Originally Posted by
daibutsu
We are far more pedestrians than motor vehicles (14 -30 lbs. of mechanical advantage does not equal a motor vehicle); also the mentality that we are somehow aligned with MV's is as wrong as the error that Motor Vehicles own the roads: Why is that an assumption?
Let's see how simple I can make this.
IT DOESN'T MATTER how you think or feel about it; THE LAW OF THE LAND, by which we operate a society of 300 million (not always well, naturally, but that's people for you) is what we all have to go by. We don't get to ignore the law because we disagree with it. Because you may get away with it a few times DOES NOT MEAN it's legal.
The bicycle-related traffic laws are based on the UVC, a federal code. The UVC says bikes have all the rights and duties of motor vehicles on the road. It's up to states to augment that -- some ban sidewalk riding, others define a bike as a "vehicle" (so much for 'ped, pedal, pedestrian; and, BTW, cars have pedals, too) -- but all 50 protect our rights to the road. AND they charge us with the responsibility to operate sensibly.
Thought doesn't matter (but don't stop thinking, you may actually be the one to build that better mousetrap); feeling doesn't matter. Culture and upbringing don't matter. The law is the set of rules we use to get along with strangers who don't think like we do.