When I see a cyclist on the sidewalk it is pretty obvious that they are novices and selfish/ignorant. It is dangerous for themselves and others. It is a good way to get killed, vehicles exiting bake lanes or driveways often cannot see much of the sidewalk and are expecting slow moving pedestrians not a bike. Have been surprised by a cyclist twice this month.
Cyclists have unobstructed vision and a better awareness of surroundings than drivers so it can be tempting (but still a violation of traffic laws) to blast a stop sign if no one is there. Doing it with vehicles around is just stupid arrogance.
I’m not sure it’s ever right to be sanctimonious. Look, I have a vested interest because I cycle 75 miles a week on my commute, much of it on busy streets. I do it because it is cheaper, quicker and healthier than driving, but I don’t make out that I’m saving the planet by doing so.
So many cyclists seem to have a “Fuck you, world” attitude that just rubs everyone up the wrong way. Road users of all types ought to be coexisting, not fighting some political war.
Often I’m the only cyclist stopped at a red light while four, five or six others go sailing through without even slowing down. With each one I can sense the waves of pissed-offness coming from waiting drivers and pedestrians. More angry drivers who think cyclists are law-breaking pricks who don’t deserve respect equals more chance I will be treated aggressively or dangerously.
There’s sanctimonious, and there are facts. The fact is that bicycles and pedestrians have the same right to be on the road as the 2 ton vehicles that can kill them. Fact is that drivers of the 2 ton vehicles are guilty of driving with numerous distractions, many of them illegal, but their actions are conveniently hidden from view. I usually drive a truck and can see down into most cars, and I’m disgusted by the tasks and hobbies that people undertake while supposedly following laws and sharing the road. I feel much safer when a cyclist blows through a light than I do when I spy the distinctive blue of a Facebook page on the adjacent driver’s giant Iphone screen. Safer beside a cyclist than a rheumy eyed old man who slows or stops inexplicably because he’s sightseeing and unconcerned about the driver behind him. Or the shaky elderly lady who drives with one foot on the brake and changes lanes with no warning because her view is restricted by her size and limited range of movement. Or the drivers who smoke, drink, and eat while a Min-Pin dashes about the vehicle. Or the drivers who drift across lanes while undertaking some unimportant task unrelated to driving. Who make wide rights and for fuck’s safe: wide lefts. Who poke in the passing lane and hold up traffic out of some sense of highway justice. I could go on, but it’s really the constant phone use that makes me angry and the only way they will be caught is in the event of a bad accident that requires an insurance investigation. Drivers of cars get away with far more infractions and hazardous actions because they are hidden from view and because might makes right.
Let’s just be honest here, a lot of the angry self-righteous posters are just pissed because someone is “breaking rules” and they spotted it. These are the same people who flip out if someone tests a grape in the produce section, same people
who lose their shit if someone opens a drink before they pay for it, talks in class, or breaks any one of the “rules” that sticklers live and breathe by. You know, the shushers from third grade. These are the people who are mad jealous because someone “got away with something” with no repercussions, who aren’t actually in any danger whatsoever from a cyclist.
The very same people are just as likely to be conducting themselves behind the wheel as if they are at home in the privacy of their living rooms, chewing a burger, gulping a giant two-hands soda, checking the status of their circle online, chasing a dropped cigarette, reaching across the backseat to slap a toddler, blithely allowing a furry missile to bounce around inside the cabin, and snapping pics of the colorfully dressed cyclist blowing through a red light.
I don’t believe for a second that each of the automobile drivers bitching here are captains of safety with both paws on the ten and two. If one of you complainers is a driving instructor with a perfect driving record, who does not smoke or drink in the car, who does not change the radio station or adjust climate controls, who leaves the phone in the back seat and keeps interaction with passengers to a minimum: I’m truly very sorry for not respecting your feelings about cyclists. But for any of you who are guilty of fooling around with non-driving related toys, smokes, and foods: get over yourselves. The cyclist is in far more danger from you than you are from him.
If all these drivers are driving distracted, doesn’t that make it even more important for cyclists to follow traffic rules and not behave in an erratic or unpredictable manner?
If nothing else, this thread has given me the benefit of the next time I see a cyclist acting like an entitled ass, I now have some names to associate with him.
You mean while automobile drivers careen down the highway while texting, slapping toddlers, stuffing face and playing Words With Friends? Okay, sure, cyclists should follow all the rules of the road while automobile drivers multitask as though they are solo in a mobile living room and driving is a mere second thought.
Each individual should operate his or her vehicle of choice in a manner which protects himself and other drivers from accident and injury. Blowing through an unobstructed intersection against a red light is a far lesser danger than drifting into other lanes while hurtling down the road at 65 MPH in a two ton vehicle while perusing your BFF’s pics of his Cancun vacay.
This pretty much shows why some cyclists are such assholes. They have so much contempt for people who drive automobiles.
Like most people in this thread, I do not dislike bicycles. I think that cyclists have a right to share the road, riding is good exercise, it eases traffic congestion, and is good for the environment.
I just don’t want to fucking hit you with my car, and that is what is going to happen if you act like an asshole. Just last night as I was turning left on to a busy main street and watching for traffic someone zoomed down the sidewalk from my right across the intersection. It wasn’t as close as some other instances, but once again you had someone violating both the rules of the road and common sense. At least they gave me a sheepish look and mouthed “thank you” for seeing them in time to stop. In this case, they would have run into me. It would not have been my fault, but that would hardly have made me feel better.
While I do not approve of cyclists running red lights, I do have to say any driver who gets overly pissed off at cyclists running lights is most often just looking for excuses. In my experience for all the talk about wanting cyclists to obey the laws far too many drivers take actions that speak contrary to such sentiments. I get honked at for not running red lights, I get tailgated by cars that pulled in behind me on a multi-lane road because they figured I’d run the light (while most other cars had enough sense to realize that such a stunt was suicide at that intersection and got into a lane with more cars to safely pass me. After the tailgating said drivers often try to pass me dangerously by not changing lanes as if to punish me for not taking illegal action earlier.
I still continue to obey the law, but sometimes I can see why some cyclists get a little cranky about these things - it becomes a viscous cycle (sorry) - the cars treat the cyclists like shit and take actions that can threaten their lives - even when they ride legally, and so they figure “why should I bother following the rules when they don’t seem to add to my safety*”. This is turn leads to cyclists ignoring the rules, which can anger other drivers…
The odd thing is the way these dynamics work is that as more people cycle the safety actually increases as cyclists become more the norm and less a gaggle of rebels. Ridership often comes with improved cycling facilities, so I find it amusing when people bitch about a red-light running cyclist and spittle about taking away their bike lanes.
Following the rules of the road actually does add to safety overall, but it can be hard to ‘see’ from the cyclists’ perspective at times.
But how can you be sure that a distracted driver won’t at some point hit you if you make a general practice of running reds? It really doesn’t make any sense at all to use other vehicle operators’ negligence as an excuse for your own.
By the way, Troppus, your posts in this thread are making you come off as an incredible buttwipe. Like, are you really even a bicyclist, or are you just trying to make them all look like self-righteous morons? Because if you are, it’s kind of working.
I’d roll my eyes here, but is it really necessary to remind you that many cyclists also drive cars?
How many close calls did you have with automobiles? Anyone drift into your lane? Turn without a warning? Have a brake light out, do anything unpredictable? I’d appreciate a full and honest report. Or, let me guess, you didn’t take note of the automobile infractions because you are used to them.
What am I supposed to jealous of? I can ride a bike quite well, thank you.
Am I supposed to be jealous of your incredible ability to be self-centered sanctimonious ass? Or your ability to justify your illegal actions by braying " but big ole cars do bad things too"?
Maybe some people become assholes when they get behind the wheel, or in this case, the handlebars. Or maybe they bring it with them, cause you know, it’s just built in. Begs the question, are asshole cyclists assholes before they get on the bike, or do they transform when they start pedaling? And how about those cyclists who are immune to the asshole trait? Can their resistance be genetically isolated and duplicated?
I’m just amazed that, with your obvious disdain of all vehicles not pedal powered, you would lower yourself to drive a truck. C’mon man, where is your self respect?
Google “traffic light camera complaints” to see how many automobiles are guilty of running reds. Drivers are just as guilty of driving infractions and unpredictable behavior as cyclists. Whiny drivers are coming across as buttwipes because you are either collectively blind to auto infractions or willfully dishonest about your reporting of broken road rules. Cyclists are in far more danger from you than you are from them, and drivers are in far more danger from each other than you are from cyclists.
It’s frustrating to be a cyclist stuck at a traffic light for several minutes while waiting for a heavier auto to come by a trip the light. It’s terrifying to have a two ton vehicle cut me off or turn in front of me because she didn’t see me. It’s alarming to have a phone user drift into the bike lane, open a car door on me, tailgate the hell out of me while waiting to pass, honk as they blow by well above the speed limit, dump garbage and glass out the window into the street, drive oil and fluid leaking vehicles, spit out the window, and a long, long list of dangerous, illegal, and inconsiderate bullshit car drivers feel entitled to because they are bigger and their actions concealed by the cab.
We get it, no one likes sitting at a red light, and it’s kind of a bummer watching someone on a bike zip through without attracting a cop’s attention or triggering the intersection camera. But that’s no reason to get all resentful and angry when cyclists have far more hazards and danger to deal with from you than you do from them.
But I don’t drive, Troppus, so that doesn’t make any sense to say to me. Why are you even trying to make this into some kind of drivers vs. cyclists race war? This is about people who navigate roadways considerately vs. people who don’t, and since you freely admit to paying attention to road rules only when it suits you, it seems to me like you’re on the “don’t” side, along with all those bad drivers that you hate.
You’re making it worse for everyone on the streets.
Why in the world would I defend drivers? There are many bad drivers. Drivers who violate the law should be fined. Drivers who are particularly bad should have their licenses suspended or go to jail. Hell, I’m in favor of making it harder to get a license. I can assure you, that when I see a car driving down a one way street I do everything I can do to alert it, and if they ignored that I would call the police. I have called 911 when I saw a driver blow though an intersection without even slowing down. If there were a pit thread on people who don’t use traffic signals I would participate and condemn them. I don’t feel any need to excuse bad drivers for any reason.
Satisfied?
I just don’t want to kill or injure any cyclists. And I’m that is what is going to happen if people ride on the sidewalk and then cross the intersection at full clip, ride the wrong way down a one way street, ride on the sidewalk the wrong way on a one way street, don’t have lights on at night, ride the wrong way down a one way street at night without a light, or weave in and out of traffic.
I pass a"ghost bicycle" every day on the way to work. I don’t want to see another one, particularly if it was one I was involved with.
I don’t break laws or regularly ride on the street, I’m in a very bike friendly town with lanes and trails. But I live on a road that is part of a famous bike race and there are 100+ members of a local club who I see tailgated, honked at, run into gravels and off the road weekly in the winter and daily in warm weather. Cyclists are treated like shit and apparently invisible to drivers unless that driver is trapped still at a red light. The primary danger on the road isn’t coming from cyclists.
The primary danger on the sidewalks sure as hell is. And since bicyclists regularly disrupt foot traffic and drive through crosswalks while pedestrians are trying to cross, does that mean that I’m allowed to tell you you’re wrong whenever you complain about jaywalking pedestrians?
I will answer for you: no, of course not. Jaywalking pedestrians shouldn’t do that and red-running cyclists shouldn’t do that and distracted drivers shouldn’t do that either.
I’m a cyclist and a driver and I agree with Troppus. I mostly obey the traffic laws but will break them if I deem it safe. I’ll do a rolling stop at a four way on a bike just like I would in my car in certain situations, and just like most of you. I will ride through a red at 5:30 am when there is no one on the road and my bike won’t trip the sensors, just like I would in my car at 2 am when the light cycle isn’t working properly and my little car won’t trip the sensor in the turn lane.
That said, I have more close calls on my bike then in my car, and it’s due to driver inattention or pure assholishness. Last week on my ride to work I had a car pass me on the right hand shoulder. This was while I was going down a hill in a 50 km/hr zone and I was pushing 60. It was about 6 am and we were the only vehicles on that road. He cut in front of me because he was making a left hand turn at the bottom of the hill.
I came close to being creamed at a controlled crosswalk last year on 16th Ave by Edworthy Park (for those in Calgary). The driver didn’t even see me, and obviously didn’t see the pedestrian crossing lights blinking right above my head. He wasn’t paying attention.
There are good cyclists and bad cyclists, and good drivers and bad drivers. We always remember the bad and have a habit of falling in to the confirmation bias cycle. And for those of you in Calgary who love to bash cyclists, know that yes, cyclists DO get ticketed regularly, especially on the pathways, so quit whining about how there is no enforcement for cyclists when, as a non-cyclist, you really have no idea.
Pedestrians aren’t the only ones complaining in this thread. The majority of complaints are coming from automobile drivers, some of whom weren’t in the least inconvenienced by a cyclist blowing a red light. It’s kind of amazing how invisible cyclists are to drivers until or unless that driver is trapped at a stop light. Suddenly the cyclist’s behavior is The Most Blatant Infraction On the Road! That is, until the driver posts a blurry photo of the cyclist to his Facebook status as he hurtles down the road.