s a serious risk for little gain.
There are times when I run a red light, but only after stopping and checking for a clear paths, they are:
- Its late at night and the neighborhood is not a good one.
- It is very cold and a prolonged stop is not healthy.
- Trouble with driving sociopaths.
- The intersection has approach problems for drivers.
I’m sorry that you feel that al bicyclists are law-breakers, and there’s nothing I can say that will change your feelings on the matter. But there are law abiding cyclists on the road. more than you might notice, certainly more than you realise.
I will say that it is disrespect for driving laws is not unique to bicyclists. Have you never speeded? Sure, you can rationalize it a lot, and I can even sympathize a bit, but it is still the law. And please do not say that cars respect red lights, NYC is making millions after installing cameras to cathc red light runners. My home town has delayed greens since people kept driving through the red. I’ve been hit by a red-light runner, honked at for not jumping the light so they could turn on red. As pedestrian, I’ve seen right-on-red turners treat pedestrians like turds for running over.
There’s plenty of stupidity from all fronts.
I have a hate-tolerate relationship with bike lanes. ON the one hand they do designate that cyclists at least belong there, and i can usually travel fast since the existance of a bike lane line keeps drivers from being all over the lane in hopes that it will magicly be able to fir two rows of cars (not that some cars don’t try and drive inthe bike lane as well).
But the fact is: Most bike lanes are poorly designed. They also encourage a ‘get back in the ghetto’ mentality from drivers who think that bikes must stay in the bike lane at all times. I’ve had people honk at me and yell to get back in the bike lane becuase I was waiting at a light to make a left turn.
Where I’m at, people like you are the exception. It seems that everyone here is training for a race, except the leisurely families riding slowly down the street in a big cluster.
I ride my bike on the streets, so I am sympathetic. I can’t say I ride exactly as I would in a car; that is, I occasionally only slow down at a stop sign if there are no cars around. I always walk my bike across a lighted intersection only when it’s green if there is just 1 car around. It’s just the respectful thing to do.
But I might go through a red light if no one is around. The point is, when I ignore the rules, I’m affecting no one but myself. If a cop is to catch me, they better be pretty stealthy and not in a car…
That said, some of the cyclists in here make me VERY mad…and I’m a pretty calm person. I mean to the point of wanting to stop them and lecture them about stopping at a stop sign when there are cars around. I honestly can’t think of a single instance where I was stopped at a stop sign, getting ready to go, and a bicyclist (or several) come whipping through the intersection, ignoring a stop sign. Not ONE SINGLE CASE.
So, as it has been said, assholes come in all modes of transportation and bicyclists are no exception.
I ride my bike on a 20 mile round trip to work and back every day that the weather allows. I obey traffic laws as well or better than the cars. Do I roll through a stop sign occassionally? Sure, but I certainly don’t blow through them at full speed. In fact, I often get passed while at stop signs by cars that are “stopped” before they proceed.
I don’t run red lights, with one exception. If I’m at a light with no cars, and it is a light with a weight sensor instead of being timed, I am forced to go through it unless I want to wait indefinitely for a car to trip the sensor. I can’t remember the last time this happened, though, because I usually am riding in rush hour.
Riding on the sidewalk is illegal here. There is a MUT (multi-use trail) which most people refer to as a bike path, but I won’t ride on it. It is less safe than the street, with an abundance of obstacles like dog-walkers, baby strollers, runners, skaters, tree limbs, etc.
Bike lanes are bad, and I’m glad we don’t have them here. They’re essentially a backdoor towards taking away cyclists’ rights to ride on the road. They’re often loaded with debris that has been pushed to the side of the road by the car traffic, particularly broken glass, and they are rarely maintained well.
I ride to the side of the road, but only when it is safe and I will always leave myself enough room to manuever. I wouldn’t expect a car to drive all the way to the side if it meant driving over something that would cause the car to crash, so it’s ridiculous for anyone to insist that a cyclist should always stay to the side.
At red lights in particular, I pull into the middle of the lane when I stop. I’m taking my spot to get across the intersection, because most cars will squeeze way too close when I’m starting up at the green light, expecting me to just get out of the way. Once I’m through the intersection (which only takes a couple of seconds longer than a car), I move over.
Most of the drivers on the route I take are used to seeing cyclists and take care, but there are assholes and people who don’t pay attention. The same goes for the cyclists. The speed limit for my whole route is 25mph, yet the vast majority of cars absolutely fly by me. Even when I’m speeding (yes, it’s not hard to get above 25mph on even a slight downhill), cars pass and some people even act pissed and yell at me to get off the road or honk.
I’m always amused by people who yell at me to get off the road. If you have any driving skill at all, you’ll be able to pass me with no trouble and within 5-10 seconds at most unless it’s going around a blind turn. People should realize that I am saving them time by being on my bike. The notion that adding another car to the traffic is better than adding a bike is absurd.
All said, I have no problems with most drivers and most drivers have no problem with me. I don’t like it when people are obnoxious and self-centered in traffic, no matter what they are driving or riding.
Just the other day, I was stopped at a traffic light behind three cars. I was in the middle of the lane, as usual, and a biker road by my right passing the cars as the light turned green. Of course, the first car turned right and the biker nearly t-boned him at about 15mph because he was passing on the right. If I’m passing a car, even stopped ones, I pass on the left. You never know when a car will pull to the right without looking or on purpose (as in the OP), but they will almost always check before pulling out to the left.
I’m glad you pass on the left. I try to give bicyclists a lot of room and watch out for them but it really bugs me when they pass on the right…it’s scary…I don’t want to be the person who hits them when it finally happens.
I’m always grimly amused by that, these same folks will shrug off having to sit in traffic for 15 minutes because everyone on the road has to slow down and look at the guy changing his tire. They’ll simply accept a light that holds them in place for several minutes while corporate campus #12 empties its parking lot. But if a bike that makes them tap their brake pedal before passing safely!? What? A delay for 10 seconds?! AAAAAH SCREAM OUT THE WINDOW! MAKE THE PASSNGER THROW THINGS!!! WE CANNOT HAVE THIS!!! GEEDOOODAARROAAAAAA!!!
Sorry, but maybe its my reading comprehension, but the first half of this paragraph doesn’t jibe with the second.
The only bicyclists I can’t stand are those who, for whatever reason, can’t discern the difference between the bike lane and the bike line. I don’t know if they’re trying to build nerves of steel or superb arm muscle control or what, but there are a couple of people in the neighborhood who insist on pedaling only on the painted line at the edge of the bike lane, hanging half their asses into traffic when they have a perfectly fine three-foot-wide area unused on their right side.
I will admit that the far right side of the road is not the greatest part of the street. That’s next to the curb - excess water, debris that rolls down the crown of the road, and streetsweeper leavings tend to build up there where the asphalt starts to erode. But there is more than three inches of viable space to ride on! When possible, use it!
This is that ‘ghetto-ization’ effect bike lanes have that I was mentioning.
And as a matter of fact, there often is a lot of crap in the bike lane. The bike lanes are also often neatly placed in the ‘dooring zone’, so riding the edge can avoid this.
Its funny how you refer to it as ‘perfectly fine’ in your first paragraph, then admit there are faults with the lane inthe next. So given that the cyclist is riding in a safe and predictable manner, lets leave that be, m’kay?
When I said “far right side” I meant “far right side,” to wit: the last couple of inches next to the curb when the lane is several feet wide. If your bike lanes are filling with garbage, I can’t fault you for avoiding it. This is not the situation in the local bike lanes, and it is not what I said in my post.
However, given that there may in fact be some areas where there exist a bike lanes that do not look like the downtown set of RoboCop, perhaps is is not “safe and predictable” to exclusively limit one’s wheelpath to a tiny strip of road that incidentally means that half of one’s mass is effectively in traffic when there is a safer alternative. And no, I’m not talking about sidewalks, I mean the rest of the lane.
So when someone asks whether cyclists annoy drivers and does in fact get responses that they can, and an example is given in which the cyclists are at fault, let’s leave some of the condecension out, m’kay?
So you’ve analised the lanes? You know them better than those who ride them? I don’t think so. Glancing over at a bike lane does not make you an expert on their features. I have yet to encounter a bike lane that doesn;t have some problem, be it a dooring zone, glass or other hazard that takes up at least half of the lane.
“Stay in the ghetto, its good for you.”
Safe and predictable means that you are not weaving back and forth to avoid various features. If the cyclist is moving predictably down the road, he is actually at far less risk that the one who has to maneuver within the bike lane (and as a result, come out of it.) Fact of the matter is: If you cannot safely pass a cyclist going in a straight, predictable manner, the fault is with your driving skills, not with the cyclist.
I will as soon as you drop the “we know what is best for you” routine.
Being a cyclist and a driver, there are things I hate about drivers when I ride and things I hate about cyclists when I drive.
Things that cyclists do that are insane:
-
A favorite of Stanford students; riding side by side. One of the stupidest goddamn things cyclists do. If you want to have a conversation, sit somewhere and get coffee or something. Or take a fucking car. Otherwise, ride single file so traffic can go past without having to swerve in the next lane.
-
Using crosswalks. If youre riding on the road, ~stay~ on the road at intersections. Dont be a car on the road and a pedestrian at intersections. You cant have it both ways. You are creating a climate of uncertainty for the cars around you…'is he going to stay riding on the sidewalk, or make a sharp turn to re-enter the roadway right in front of/next to me? '. If you are going to use crosswalks, ride on the goddamn sidewalk. If thats illegal where you are (besides being reserved for kids on bikes), then ride on the road.
-
Seems basic, but happans all the time; learn how to ride in a straight fucking line. Look at the far right edge of the road. Now look one foot to the left. See that little foot of roadway? Stay in it. If you cant, then go to a parking lot and practice before you ride on the road again. Its amazing how many assholes cant seem to ride without swerving in unpredictable ways within about a 4 foot arc. You and your bike arent 4 feet wide, you dont need 4 feet of space. Again, drivers see that as they approach and it creates a climate of uncertainty.
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Also seems basic, and is related to the above, but stay the fuck on the side of the road. With rare exceptions, dont ride in the middle of the fucking road only moving to the side when a car comes. I have a quiet car, and you might get someone like me behind you who will pull right behind you and blare the horn, hoping to see you go down so I can have a good laugh. People shouldnt have to honk (or wait for your Holyness to deign notice their existance) to be able to drive past you. The only exceptions to this are on twisty turny or similar roads, in which case its better youre in the middle so that you are more visible to traffic.
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When waiting in line in a left turn lane, make sure you can see the eyes of the driver in front of you in their rear view mirror. No, they may not be looking at you, but make sure they can see you if they want. Dont get in cars blind spots, roughly 4-5 o’clock and 7-8 o’clock. Yes, drivers need to look out for you, but you need to be sure they can see when they ARE looking out. And when you make the left turn, swing a wide arc so that cars behind you are not waiting for you through the turn; they can turn as you are turning.
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If you are uncomfortable riding your bike right next to a car, go practice in a parking lot. If you expect cars to be either in front of or behind you, but never next to you, you shouldnt be on the road. If you are uncomfortable with less than maybe 2 feet of space (being generous, i.e pretty selfish of the cyclist) between you and a car, and if they get that close you get nervous and are likely to swerve, you shouldnt be on the road. Myself, I dont start getting pissed unless the car is within around 8-10 inches, and thats because of fear of side mirrors. For trucks, its good idea to get in the habit of ducking your head/body when one is passing, to avoid getting racked by a side mirror (which should pass above you). And if you ~do~ get racked by a side mirror, take the hit it and pull over when you can, dont let it throw you off balance - ~stay riding in a straight line~. Most of the time its just a big bruise, but yeah it can be painful. Its a good idea to practice in a parking lot with a friend; have them ride next to you while they reach over and slap your left shoulderblade or slap your left handlebar; you need to be able to keep riding in a straight line. You can argue all you want that you ‘Shouldnt Have To’, but the reality is it happens and you can either be prepared, or not. You need to be able to control your bike (i.e stay in a predictable straight line) in all kinds of likely situations.
General suggestions:
This is very controversial, but if you ride primarily on the road with medium to large amounts of traffic, dont wear fucking foot/pedal clips. The idea is, when youre in hairy situations, to get the fuck off and away from your bike as fast as possible. If youre going to use them, practice in a parking lot; get it to where you can get your feet off and on the pedals in one fuck of a hurry.
Practice getting the fuck off your bike as fast as possible, preferably at high speed.
Practice falling. In a parking lot, get to high speed and slam on the front brakes. Get to know how your bikes balance goes when the rear tire is in the air. Practice the body movements you need to make when youre heading for the pavement head first.
Practice hitting ruts/potholes. The idea is, no matter how fast youre going (and in this case I think faster is better) you need to be able to hit that shit and still stay riding in a straight line, i.e you still need to be able to control your bike. I think faster is better, because usually you can lift yourself over it without hitting it. Start with a two by four in the parking lot. Approach it at high speed. Squeeze your legs together, and right before you hit it, lift up with your legs and arms at the same time and fly over it. When you land you should be on the same course, in the same straight line. The trick is often getting used to lifting with your legs and arms at the same time; one or the other too early or late and youre hitting it.
Dont try to save your bike. Its a hunk of fucking metal. You had the ability to generate enough income to buy one, you can do the same with another. If youre hauling ass and someone just ahead throws open their car door, bail off the sonof abitch; let the bike hit the door/person, theres no reason you need to be on it. There are all kinds of situations that can happen where the best thing is to just get the fuck off and save yourself; the bike is going to be pretty much fucked.