Old 07-15-10, 10:51 AM
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DoubleTap
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Originally Posted by cyccommute
Don't fall into that trap. Yes there are putzes who ride bicycles. Yes there are bicyclists who run stopsigns and stoplights. But that pales in comparison to the putzishness that you observe everyday by motorists. How many times have you seen a motorist who tries to beat a yellow from a block away? The motorist is probably speeding, ends up running the red (often long after it's turned red) and is endangering everyone around them. They speed. They drink and drive. And they manage to kill 45,000 people a year...every year...for decades...but no one notices them.

To put it in perspective, there is this



There are 4 million people in Colorado. Say 2/3 of them drive so that's 2.7 million drivers. That means that 0.02% of them are likely to die in an automobile accident in any given year.

There are 1.2 million () adult cyclists in Colorado. That means that 0.0008% of them are likely to die in a bicycling accident in any given year. Who is the more dangerous to have out on the roads...bicycles or cars?

I fully agree that bicyclist should obey the rules of the road. I also think that motorists should obey the rules of the road. We shouldn't need laws to ban texting and cell phone use. We shouldn't need laws that require motorists to pass bicycles at a safe distance when it is safe to do so. But motorists have shown over and over again that they can't be trusted to police themselves any more than bicycle can.
I agree with you, but when you are the minority, as bicyclists are, we have to have better than average behavior. I don't like the way people drive, either, and I try to be a safe courteous driver. But at least I'm not at an inherent, significant disadvantage when I'm in my truck and observe other drivers behaving badly. ON my bicycle, the last thing I need is an angry motorist seeking revenge on a cyclist because the last group he passed wouldn't move single file from a 3 or 4 abreast position on a single lane road.

I view the "trap" as you call it in the opposite way. Just because a certain percentage of drivers behave badly doesn't mean that it's okay if a similar percentage of cyclists do so. If this were a board about driving habits, I'd be saying the same thing. For example, let's all quit running red lights so we don't end up with red light cameras. But, alas, we now have red light cameras at a couple of intersections I drive every day.

And last, I don't think the putziness (is that a word) of cyclists pales in comparison to that of motorists. In my observation, they're neck in neck.
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