cs1

The most annoying thing I notice about cyclists in general is their total disregard for traffic signals. I am an avid bicyclist and always stop at intersections. 99% of the cyclists I see just ride through. They are the first to complain when they get hit by a car or hear about some car/bike accident. Why is this? Are traffic laws only for cars?


Tim

Primevci

is gasing it the way they do it where ya live the guy sounds like a douch but in that situation i woulda just stoped evan if you had right of way it could have been worse and he coulda lied is all...

Primevci

see ya left that all out of the orginal post...

konageezer

What?

ghettocruiser

Let's lose the implied group responsibility for these characters.

When are we going to stop grouping ourselves with drunk guys waving down the road on bikes they stole from a dumpster after their DUI conviction?

Every fifteen threads there is some variation on this theme. These guys aren't cyclists. They're just random people that happen to be sitting on bikes rolling down the road.

ofofhy

Here's one for you that I saw yesterday. I was riding in a car with my dad on a "country" road, going to play some golf. There were two cyclists, riding singlefile down the righthand side of the road. When they looked back and saw us coming, they went to two-abreast, and moved into the center of the lane. Why? Why not stay single file and allow a car even more room to pass you. Especially when Massachusetts law stipulates that... " (1) The operator shall ride single file on any way except when passing."

Treespeed

I have to agree with this statement. It seems like the number one argument against cyclists rights that I read and hear from motorists is that cyclists don't obey the law. As if cyclists were one big club that had control over all of its disparate members. I'm no more responsible for wrong-way, stop-light running cyclists than any random motorist is responsible for a speeding teenager or late night drunk driver. We need to stop apoligizing for these yahoos and start calling BS on this baseless argument against cyclist rights.

-Marcus.

galen_52657

They wanted your tee time.....

barenakedbiker

Cyclists aren't the only ones with a total disregard for traffic laws. Motorists break laws too.

Roody

You ride your way, I'll ride mine. If you actually stop for every stop sign, even on a quiet street where you have a clear view of traffic, you are a better citizen than I am. But not necessarily a better cyclist, or even a safer one.

randya

I never trust anyone who says that they are an "avid" cyclist.

And without even trying I see at least a half dozen or more motorists everyday flagrantly violating traffic laws, such as failing to stop for traffic signals and stop signs, and if I included speeding, those numbers would be much much higher...

Mr. Miskatonic

I stop at lights and signs. I admit to slowing for most signs when there is no coming traffic. No worse than what cars do, and often much better.

I dislike those who jump lights since it contributes to the idea that bikers are scofflaws. I won't say I 've never run a light, but when I did it was due to mitigating circumstances and conditions (extreme cold, bad neighborhood, etc.) and the roadway was clear.

That said, I have noticed that the vast majority of cyclists who 'run red lights' acutally stop, then go when it is clear. Bad, but not incredibly dangerous. A handful never stop, but they are less common.

Now this behavior is considered appalling by any driver you talk to, but compare it to what many drivers do:

Drivers are very fond of extending reds and jumping reds. It has gotten so bad here in Philly that many intersections have delayed reds.

One intersection I encoutner (on foot) is at the end of the Ben Franklin bridge. The cars that cross this almost always cross into the red. They are still running it after it has been red for a couple of seconds. This is not some 1 lane road they are scooting past, this road has eight lanes. This is incredibly risky behavior, yet most drivers do it at some point. Nobody make more than a "sheesh" comment or two. Policemen have been stationed there don't do a thing about it.

I-Like-To-Bike

I doubly distrust those who apply the label of "serious", "real" or "true" cyclist to themselves or cyclists like themselves, feel they are something special, and have needs/desires that take precedence over those of cyclists not considered "serious", "real" or "true".

tippy

My comment is moot since it pertains to Florida traffic laws ... so here goes.

If a cyclist is in a situation where the lane is so narrow (such as "a "country" road" as you say) that another vehicle cannot pass safely (using the same lane), the cyclist may take the entire lane. If there are two cyclists, they may ride two (and not more) abreast as long as the conditions are the same (narrow lane). If the lane has sufficient width to allow a vehicle to pass safely in the same lane, then the cyclist should not ride abreast. Traffic engineers say this width is around 14 feet or greater however I don't see to many traffic engineers riding bikes. They would probably bump this up to around 16 - 18 feet if they did.

So technically (conditions allowing), they may ride abreast. The only reason I can think of as to why they went from single to abreast is maybe they wanted to display a strong indication to approaching traffic that THEY felt the lane was too narrow to share. They could have did the same thing by staying in line and moving the line to the center of the lane. The indication would have been the same.

or they could have been a couple of a**hole*.

Since I don't know the exact conditions of the roadway (lane width, potholes, curbs, etc), all this is guestimation.

d.tipton

B10Cycle

I, personally, obey all laws. I stop at lights, stop signs, and yield where I need to. The only time I run lights is when it's one that requires the weight/metal of a car to trigger the light and there are no cars around.

My non-cycling friend would always pi$$ and moan at me about some idiot guy on a bike who did something stupid around him. Eventually I got sick of all of this crap and just said, "Oh, I'll talk to him at the meeting next month." I think I had my buddy going for a second, like all cyclists get together and compare notes on how to screw drivers and get away with illegal stuff. In the end, it made him think and realize that it's not all of us.

ObscureRefMan

I've got to go against ghettocruiser, and other "bicycle apologists" and agree with cs1. In my experience (been riding since I was a kid, and for the past few years between 500-1000 miles/year), I would say most of the road cyclists I see are not very law-abiding. The most common offense - running stop signs and red lights.

And we wonder why motorists hate us...

Jim-in-Kirkland

If the majority of cyclists disobey the law, doesn't it follow that any accident involving a cyclist would be the result of their negligence to follow the law?

In my opinion it is a drag, that regardless of how safely I cycle – that when I eventually get run over by some careless driver, it will be assumed by the police that I was doing something wrong on my bike and the driver of the vehicle is not at fault.

Sound right?

PaulH

Here in the DC area, the absolute number of lawbreaking cyclists seems lower than that of lawbreaking drivers. I also think that a majority of cyclists are lawful here. This may be an artifact of when I ride -- morning and evening rush hour. If the cross street always has a flow of traffic until the light changes, the incentive for either cars or bikes to run the light is not there.

I stop and scan at each stop light and sign. In most cases, I don't have a good sight line until I am stopped at the line. There are lots of trees, tall parked cars/trucks, and the like around here.

Paul

oboeguy

I run lots of red lights and stop signs on the bike. Why? It's usually safer to do it. It minimizes the amount of time I'm in traffic with cars.

Peds do the same here in NYC and other places. Transportation Alternatives had a nice piece on the sort of "group conciousness" that goes into this sort of thing working. I admit I was shocked when in Vienna last summer I and my better half were the only two people jaywalking. I guess some cities are different. Anyhow, traffic lights and stop signs are designed around how car traffic flows. Who's to say that it isn't better for cyclist often to use their judgement? (like motorists do at the bazillions of intersections where there are no stop signs or traffic lights) Meh, I'm sure this is a dead horse around here anyway.

slvoid

I think maybe thursday, I will ride and completely abide by the law on my 25 mile round trip through NYC, we'll see how slow I am heh...

ghettocruiser

I'm left wondering where anyone got the twisted notion that motorists *respect* those who abide by the law. You must live in very different places from where I do.

This weeks' example: The fact that the old lady crossing the street Sunday afternoon was doing so legally with the light didn't stop her from getting cursed out by a motorist trying to turn. The issue was that she took 40 seconds to cross the road, probably because she was pushing 90 years of age. Motorist+delay=anger. There were no laws in the equation.

If motorists really respected me for obeying the law, why are they yelling at me to get on the sidewalk. They don't care about laws unless they help them drive faster.

And the fact that some random roadie blew a stop sign isn't going to get me writing a public apology to motorists everywhere.

webist

This morning's ride took forever. I stopped at a traffic signal that wouldn't trip because it was too early for cross traffic. I only intended to wait for a gap in traffic or someone to trip the light. After a drink from the water bottle, I decided to run the light as soon as a gap appeared. Then the strangest thing happened.

All the traffic heading to work at 50 MPH on a four lane highway sudenly began stopping and rolling down their windows to tell me how much they respected me for not running the light. I finally had to make a right-on-red to escape all those respectful motorists.

I-Like-To-Bike

I think those notions come from the same place that some "expert" cyclists get notions about relying on motorists correctly interpreting cryptic traffic messages communicated by the "expert" cyclist's head nods, pedal cadences, or steely gazes.

I believe it is the land of dreamy imagination and wishful thinking.

randya

Traffic laws were written for motorists piloting 2000# WMDs, and they don't even obey them a whole heck of a lot of the time. They really don't give a ***** if bicyclists obey the law or not, they just want the cyclists "out of their way" and off "their" road.

LittleBigMan

As a cyclist, I believe in obeying the law, if not always to the letter, at least in a genuine spirit of safety.

But I have to wonder--if motorists "write their own laws" by speeding, rolling through stops, turning right on red when there's a sign prohibiting it, running yellow and red lights, blocking intersections, tailgating at high speeds, ignoring malfunctioning traffic lights, racing and driving aggressively, would it be right for police to focus on cyclists who also flaunt the law, especially since their 25 - 30 pound machine poses little threat to any other vehicle? Seems to me the real danger is motorists.

And yet, we cyclists should set a good example, mostly because bicycles are a major form of transportation to young people who tend to copy what they see others do.