If it’s essentially a bike lane, that’s one thing. But most aren’t, and it doesn’t take too much to make it inhospitable to bikes.
Indeed. Every bit of broken glass from a damaged car, every car part, everything that falls out of a car ends up in that lane. This time of year the pothole crews aren’t bothering with doing any repairs on anything but the driving lanes. In addition the drainage grates are usually in that lane, and some drivers like to stop randomly there. There is also a tendency for breakdown lanes to slope off in awkward ways. I have been told this is for drainage. Cannot confirm.
Also, when it comes to insurance claims, if you were riding there and the lane was not marked as a bike lane guess who many rights you have if someone cuts you off, pulls out of a parking garage/lot in front of you, or left/right hooks you - pretty much none. You weren’t supposed to be there so they didn’t have to look for you
Whenever I hear a driver say some path or other non-driving lane is ‘perfectly good’ for cycling my eyes roll.
When I’m driving a car, I am annoyed by bicycles. When riding my bike, I hate cars. I am flexible, and adjust to circumstances.
Lord help you if you’re on a motorcycle…
Around here, I find I hate cars while I am driving a car, they are a bunch of assholes.
Don’t you know what hand signals look like? I would say that about 90% of bicyclists around here use them-- personally, I use them 100% of the time for turns when I’m on the road. Cyclers use them even more consistently for a left turn. If a bike makes a left turn, or just pulls in front of me to prepare for one, and doesn’t signal, THEN I’m going to honk. Same for a car that does that. Gawd I hate that.
When I was riding, it was mandatory to have a bell on my bike that was expected to be used when I was passing other cyclists and pedestrians. There were times when someone came up behind me and hit their bell and it was startled me. Yet, it let me know their intentions and gave me time to move over or stay steady in the path so they could pass safely. Why would you be upset when cars treat cyclists any different than cyclists are expected to treat other cyclists and pedestrians?
Car tires/engine noise is far more audible than bike tires.
And a car horn is a lot more alarming and intrusive than a car horn, which is why a lot of car companies moved away from the horn being the notification that the car was keylessly locked or unlocked, replacing it with either a quieter horn or some completely different noise.
People believe strange things…
D’oh! :smack:
Meant bike bell in the second part of that sentence.
Car’s don’t have bells. Their horns are designed to be heard by other drivers particularly in emergencies. Can’t have the option of high or low sounds as the setting may be set on low when you need high!
My Dad had one of those triple air horns normally fitted on semi-trucks installed on his first gen Bronco back in the day. I’m sure quite a few heart attacks were attributed to its use. My dad was a dick, btw.
When cycling knicks get really worn, they get semi-transparent. Just sayin’.
Hand signals are very useful, if the truck, car, motorcycle, or bicycle driver uses them. Which is seldom, at best, in my small corner of the world.
Hey Telemark, do you ever use those training ski things in the off-season? People seem to use those in the bike lanes around here.
Holy crap, those things are expensive
Roller skis? No, I train for skiing by skiing. In summer I ride, run, and hike.
:eek: I meant the roller skis…
Print a sign on your back that says “Honk if you think I’m sexy”.
That way you’ll feel good about people honking.
Or they do and you just don’t notice. I’ve seen plenty of drivers ignore a flashing turn signal that’s been going for several seconds. If they miss that then they can easily miss a gesture made before the arm has to return to controlling the bike.