I can post what I want to. Don’t like it? Hit “report this post”. Then be prepared to wait for a bit.
The PIT has a tendency to come back around and bite self-rightous OP’s in the ass.
Speaking of asshole car drivers, look at the position of thiscar.
Consider this self-rightous (sic) ass bitten!
Grow a funny bone doc.
I’m amazed at the denialists. I live in Portland as well, and there is an incredibly high percentage of asshole bicyclists. I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen a car completely ignore a stop sign, intentionally drive the wrong way down a one-way street, drive at night without lights, refuse to put brakes on their car, or drive on a sidewalk. I see all of those done by bicyclists EVERY SINGLE DAY. Yesterday there was the hipster on his fixie that wobbled into my lane when he lost inertia as a bus pulled out. He was just too fucking cool to have gears on his bike. Many bicyclists don’t even obey stop signs when there are pedestrians crossing the street. A few weeks ago I saw a bicyclist riding in the sidewalk the wrong way on a one way street and just blow through the intersection. I don’t know how I missed him.
I commuted by bike in Boston 35 years ago and done my share of cross country riding here and in Europe, so I fully support bicycles sharing the road with cars. But a large proportion of bicyclists are fucking it up for everyone.
And yes, I’ve had bottles thrown at me when I was riding and had someone try and run me off the road, but those people are few and far between here in Portland. Assholes on bikes are as ubiquitous as Starbucks.
No it’s not, it’s a lame attempt of parody. Don’t be surprised when someone tells you to suck their tu quoque.
Only a person from Portland would throw out that Latin phrase (I’m guessing your pinkie was sticking out when you typed it). And yes, I hear that town is filled with menacing hipsters on fixies threatening slow-moving hypermilage hybrid cars. Portland exists in a bubble not seen anywhere else.
That doesn’t actually contradict Tao’s Revenge’s policy of taking the lane. The law you quote tells cyclists to keep as far to the right “as is practicable” when being overtaken. If moving towards the shoulder will result in the cyclist’s being passed dangerously close by an overtaking car, then it is not practicable for the cyclist to keep to the right of the lane.
Why this happens, IME, is that cars will frequently try to pass a cyclist in the right lane even when there’s another car in the left lane, so the passing car is “squeezing through” between two other vehicles (a bike to the right and a car to the left) in two lanes. That’s dangerously crowded if you’re moving at normal city driving speeds (as opposed to, say, creeping slowly up to a stoplight).
That’s when it makes sense for the cyclist to keep their lane instead of moving towards the shoulder, so the overtaking car will have to wait for a clear space in the left lane and change lanes in order to pass the bike, instead of trying to squeeze through on the right of left-lane traffic.
I guess we must be in a bubble. Is that your city’s best characterization of effeteness? Pinkies sticking out? Maybe you should turn your calendar ahead a decade or so. Hell, we are soy latte swilling, pork pie hat wearing, gluten free granola gobbling, public transit loving, underemployed socialist anarchists, etc. (hope that last bit isn’t too much Latin for you).
If you live in some cow town in flyover land that has a people in pickup trucks running an occasional bicyclist off the road, then the thread on asshole bicylists probably doesn’t make much sense to you. Real cities like Boston, NY, Seattle, San Francisco have a problem with scofflaw bicyclists that is eroding support for bike lanes and endangering riders and pedestrians.
I don’t disagree with you.
But there is always a ‘but’. My Wife and I live in a very bike friendly community. We’ve spent millions on recreational paths. Yes, there are walkers on it.
The road I drive every day is a two lane mountain highway. I have zero problems with bikes using the portion of that road when there is no alternative. They do have the good sense to keep as far right as possible. It is legal to cross a solid yellow line in Colorado to pass a bike. If the bike keeps far right, it’s much easier and safer to pass as the car does not need to get to the other lane for nearly as long.
This provides many more opertunites to pass. Slow moving vehicles also follow this simple common courtesy. Usually.
My Wife, trains and rides a lot (triathlete). She follows this common sense and interestling enough, has never complained about cars to me.
After reading this whole thread I can honestly say it’s the bicyclists who are to blame. For everything.
Yep, except global warming of course.
Whoose right back at you my friend.
LOL…toccare! I mean, touche!
So now we need to debate in French?
Oy vey.
Da.
You *do *know you give off extra CO2 when you bike, right?
CO2, hell, I’m blasting pure methane.