# Okay, everyone that gets their panties all in a twist over cyclists, in here! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 19, 2005, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-everyone-that-gets-their-panties-all-in-a-twist-over-cyclists-in-here/313110 "2005-07-19T06:49:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2005, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-everyone-that-gets-their-panties-all-in-a-twist-over-cyclists-in-here/313110/121 "2005-07-25T08:25:37Z")
> [@Mr. Miskatonic](#): > > So where is the limit? One car? Three cars? Six cars? Ooh, I dunno. I guess we might have to assume the cyclist can exercise, maybe, a spot of judgment and discretion according to the situ, and not codify some set of rules in advance to cover every possibility? You’re cool with holding up one car? Fifty cars? Two miles of traffic? Let’s negotiate. > [@Mr. Miskatonic](#): > > You have a funny defintion of “less inconvenience” that does not jibe with my experience or that of most cyclists. Yeah, anyone would think I’d never ridden a bicycle myself. I don’t know how things are on Planet Miskatonic, but in my experience it takes about a second to get a stopped bicycle moving again, where you were trying to equate it with getting out of a car, getting in again, restarting the engine… it’s just too much fucking trouble, isn’t it? Better to hold up a couple of dozen people for a mile or so. :rolleyes: > [@Mr.Miskatonic](#): > > Times were (loooong) ago, when I lived near country/suburban roads, that I used to get off my bike to let cars by. I actually was taking a huge risk given that there was insufficient room for them to pass. Cars came within inches of me, and while I did not expect gratitude, I did not expect cursing, and attempts to spit on me. At the time I tought I was doing the right thing, I was wrong. > > There were other problems with stopping too. Bikes do not have brake lights and impatient drivers tend to forget their stopping zones. Add to that the fact that far too many drivers do not recognize hand signals, I was risking my life somply by trying to stop. > > No thank you. Can you see my house from up there? :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2005, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-everyone-that-gets-their-panties-all-in-a-twist-over-cyclists-in-here/313110/122 "2005-07-25T10:49:04Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > Yeah, anyone would think I’d never ridden a bicycle myself. I don’t know how things are on Planet Miskatonic, but in my experience it takes about a second to get a stopped bicycle moving again, where you were trying to equate it with getting out of a car, getting in again, restarting the engine… it’s just too much fucking trouble, isn’t it? Better to hold up a couple of dozen people for a mile or so. :rolleyes: Doing it every time a car comes up from behind does not make for practical travel. It does equate to what I said. Just because you take your bike on lakeside pleasure rides does not make you all knowledgeable about the nature of bike commuting. Starting up doesn’t just take ‘a second’, it takes sweat and wasted effort. > [@](#): > > Can you see my house from up there? :rolleyes: Here’s another one, **Princhester** I guess my safety means nothing to you. No surprise. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2005, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-everyone-that-gets-their-panties-all-in-a-twist-over-cyclists-in-here/313110/123 "2005-07-25T10:56:33Z")
> [@Declan](#): > > Because I can see the other cars, while a bike coming up curbside may litterally just appear That’s a lame excuse. Sounds more like you aren’t paying attention, and don’t want to pay attention. Do you know what we call people who are like that? Bad Drivers. > [@](#): > > I dont expect you care about someone elses local politics , I really don’t. So i really dont expect to see why you have a dog in this hunt about how I treat local bike riders here , either. More of your ignorance. I guess the world should not have cared how the deep South US treated blacks, eh? Like it or not, an attitude like yours is like a cancer. > [@](#): > > Its not a matter of handling it , like I have a choice in the matter , one of my earlier posts stated that I did not expect bikes to be banned from the road any time soon, just dont read that as acceptance of your perfered mode of transportation , pedestrian. Then you are a spoiled child. Try growing up some day. Interesting that you try using the word ‘pedestrian’ as an insult. I guess people walking in front of your car at intersections makes steam come out of your ears. It also shows you consider yourself superior to people on foot. Says a lot about you, really. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2005, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-everyone-that-gets-their-panties-all-in-a-twist-over-cyclists-in-here/313110/124 "2005-07-25T11:59:12Z")
> [@Mr. Miskatonic](#): > > Doing it every time a car comes up from behind does not make for practical travel. It does equate to what I said. Just because you take your bike on lakeside pleasure rides does not make you all knowledgeable about the nature of bike commuting. Starting up doesn’t just take ‘a second’, it takes sweat and wasted effort. /me laughs and laughs. 😃😛 :dubious: :smack: :rolleyes: :wally Mister Strawman says he is getting very sore and dispirited. I guess no matter how often I say a cyclist might show a little consideration of an unusual situation developing behind him, you’ll spin it into “having to get off every time a car comes up behind”. Whatever. You don’t want to argue with what I actually say, you go right ahead making up shit and arguing with it. And fyi, my experience of cycle commuting is considerably higher than my experience of lakeside pleasure rides. But naturally I’ve no experience of the cross you are so bravely bearing. :rolleyes: “sweat and wasted effort”, you poor little flower. I guess that’s why a red light equates to an invitation to mount the pavement and use the pedestrian crossing, or just ignore the red light in the first place (see my first post in the thread) - otherwise it’s a waste of all that momentum painfully earned through the sweat of the sainted cyclist’s brow. > [@Mr.Miskatonic](#): > > Here’s another one, **Princhester** And you’re appealing to the gallery why, exactly? You need another sheep to bleat “Four wheels bad, two wheels good”? > [@Mr.Miskatonic](#): > > I guess my safety means nothing to you. No surprise. I guess you don’t think this justifies a “get down off the cross, sniveller”. No surprise. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2005, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-everyone-that-gets-their-panties-all-in-a-twist-over-cyclists-in-here/313110/125 "2005-07-25T14:16:14Z")
> [@The Tooth](#): > > I use, and hear, bells on the bikepaths all the time. I’m very pleased at how well Calgarians have been trained to heed the bell. If only they were so courteous behind the wheels of their cars. I walk from Sunnyside to downtown through Prince’s Island Park four times a week (one of the most congested multi-use path areas in town) - I rarely hear bells, and I often see bikes going faster than the speed limit of 10 kph. Your experience of cyclists in Calgary is obviously differing from mine. **Mr. Miskatonic** , you will no doubt still have drivers having tantrums about cyclists without cyclists doing anything wrong, but THIS driver developed a dislike of cyclists through many years and many experiences with ignorant cyclists, as both a driver and a pedestrian. You know, reading that, it occurs to me that a lot of my antipathy towards cyclists as a driver is being transferred from the way they endanger me as a pedestrian. I will make an effort in the future to separate my pedestrian views on cyclists from my driver view on cyclists. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2005, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-everyone-that-gets-their-panties-all-in-a-twist-over-cyclists-in-here/313110/126 "2005-07-25T16:34:47Z")
> [@featherlou](#): > > I walk from Sunnyside to downtown through Prince’s Island Park four times a week (one of the most congested multi-use path areas in town) - I rarely hear bells, and I often see bikes going faster than the speed limit of 10 kph. Your experience of cyclists in Calgary is obviously differing from mine. Oddly enough, the Prince’s Island Park area around noon is where pedestrians tend to forget their training and wander pell-mell all over the paths. It’s very frustrating when people are paying attention to their cellphones instead of their surroundings. Get away from the lunchtime stroll crowd, however, and the paths run very smoothly. The roads should be so hassle-free. I’ve been sworn at exactly once, and that’s because I said “oof” and screeched to a halt when a woman approached me from around a hairpin turn with her nose in a book, she on the wrong side of the path and her dog’s leash stretching across the width of the path to her dog, which was on the right side of the path. That I startled her by exhaling instead of clotheslining myself on her leash made her very angry indeed. Go figure. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2005, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-everyone-that-gets-their-panties-all-in-a-twist-over-cyclists-in-here/313110/127 "2005-07-25T16:44:14Z")
That’s why I find these arguments between motorists and cyclists so frustrating. We should be joining forces agains our common enemy, pedestrians! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2005, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-everyone-that-gets-their-panties-all-in-a-twist-over-cyclists-in-here/313110/128 "2005-07-25T17:41:48Z")
And their little dogs, too. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2005, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-everyone-that-gets-their-panties-all-in-a-twist-over-cyclists-in-here/313110/129 "2005-07-25T20:59:26Z")
> [@The Tooth](#): > > And their little dogs, too. You forgot the [mode=Wicked Witch] **tags** [/mode]! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2005, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-everyone-that-gets-their-panties-all-in-a-twist-over-cyclists-in-here/313110/130 "2005-07-25T21:01:38Z")
Okay, I’ll give you the pedestrians in Prince’s Island Park. How stinkin’ hard is it to walk on the right, pass on the left, and not let your dog wander on 20 feet of lead when you _know_ there’s tons of bikes, rollerbladers, and other pedestrians around? (“And their little dogs, too.” HA!) ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2005, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-everyone-that-gets-their-panties-all-in-a-twist-over-cyclists-in-here/313110/131 "2005-07-26T00:57:45Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > /me laughs and laughs. 😃😛 :dubious: :smack: :rolleyes: :wally OK, you’ve proven you can use smileys. Not much else. > [@](#): > > Mister Strawman says he is getting very sore and dispirited. I guess no matter how often I say a cyclist might show a little consideration of an unusual situation developing behind him, you’ll spin it into “having to get off every time a car comes up behind”. Whatever. You don’t want to argue with what I actually say, you go right ahead making up shit and arguing with it. And fyi, my experience of cycle commuting is considerably higher than my experience of lakeside pleasure rides. But naturally I’ve no experience of the cross you are so bravely bearing. :rolleyes: There’s no straw here. Just an attempt to dismiss. You ingored all my comments about safety. Dismounting on the roads you described is not as safe and easy as you would have me think. > [@](#): > > “sweat and wasted effort”, you poor little flower. I guess that’s why a red light equates to an invitation to mount the pavement and use the pedestrian crossing, or just ignore the red light in the first place (see my first post in the thread) - otherwise it’s a waste of all that momentum painfully earned through the sweat of the sainted cyclist’s brow. Speaking of strawmen, did I not already mention that I do not the deeds you mention above? But don’t let me get in the way of a good hate week. > [@](#): > > And you’re appealing to the gallery why, exactly? You need another sheep to bleat “Four wheels bad, two wheels good”? > > I guess you don’t think this justifies a “get down off the cross, sniveller”. No surprise. Wow, you’re just full of stock phrases to dimiss safety concerns, aren’t you? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2005, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-everyone-that-gets-their-panties-all-in-a-twist-over-cyclists-in-here/313110/132 "2005-07-26T01:02:41Z")
> [@featherlou](#): > > I walk from Sunnyside to downtown through Prince’s Island Park four times a week (one of the most congested multi-use path areas in town) - I rarely hear bells, and I often see bikes going faster than the speed limit of 10 kph. Your experience of cyclists in Calgary is obviously differing from mine. > > **Mr. Miskatonic** , you will no doubt still have drivers having tantrums about cyclists without cyclists doing anything wrong, but THIS driver developed a dislike of cyclists through many years and many experiences with ignorant cyclists, as both a driver and a pedestrian. You know, reading that, it occurs to me that a lot of my antipathy towards cyclists as a driver is being transferred from the way they endanger me as a pedestrian. I will make an effort in the future to separate my pedestrian views on cyclists from my driver view on cyclists. All for the good then. Pedestrians who are threatened by cyclists (really threatened mind you, I have seen some serious overreactions, but that’s another story.) have every right to complain. Cyclists hammering on MUT’s are putting mutliple people in danger. That is one reason I do not like using MUT’s or even specified “bike trails”. Its too much like riding on the sidewalk…and that is illegal for a reason. ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2005, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-everyone-that-gets-their-panties-all-in-a-twist-over-cyclists-in-here/313110/133 "2005-07-26T03:14:56Z")
> [@Stranger On A Train](#): > > I can’t count the number of times I’ve been hit/nearly-hit/knocked over/driving into the curb/had bottles thrown at me/honked at/otherwise harassed by drivers. I know I’m getting on the bandwagon a bit late here, and retorts have likely been posted on this, but let me ask… How does this then give you the “right” to turn around and do the same to those who are LEGALLY using sidewalks or multi-use trails? > [@](#): > > The people I know who are dedicated roadbikers have endless stories of being attacked by drivers; one guy had a $2400 frame mangled, along with his ankle ligaments torn, by a truck that just kept on going. The driver got a citation for leaving the site of an accident; woo-hoo. I seriously doubt that all that damage was done by a PEDESTRIAN, and that’s the point that **oulau** (sorry if I mangle your user name here), was trying to make. That of, if you decide to try and make two wrongs a right by riding on the sidewalk, or riding like Lance on a multi-use trail, you then endanger walkers, rollerbladers, kids with training wheels, pet walkers, and so on. > [@](#): > > Make some dedicated bike lanes or enforce the law against drivers who harass bikers (something that police seem notoriously reluctant to do). Until then, on trafficked streets, I’ll ride–cautiously, mindfully–on the sidewalk. First off, in other words, much like the asshole motorsits, you’ll do what you damn well please, legal or not? Secondly, regarding the “cautiously, mindfully” part, Yeah, too bad more bikers didn’t do that. There are just as many sidewalk biker assholes to endangered pedestrians, as there are asshole motorists to endangered bikers. You’re no better than they are by decding when you “feel” like following road rules, and when you don’t. ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2005, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-everyone-that-gets-their-panties-all-in-a-twist-over-cyclists-in-here/313110/134 "2005-07-26T03:34:48Z")
> [@cricetus](#): > > I’ve biked too, and I’m a frequent pedestrian, and I’ve no love for drivers either. Nobody thinks it’s your “turn” at a stop sign when you’re a pedestrian, and I get really sick of the way cars “gun it” and roar past you after they had to wait for you, even when you jogged across. UUURRRGGGGGHHH!! GOD yes, that drives me bonkers! ScreeeeeeeeCH zoooooooom, as you that five second you were in their immediate path just screwed up their whole schedule. Or the way that they glare at you when you’re walking across on the walk sign. I commute a number of ways. I ride a bike, I walk, I take a bus, and I drive a truck, a great big old Detroit Dino. As a driver, I watch out for people riding bikes, people walking and even motorcyclists. So I’m quite aware of intersections and the special hazards they present to bikers. But the thing I see over and over, both when walking and driving, is that the cyclists frequently disobey the walk/stop lights. At an intersection, if you’re crossing the road in the crosswalk then you’re subject to the rules of being a PEDESTRIAN, not of being a vehicle, and if the light is a red hand, you don’t get to cross. I nearly killed a biker that way once. I was a parts runner and was going through a green light, the biker shot out across the crosswalk across oncoming traffic right in front of the little parts truck. I had a bare nano-second to figure out how to avoid hitting this moron. The left turn lane to my left was empty, and I hoped against hope that if I slammed on my brakes and steered hard toward it, I would at least only hit his rear tire. Somehow, miraculously, I missed him entirely. The guys at the service station I regularly delivered to saw the whole thing, and they chased him down the bike path, so actually the guy avoided death, and then a severe beating at the hands of some angry mechanics. Fortunately for him, they were out of shape and on foot. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2005, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-everyone-that-gets-their-panties-all-in-a-twist-over-cyclists-in-here/313110/135 "2005-07-26T04:43:35Z")
> [@CanvasShoes](#): > > I know I’m getting on the bandwagon a bit late here, and retorts have likely been posted on this, but let me ask… > > How does this then give you the “right” to turn around and do the same to those who are LEGALLY using sidewalks or multi-use trails? You would appear to be comparing deliberately violent and abusive behaviour to (in some places) illegal behaviour that does little or no harm. ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2005, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-everyone-that-gets-their-panties-all-in-a-twist-over-cyclists-in-here/313110/136 "2005-07-26T06:00:21Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > You would appear to be comparing deliberately violent and abusive behaviour to (in some places) illegal behaviour that does little or no harm. No, as someone else pointed out earlier, it doesn’t take deliberate behaviour for a bicyclist to cause a incident or injury to a pedestrian on a sidewalk, or another user on a MUT. Some stupid kid about gave me a heart attack this morning. He waited until he was about 2 inches behind me and then yelled “BRRAAAAAAEEEEAAAP”, like some fake car horn or something. I had no idea he was behind me. And no, I wasn’t wearing a CD player and it was early in the morning and quiet traffic-wise. The typical “courtesy” when on a bike or rollerblades and you are approaching a walker is to call out “track!” or “on your left!” or some such well ahead of time so that the pedestrian is aware that you’re there and where you are so that they don’t inadvertantly walk into the cyclist’s path at the wrong time. I could have easily and unknowingly stepped to my right just as he was passing me and preparing to make his stupid little “joke” and gotten run over by him. So the point I was getting at, is that cyclists, being faster and more protected than pedestrians, can easily cause problems, even when they’re not purposely being “violent”, but merely not paying attention. ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2005, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-everyone-that-gets-their-panties-all-in-a-twist-over-cyclists-in-here/313110/137 "2005-07-26T06:02:17Z")
> [@CanvasShoes](#): > > No, as someone else pointed out earlier, it doesn’t take deliberate behaviour for a bicyclist to cause **a** incident or injury to a pedestrian on a sidewalk, or another user on a MUT… Sigh…and I just got through reading and agreeing thoroughly with the “An” thread. aN, aN incident…grrr ---
**Author:** ![Boo\_Boo\_Foo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@Boo\_Boo\_Foo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boo_Boo_Foo)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2005, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-everyone-that-gets-their-panties-all-in-a-twist-over-cyclists-in-here/313110/138 "2005-07-26T06:04:15Z")
> [@featherlou](#): > > Anybody driving slower than the flow of traffic (at the legal speed) is a traffic hazard. We’re not discussing other cars in this thread; we’re discussing bikes. That’s logically silly. Really silly. On the one hand, you’re stating an opinion from a car driver’s point of view (which by definition is no more nor less subjective than any other road user’s opinion) and then in the next instant, you’re stating that we’re not discussing car’s at all, that we’re discussing bikes. So which is it? Are you looking at life from a car driver’s perspective or a bike rider’s perspective? You can’t have your cake and eat it too. It’s inappropriate to belittle people in this thread by assuming a car driver’s perspective and THEN forbid those people to respond by asserting that car’s AREN’T what’s being discussed. Such logic is stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2005, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-everyone-that-gets-their-panties-all-in-a-twist-over-cyclists-in-here/313110/139 "2005-07-26T06:44:44Z")
> [@CanvasShoes](#): > > No, as someone else pointed out earlier, it doesn’t take deliberate behaviour for a bicyclist to cause a incident or injury to a pedestrian on a sidewalk, or another user on a MUT. Tosh. You miss the point entirely. Your comparison was inappropriate because of the differences in intent. A motorist who throws things or tries to run cyclists off the road (which is what Mr Miskatonic was talking about) is not comparable to a cyclist engaging in a practice which (you say) creates possible danger, which danger is not intended. There’s actually precious little evidence of such danger anyway. Do a search on my username in the pit for the last month and you’ll see a thread in which I participated about alleged danger to pedestrians caused by bikes. I dug out the statistics. I can’t be arsed doing it again. In fact, accidents in which anyone is hurt by bikes are very very very rare. The danger is more perceived than real. ---
**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2005, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-everyone-that-gets-their-panties-all-in-a-twist-over-cyclists-in-here/313110/140 "2005-07-26T07:21:54Z")
> [@Mr. Miskatonic](#): > > Do you know what we call people who are like that? Bad Drivers. And your still a pedestrian , but at least we wont be crossing paths at least in the near future , Colorado might be a beautiful state , but I have no plans on traveling there anytime soon. > [@](#): > > More of your ignorance. I guess the world should not have cared how the deep South US treated blacks, eh? Like it or not, an attitude like yours is like a cancer. Dude , the world did not care about how the southern states treated the negro, even lincoln stated that if for the good of the country they would stay in chains, but yall get marks for an interesting choice of reply to a bike v car thread > [@](#): > > Interesting that you try using the word ‘pedestrian’ as an insult. **I guess people walking in front of your car at intersections makes steam come out of your ears.** It also shows you consider yourself superior to people on foot. Depends on the situation, before I was a full time driver , I took the bus and walked pretty much where ever I went, so you gain a modicum of respect for a 3000 pound vehicle , and giving and recieving courtesy. As a walker , when I had the right of way , but some car had a window of oppurtunity to enter traffic , I gave. Other times cars went out of their way to let me make a street crossing . Bike riders on the other hand , are a different breed of pedestrian. I have had my car keyed , and my side mirror smashed (bike riders in Toronto , sometimes would be known for carrying a 3 ounce hammer) simply for making a right hand turn and delaying the poor bike rider. Metro cops told me , that they fill out reports but cant really do anything about it. These are not avearge bike riders , but vandals riding bikes. Had they had some sort of plate , the odds on them getting nabbed would have been that much greater. You call me a bad driver , never having met me , but are you at least willing to register and plate your bike , so that vandals like that can be dealt with ? Declan [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-everyone-that-gets-their-panties-all-in-a-twist-over-cyclists-in-here/313110.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-everyone-that-gets-their-panties-all-in-a-twist-over-cyclists-in-here/313110.md?page=8)