bicycles get no respect

[TheSHAD0W]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M58LiAz1Lso

This guy has a camera velcroed to his helmet and has caught numerous instances of cars cutting him off.

[dbuzman]

I just watched it, It makes the biker look worse than the car drivers.

[LillFilly]

There's a whole series of videos about drivers cutting-off, messing with bikers, etc. In one instance, a driver plowed through a group of cyclists doing a ride for charity because he didn't want for the street to open again!

[blas]

I consider a lot of cyclists to be in my way. Forgive me for getting upset when some Lance Armstrong wannabe is in the middle of traffic with everyone, cannot peddle the 35 mph speed limit and is causing everyone to have to go 20-25 or less, and everyone has to scramble to get around him/her.

If you're a college kid with no car and your bike is your only way of getting around, then you get my respect and we get along fine because you usually obey traffic laws and don't insist on driving in the middle of traffic and holding everyone up, or out in the middle of the road by my bf's place just because it's out of town and you don't think many people will drive out there.

Yuppies and idiots out for exercise, in the middle of traffic and busy streets, riding in the middle of the road everywhere causing problems.....get out of the way. Seriously.

[crazylegs]

I consider a lot of cyclists to be in my way. Forgive me for getting upset when some Lance Armstrong wannabe is in the middle of traffic with everyone, cannot peddle the 35 mph speed limit and is causing everyone to have to go 20-25 or less, and everyone has to scramble to get around him/her.

Here's a groovy definition for you all.

A vehicle is defined as any object that is designed to carry a person or goods.

Therefore as a vehicle a pedal cycle should be in the road. They don't go the speed limit? Well, neither do horses, nor dust carts, nor delivery vehicles etc etc.

A pedal cycle should always be in the main traffic stream - if they're anywhere else they are not effectively seen by car drivers and this makes them all the more vulnerable. The best place for a cyclist to be? Cycling in the area where your nearside tyre would be if you're driving a car.

I'm an advanced cyclist (yes, there is such a thing; and I have the certificate to prove it) and I'm a driver as well - while there was some poor cycling there, there was also some poor driving (the black pick up was far too close to the cyclist to be safe).

Drivers need to anticipate that a cyclist doesn't ride the same way that a car is driven, and cyclists need to maintain good obs as well as ride within the law at all times.

[eltf177]

Where I work we have a major bike trail running through town and a _lot_ of cyclists. And every single day I watch them demand the same rights as cars but refuse to accept the rules that come with that. They constantly blow through red lights, stop signs and yield signs like they're mere suggestions, cutting off drivers and almost hitting pedestrians on sidewalks.

On rare occasions I do see a cyclist obey the rules and I have nothing but respect for them. The others? You want the rights, you obey the law. Otherwise you have _NO_ reason to complain when car drivers treat you with contempt.

[blas]

Exactly my point.

It hasn't even been that long since a cyclist was killed for blowing a stop sign and becoming road pizza by an SUV, and I still see cyclists pull that crap.

[Jack]

I see the same BS here all the time. I try my very best to be a courteous cyclist by obeying traffic laws, signalling when there's someone to signal to, wearing lights at night and a DayGlo safety vest at all times, riding properly in a traffic lane, etc. I very rarely have anyone endanger me or seem to get upset at me, presumably because I act predictably, you know, like the rest of the traffic.

In contrast, I go to these Critical Mass rides and everyone wants to ride abreast in 3-4 lanes on a one-way street rather than stay in one or two to the right to let the traffic that's still in downtown at 1900 pass. They want to weave through traffic, and not in a remotely safe way. They want to run red lights. The Critical Mass is supposedly held to increase awareness of and cooperation with cyclists. I never understood how they expected to achieve this by making drivers miserable. Would you be inclined to support cyclists after a line of them deliberately blocked traffic while you had the green light to let their group pass? I'm a cyclist, and I don't even support cyclists. I asked why, trying to understand, and I never got an answer consistent with the supposed mission of the Critical Mass. I don't think the discussion ever really went anywhere, but if you care you can see it at http://jack.is/files/cm.txt (I especially like that last comment. Like, good lord, I'm such the horrible person now because I'm against you riding next to your friends <3~ Oh just kill me). On the whole, we're rather stupid, inconsiderate asses and I think most of us should be banned from the road until we prove otherwise.

IMO we have quite a way to go before we can expect respect from anyone.

[Mr. Anubite]

Where I live, cyclists get NO respect. There aren't that many, and the ones that do attempt to drive on the road like the local law dictates risk getting flattened by pickup trucks.

Its like, most of the people my age with pickup trucks (I.E. most of the people my age) don't believe that the driving laws apply to their gas guzzler, but that's a discussion for another day.