OK, so you first talk about bikes and then much later tell us about commuting 150 miles in a car, which of course implies that you get to tell rural cyclists that they cannot ride on the road. Why should we take your opinion on cycling as gospel?
Had someone brake check me while on the bicycle this afternoon.
- Thread starter mrsilv04
- Start date
Valid points, I obviously have my stance, but you offer valid points.Interesting perspective, I see the logic. Our highways & freeways already work like this: vehicles that can't safely sustain the speed limit are prohibited. But our laws say the rest of roads are free to use for pretty much anyone. It's an intriguing thought experiment to imagine how it might be otherwise, but we all have to share the road - whether on the freeway with other cars & trucks & motorbikes or local roads with bicycles too - and courtesy goes a long way toward safety.
The narcissism goes both ways, such as drivers who already have the freeways & highways to themselves yet still resent sharing local roads with cyclists or others. When I'm in my car I don't mind giving the guy in the big slow truck a break when he slows down for corners, or the motorbike splitting lanes, and I don't mind slowing down or giving room for cyclists or others. It's part of being a courteous safe driver. However, this too goes both ways. Cyclists should be as far to the right as practical not hogging the center of the lane. But drivers shouldn't take advantage of that to make unsafe passes around blind turns.
With most of the common forms of disease and health care expenses related to sedentary lifestyle choices and rampant obesity (heart disease, diabetes, etc.), the cyclist is saving the healthcare system (and his own health of course). And if he gets hit by a car he could be squished like a bug which means few health care expenses there either.
I am ok with sharing the road, just not with something that cannot meet basic speed requirements.
The one thing that I have to take issue with or counter, that splat is not free... It is incredibly expensive in many ways to everyone.
Indeed. Your convenience is paramount. Passing someone safely and slowing down for a couple of seconds is such a drag. Sheesh. Privileged much?
As are the bazillion auto accidents per year which most are preventable - cyclists geting nailed/killed is such a tiny thing here w/r to healthcare costs I can't believe it's even being brought up as an argument. If you can't figure out how to manage a slower vehicle/cyclist the few times a week you may encounter one, I struggle with you being a licensed driver in the first place. It's pretty easy to share the road and not drive like a jerk with a dude on a bike over on the right side. It's not like they are on highways etc., it's almost all on secondary roads and a v. rare occurance for most drivers to even have to deal with. Fortunatley my routes that I used to frequent all had lanes and were through neighborhoods etc. Unless the road has a min. posted (which would only be on a highway where bikes aren't allowed), there is no "basic speed requirement". The limit is just that...a limit.
I'll never get this issue. I am a driver, a track rat, love cars and like to drive aggressively at times but somehow don't have issues if some lady on a bike/group is on a road that I have to safely navigate around that may add a minute or so to my arrival time.
Yes. I agree. I am a cyclist and a driver. Someone slowing me down for what is literally a few seconds isn't going to make a big difference to my life. I agree that cyclists also have a responsibility to maintain their own safety and to maintain the safety of pedestrians. Ride like they are trying to kill you & share the road. I was reacting to Wsar10's statement about unilaterally declaring all rural cyclists verboten.
Yep.
Now isn't that rich!?
It's not just a short delay, it's the added danger. Bicyclists endanger more than just themselves. They also endanger drivers who are forced to make risky maneuvers in order to pass them. Also, we have way too much traffic congestion as it is. Cyclists are an additional, non-insignificant impediment to the free flow of traffic when there are other options for then. My county has spent millions to create safe biking options on abandoned rail ways, but hardly anybody uses them.
Nobody is forcing you to make risky maneuvers but yourself.
Not true. Going over that yellow line is always an increased risk, especially like around here where roads are narrow and there is limited site distance.
Don't know where you are in the PNW, but where I am (King County), the trail system is extremely heavily used. Roads also have wide shoulders and the majority of cyclists use these. Narrow country roads are only used by folks doing long rides.
Well, you are the guy who wants a road all to himself and no pesky tax paying cyclists on *his* road. And uses pejoratives to refer to others. Have a good life my guy.Now isn't that rich!?
I'm currently walking on the centennial trail in Snohomish Co. It's a beautiful biking path. I think you can go more than 50 miles on it, there and back. I walk in it regularly. In the last hour I've seen a handful of cyclists.
We are clearly neighbors. I'm in Sammamish. I love the Centennial Trail. I rode part of it yesterday as part of a longer ride. My commute is mostly on the Sammamish River Trail and then low traffic surface streets. The SRT and the other trail systems in KingCo can be very busy in summer. In winter, it is a different story, but you see more wildlife on the trail. I saw a cougar once on the SRT. It certainly pushed my speed up quite a bit!
FWIW the cougar was near the part of the trail near Costco/Costco HQ in Issaquah. There were several signs warning of cougar presence and you are usually, yeah, right. Until I saw the cougar cross the trail about 200 feet ahead of me. Needless to say, I did a quick U turn.
They have cougar sighting warnings up along the Centennial trail, too. I keep looking, hoping to see one but I never do.
How often is this happening to you? Then you just have to wait until it's safe, again, what 1 min? Here in VA they changed our law to state that as a driver, you can safely pass a cyclist over the double yellow (when safe). You typically aren't swinging into the other lane, you are just moving past them which often just mean touching the line to move around at a safe distance. Somehow this has never been an issue for me.
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A little diversion on the subject. Not sure brake checking bicyclist would be an occurrence in Turkmenistan.
Turkmenistan, where a liter of gas is cheaper than a liter of water, is a big proponent of bicycles. The president of Turkmenistan built a huge monument to bicycling. This link has about 20 pictures of the bicycle monument. Kind of fascinating.
https://turkmenportal.com/en/photor...cle-monument-and-takes-part-in-mass-bike-ride
Turkmenistan, where a liter of gas is cheaper than a liter of water, is a big proponent of bicycles. The president of Turkmenistan built a huge monument to bicycling. This link has about 20 pictures of the bicycle monument. Kind of fascinating.
https://turkmenportal.com/en/photor...cle-monument-and-takes-part-in-mass-bike-ride
