Originally Posted by
genec
The attitude you are experiencing is what gets me off the bike from time to time... I just get tired of the "so what" and being treated like road trash... sure I can act the jerk too... but that doesn't seem right to me and ultimately it is just putting out more bad karma after bad.
The fact is that motorists choose how they treat cyclists... and when they choose to treat me as a human differently simply because I am on a bike... says a lot about those motorists.
We are all "trying to get somewhere," it should not matter whether we are on foot, horse, in car or whatever... there is no priority for road use.
I understand what you're saying. But for me "getting off the bike" isn't an option as I don't drive, and where I live the bus fare for a one-way trip is $2.00. Plus the A/C on them is too cold for me. We do have DART service, but they charge more for that and you have to call and schedule your trip at least a day in advance.
Agreed, how they treat cyclists, pedestrians or even other motorists speaks volumes as to their true personality.
Exactly, respect is a two-way street.
IF they want us as cyclists to give them respect than they need to give us cyclists that same level of respect.
As I said in my OP, if that gal had acted in a polite and respectful manner I would have moved further over to my left so that she could pass and make her turn. But with her constant honking and inching forward I was not feeling inclined to do so. I also guess she probably thought that I should have done as that other cyclist and "filtered" up so that I was alongside that little island, instead of "blocking" her from making her turn.
I also had to laugh at him as further up the road the right lane is closed and the left lane is open for construction on a pedestrian bridge. It had previously been closed with orange barrels with warning lights on top of them but apparently some drivers have hit them in the past. It is now closed off with white saw horses and warning lights. I always move over into the left lane taking the lane to keep motorists from passing, and he opted to continue in the closed lane. Also the entire time that he's riding down the road he is still behaving like a "gutter bunny."
Given how he was riding as soon as I could I put enough space between him and me so that people would not think that we were riding together. As his hugging the gutter was just reinforcing to the motorists that that is where we're "suppose" to ride.