Commuting - My town's bike plan survey

I was taking a survey related to the so-called "Raleigh Comprehensive Bicycle Plan".
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=xyxe0TrdbunTnFsUR7hp8w_3d_3d

I was shocked when I got to the page that contained the following:


25. How do you feel drivers in your area typically behave around bicyclists? (Please check all that apply)
How do you feel drivers in your area typically behave around bicyclists? (Please check all that apply)

- Courteous, yield, and give bicyclists space
- Drive too fast
- Pass bicyclists too closely
- Tolerate bicyclists not following rules of the road
- Harass bicyclists
- Fail to yield to bicyclists crossing a street
- Other (please specify)


26. How do you feel bicyclists in your area typically behave? (Please check all that apply)
How do you feel bicyclists in your area typically behave? (Please check all that apply)
- Courteous, obeying all traffic laws
- Cycle in the roadway the opposing direction as vehicles
- Fail to comply with traffic laws
- Ride too slowly
- Are young and/or inexperienced
- Multiple cyclists ride abreast in the same travel lane
- Behave rudely
- Don’t signal turns or stops
- Ride on sidewalks
- Ride at night without lights



As if the only opinions you could have about a group were negative. I found the "tolerate bicyclists not following the rules of the road" particularly odd.

Then of course, drivers get the chance to slam riders on prettymuch all of the hotbutton topics.

I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, but the general negativity of this page surprised me.

I took that survey and thought the questions were oddly worded, too.

I feel like what they did was make questions based entirely on complaints people had made. As a result, all of the responses were skewed negative, because no one writes/calls in with a "complaint" about how courteous and attentive someone was on the road.

Unfortunately it seems like if you're looking for accurate feedback from people who haven't gone out of their way to complain, you're going to affect their responses by listing primarily negative results.

And "tolerate bicycles not following the rules of the road" is a very odd one. It also seems to be an option formed from compaints about "bicyles not following the rules of the road." One reason it's a strange and perhaps inappropriate option is that when I hear drivers complaining about cyclists not following the rules of the road, as often as not, it's the driver who is unaware of the rules of the road. Their complaints are often, "They don't ride on the sidewalk." or "They hold up traffic by riding in a 45 mph zone." or "They don't ride on the shoulder, so I have to wait to pass."

In my experience 90% of all motor vehicle drivers regularly break the law as they exceed speed limits and fail to signal turns. Because they are all doing it, they do not notice. In fact, many seem to believe that a speed limit is the MINIMUM speed at which you should travel on the road.

In my experience 90% of all motor vehicle drivers regularly break the law as they exceed speed limits and fail to signal turns.

The other 10% of the time, you're just not looking. I actually DO obey all traffic law, and sometimes it nearly gets me rear-ended as I come to a complete stop at a stop sign with someone behind me, etc.