I am going to rant a little here, although I think that this topic has come up once before. I was driving around my campus today, and I came to a stop sign. I stopped completly, as I USUALLY do, the began to continue on my way. Out of the corner of my eye I catch a biker coming down the road the other direction that wants to make a left, and is pointing frantically to indicate this. Either I had to stop or he had to, so I hit him... oh no wait, that was what I wanted to do. Back to reality... he had a stop sign, rolled right through it without slowing down, in front of my car, forcing me to slam on my breaks, and slide to a stop in the snow. After this, he had the great big balls enough to shake his fist at me!! I really did want to follow him, and make sure that he knew stop signs apply to him, but I didn't, so I am venting here. Rob, I know you are a biker, and have said that stopping breaks your rhythm, but there is a line to be drawn. I already made my stop, like a good law abiding driver, and then when I started to go, was cut off. Luckily I was able to withold my New Jersey honking tendencies, but just barely. I have a pretty good tolerence for drivers, but the amount of stupidity on the roads makes me downright mad. Oh well, water under the bridge. Craig
As a newer cyclist I can say that some of the assumptions made by a number of cyclists are amazingly stupid. Kind of a pedestrian "right of way" mentality that doesn't realize that if something SHOULD happen, somehow I think the car won't break as many bones. --Dan
I have a good story. I used to work in downtown Boston and there are tons of nutcase bike messengers that do anything and everything. So I was on a first date with this girl in my Mercury Mountaineer (big SUV). I came to a red light. It went green, and I casually started moving and turned my head left to be sure traffic had stopped before I made it onto the street. Then I hear "THUMP" and the girl screams. I was only going 2-3mph but this bike messenger figured if he just went even though he had a red, everyone would stop, and he was on the sidewalk going the WRONG way against traffic. So he rolls over my hood and lands on the ground and his bike bounces off my bumper and falls. My first reaction was fear that I hit someone. Then the guy jumps up and slaps my hood and yells "hey you ****** why don't you open your eyes!". Immediately I freaked out and my blood started boiling. I have a short temper and so I got out of my car and got ready for an ass kicking.. but the guy backs off. I grabbed his bike picked it up and threw it across the street while yelling some obscenities. His comeback was "you're nuts man!". and he ran away picking up his bike en-route. I should have been the one pissed off, not him! Its funny looking back on it. That girl never let me forget how I went nutso on our first date. Then again, she went nutso long term so I guess it worked out OK.
On a related note... I must admit I'm a little concerned by the following bike issue: the 'share the 55 mph road with me while I practice my road biking skills'. On reduced speed roads, I do feel that a bicycle is generally a safe mode of transportation, provided the moron presence is at a minimum. Obviously there are exceptions to this rule (riding in a congested urban area). However, on high speed roads this issue takes on a much different perspective. I know this has come up here before (Rob), however, (rant starting..) I feel that it is incredibly unsafe for two vehicles with a ~200% differenece in speed, huge difference in mass (3500lb vs 23lb), unbelievable differenece in body protection to share the same area. We don't do this on a race track; i.e. the beginners aren't riding in the advanced group. Also consider the complications imposed by limited sight distance. I am aware that public roads are really 'public roads', but to further illustrate my point, please consider the reasoning behind disallowing bikes on limited access highways. Sure, some responsibility falls on the driver, but, well, I'm not even going to get into the amplification of 'distance traveled, during reaction time' issue as this has been beaten to death previously. Don't get me wrong on this one - I LOVE biking, and believe the health benefits are unrivaled, as I used to mountain bike about 5 days a week for several years. Ok end of rant Thanks, Adam
