jamiegoesbiking

I was at my LBS ordering a new road bike last week, and I was talking with one young roadie who has way more experience than me.

He was telling me that in our area (Michigan), if you put on an American flag patch on your jersey or wear something red white and blue, motorists and random people treat you way better. Rather than getting almost run over, people honk their horns and wave much more, he said.

Do you all notice this in other places?

eubi

In SoCal...not at all.

I doubt anyone notices if I am wearing a flag or not.

CB HI

Not in Hawaii.
Except of course on one of the military bases.

amahana1

Actually youre not supposed to wear the US flag at all..... https://www.suvcw.org/flag.htm

Section 8: par d and j

eelozano

This is not a civilian code. If you choose to respect the code then you are not supposed to wear a flag. However you do not have to respect the code since it does not apply to most.

jamiegoesbiking

I thought the code meant that you should not literally wear a flag, like Kid Rock did when he turned a real flag into a poncho during the Super Bowl.

Wearing a jersey with a flag image/patch on it would seem to fall in line with the bagillion other hats and shirts people wear with the flag on it.

Roody

I don't know--maybe out in the boonies, or in a blue state. Act assertive and friendly and most of them will respect you without a flag. The hell with the few who don't.

zonatandem

Motorists are to pre-occupied to see a cyclist, let alone a flag on your jersey!

PaulH

In the weeks right after the 9/11 attack, I wore my American flag necktie. I got a lot of thumbs up and "V" signs while riding through Washington, DC area traffic.

Paul

amahana1

The flag code actually applies to everyone, it does not state that it is specific to one group of people...ie military, government or civ, however the code is not meant to be an end all follow the rule or go to jail type of situation. The code was developed to act as a guideline for ceremonies and general display of the flag and was written in good spirit. The flag code is not classified as a "legal" code. To abide by the flag code is purely up to the individual!

Personally, I would never wear an actual flag as any part of clothing.

jamiegoesbiking you are right it only applies to an actual US flag.

-=(8)=-

Probably wouldnt apply in France.

bac

Dooooooooooooooooh!

cookiepuss

I guess those astronauts at NASA, Lance Armstrong, and a LOT more people are breaking the rules.

John Ridley

Not according to the referenced law. It's DC law, dunno if it applies elsewhere, but after editing out the longwindedness, it's pretty clear that the law applies to anything that a reasonable person would think was meant to be a representation of the U.S. flag.

Any person who...shall...expose...to public view...or for use for any purpose, any article..upon which shall have been printed...a representation of any such flag...to...decorate, mark, or distinguish the article...on which so placed shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be punished by a fine not exceeding $100 or by imprisonment for not more than thirty days...

The words ''flag, standard, colors, or ensign'', as used herein, shall include any flag, standard, colors, ensign, or any picture or representation of either, or of any part or parts of either, made of any substance or represented on any substance, of any size evidently purporting to be either of said flag, standard, colors, or ensign of the United States of America or a picture or a representation of either, upon which shall be shown the colors, the stars and the stripes, in any number of either thereof, or of any part or parts of either, by which the average person seeing the same without deliberation may believe the same to represent the flag, colors, standard, or ensign of the United States of America.

tofubiker

A roadie friend of mine says he gets treated much better by drivers while riding in Gainesville, FL (it's a small college town) when he wears his University of Florida team jersey with the Gator mascot on it. Makes me wonder what would happen if he wore a rival team's jersey instead.....

lilHinault

The worst case of flag abuse I saw was the US Olympic Committee (USOC) selling gym bags that were essentially made out of US flags. Yeah, I'm gonna put my smelly sweaty gym clothes in this thing, and then put it on the floor! Yeah, there's an idea!

outashape

It is common knowledge that an American Flag on the back of your motorcycle will result in favorable treatment from motorists and especially truckers. We never go on a road trip without a flag attached to the back of the bike. I don't have a flag on my bicycle nor an American jersey so I cannot comment on the effects in regards to bicycling.

phinney

Pro U.S. clothing is a plus in Michigan traffic. Michigan is a blue collar state that is very pro U.S. and especially U.S. manufacturing. Probably wouldn't work as well in some other places.

mr_tom

If you're a USian in the UK, wearing a Canadian flag will get you treated better.

sethw

I pinned them to my trunk rack on my bike. I actually used flags that I found on the side of the road - you know, the ones that fell off cars and trucks.. Heh... I have like three of them.

But I dont know if its helped me live better on the streets

pseudobrit

Don't go there.

My brother and I bought and wore U of Miami and FSU t-shirts as a joke in Gainesville and got death threats within minutes of showing ourselves in public.

oboeguy

I have a stars & stripes helmet liner which is only really visible when my helmet is off. However, I get the distinct impression that it gets respect when the helmet if off (I rarely if ever take it off while riding, though, so no *useful* effect).

While in France the past two summers (boohoo! not this time ) we carried a large American flag to various TdF venues. Proudest moment (aside from being spotted on TV by friends and family heehee) was walking in Bordeaux across a bridge to the start of a stage with the big flag held between us, getting the bird from a local.

jbonus

Michigan is a weird place. I used to have relatives living in Michigan. The locals are OCD American. They used to and sometimes still slash tires and break windows of foreign cars. They did and still do have a conflict with the large Arab community.

Roody

You, sir or madam, are full of crap. Michigan is and always will be the greatest state in the union. And we will slash the tires of any foreigner who says other wise!

Truthfully, I think your opinion may have had a slight basis in fact--25 years ago! Let me supply some more up-to-date information--totally unbiased, of course. Today, Michigan is proud to have the largest Arab population in North America, and people all over the state recently rallied to the support of an Arab-Michigander who was wrongly persecuted by the Feds. We are also a center of African-American culture (Malcolm X grew up here) and a thriving blend of Finnish and many other cultures in our Upper Peninsula.

The Big Three auto companies have long had partnerships and affiliations with Japanese, British and German companies, so that tension has dissipated. As in the rest of the country, industry is rapidly becoming a smaller sector of our economy. We are home to two major land grant universities, and the birthplace of Motown, Bob Seger, Iggy Pop, techno, and many other forms of music.

Michigan is one of the most beautiful regions of the world, nearly surrounded by stunning beaches on four of the five Great Lakes, and containing thousands of inland lakes, large and small. We have three national parks and a beautiful system of state parks. If you visited, I guarantee you would love Michigan.

jamiegoesbiking

I don't know, Roody, St. Clair County is pretty awful for bicycling, as far as I can tell =) I'm originally from Northeast Ohio. I lived 10 minutes from Cuyahoga Valley National Park. I could drive just a little bit and ride for hours. I haven't figured out where I can go to do that in the Port Huron area. Maybe Canada?

On the other hand, St. Clair County is about as blue collar as it gets, and no one has ever said anything to me for driving a Honda with a Sierra Club sticker on it and a Cleveland Indians shirt on my back, hahaha. I like that people in the Midwest are generally nice.

I think it depends where you live. Ann Arbor is awesome, but once you pass New Baltimore going east, it turns a bit weird.