Originally Posted by
B. Carfree
I agree that the cyclist is a self righteous zealot. However, how can it be argued that he is holding up traffic when there is a lane available to pass him? And unless that lane he is in is over thirteen feet wide, he would be offering a dangerous invitation to same-lane passing if he hugged the fog line, which makes it impracticable to hug the side.
So, we agree that cyclists shouldn't have a big problem with riding as far to the right as is practicable, but you seem to be omitting the safety component of practicable; practicable is not the same as possible. We ride in the real world and I would think any cyclist with a reasonable amount of experience on the road would know the danger of inviting a close pass by hugging the right in a substandard width lane. (Using the common definition of substandard width lane being one in which it is not safe for a motor vehicle to pass a cyclist while both are entirely within the lane.)
As a Massachusetts rider, who rides route 9 in the Northampton/Hadley area occasionally, I feel Eli Damon has done his fellow cyclists no favor by pushing the envelope and into court.
Mr. Damon deliberately pushed the limits of reason on this and several occasions in order to make a point. He was positioned where he was
not because it was the safest place to ride but
to deliberately provoke a confrontation with motorists and LEO's. Anyone interpreting this case otherwise is engaging in fanciful wishful thinking. Mr. Damon wore a video camera to record his confrontations with LEO's and drivers to expose what he feels is an inequity in a cyclist's right to the road.
He got what he wanted- his day in court. And, despite good legal representation, was unable to make his case. Because Mr. Damon was not just a bike rider engaged in the simple activity of getting from point A to B, in an area where there are a large number of recreational and transportational cyclists who are not having these same confrontations with motorists and LEO's, but instead was riding in a manner in order to make a political statement he has done, IMO, all of us a disservice when we are next in a circumstance where we actually do feel justified to take the lane for our safety.
I am sure Mr. Damon was intent on "educating motorists et al" as to the cyclist's rightful place on the road but all he has managed to educate them to is the concept of bicyclists as out of touch self-righteous zealots.