I did not say that car drivers abide by all laws. Don’t put words in my mouth.
We only have about 15-20 stoplights in the entire county. It’s pretty rare but I have seen bikes blow through them. Other than a very yellow light, I have never seen a car driver blow through a red. YMMV.
Hey, I agree that bicyclists need to be given a break sometimes. Traffic laws are mostly geared towards cars.
If the lane is too small to handle both car an cycle, I am not going to be keeping to the right.
I should have added: into oncoming traffic. i.e. not passing safely.
In my experience there is no such thing as a ‘perfectly good’ recreational trail.
Q.E.D.
How many cyclists are actually hit by trucks on that road? Now compare that to the number of accidents that happen on the trail with bike vs. pedestrian. Then factor in the slowdowns and other things that happen on such trails.
Translation: they are in your way.
I have had plenty of incidents with drivers in my career of biking, but I still don’t think MUTs are anywhere near a good substitute. The two I have on the way to work are either a) way overcrowded or b) neglected and chopped up like hell.
Not the case where I live. And I believe that the law allows for bikes to move forward to the intersection as long as they keep to the right. That’s fine. Putting yourself in font of a car that can go is not. YMMV.
And in my experience, bikes on the road make the road more dangerous for everyone. If there is a good alternative, I think it’s a good idea to take it. Lets face facts, roads, and in particular 2 lane mountain highways are built for cars and trucks. If there is a good alternative, I think they should use it. It’s plenty good for my Wife (and I hate to keep bringing this up, but she’s an Iron Man she rides a LOT).
Please. I’m talking about safety. I don’t drive my car down the rec path do I? It would be unsafe.
I have to say that some bike riders are very arrogant about the use of roads. I don’t deny that drivers can be the same way. I’m glad that things are changing. I really am. But roads and rules for driving on them where designed for cars. It’s not good to have 30 and 40 mph speed differences. Speed difference between vehicles is one of the greatest causes of accidents.
In California a bicycle is a vehicle. If the bike rider were to stay all the way right at an intersection with a right turn only lane when he was planning on riding straight ahead he could be cited for that AND it is quite likely a car coming up from behind him would hit him.
The proper way to handle such an intersection is for the bike to stop at the right side of the rightmost lane that continues straight. This will allow right turners to turn while he is stopped.
My cite is how the bike lanes are painted on the streets in Los Angeles. Pics available upon request.
Bikes are legally vehicular traffic pretty much everywhere. It’s like the reverse of the illegal to drive barefoot myth. Everyone seems to think bikers are pedestrians and should stay in pedestrian areas, but they’re not. They’re legally, and actually, operating a vehicle.
Which includes full use of the lane. Assuming you’re a good driver, it should never matter where in the lane the biker is when you pass them.
Further, keeping right has almost got me whacked with a passenger side mirror a couple of times. Keeping right seems to encourage motorists to pass you too close for comfort.
I live in a very car, bicycle, and pedestrian friendly city. Cool. Lots of road lanes and sidewalks and shit. But you asshole jerk-offs are fucking up the whole program. You are supposed to obey the rules of the road like people in tractor-trailers.
That means stopping at red lights and stop signs. Not blasting through a red light while I am turning you stupid fuck. Not speeding up to cut me off and then slowing down. Not taking a leisurely stroll in front of me in a parking lot completely oblivious to the 30 tons shaking the earth behind you and everything else besides the text you’re sending. Not matching my speed and snuggling into my blind spot/emergency maneuvering space you stupid fucks. And if I am at a light, don’t fucking try to direct me to turn on red just because someone on a streetbike might have time or space to.
I fantasize about vegetablizing you as you try to get around me while I’m parallel parking.
You do not get to selectively obey common sense.
I will probably kill one of you dumbass morons one day and guess what, it will be your fault but I will still lose my livelihood.
This. The one thing I learned very quickly when I became a semi-regular bike commuter is to not feel obligated to “be nice” to drivers by squeezing over to the gravely, torn-up curb at all costs so they can pass me. I legally have use of the lane, and I’ll ride to the side when it’s safe, but I’ll also use whole lane when I feel it’s safer.
There are few things as terrifying as a large car passing me on my left as I’m riding on a 2ft strip between them and the cars parked along the curb, and there’s a sewage drain/pothole dead ahead.
sigh Why is it that “cyclist safety” coming from the mouths of drivers invariably leads to getting cyclists off their roads and onto shitty sidepaths and muts?
Of course you are…just like all other “for their own good” suggestions.
“very arrogant about using roads”. How dare they. Using those roads and stuff. Let’s get them out of my way…I mean off the road for their own safety.
I’ve never heard of bicyclists throwing cans and junk at cars while going down the road, or getting behind a car and ringing their bell, or yelling for them to “get off the road”.
As a pedestrian, I have had bike riders do two out of three of those things to me. While I was on a sidewalk and so were they, even tho there was a bike lane. I have also seen in SF a bike rider ride past several cars who had edged into bike lane (to make a right turn) and scratch their car doors as he went past.
You have heard about what packs of bike riders have done to driver sin SF, have you not?