Originally Posted by
WonderMonkey
I try hard to not generalize but people do fall into the "Everybody does it, so ...." and "It's the way things are..." and so forth. I guarantee you that in some place in my life I do this as well yet I don't realize it. I certainly HOPE I am not but possibly I am.
I only get to make decisions on what I notice. I try to notice all the bikes on the road that are doing a great job. I try to notice all the cars that are doing what they should with sharing the road. We know that the few drives the majority of impressions that stick with us and therefore we react to that.
Small but boring story.... I'm 6'2". When I got out of the military and went to OSU (college) I thought "Wow, everybody is so damn tall, it used to be that 6'2" was considered tall!" Then I decided that the next time I walked across campus I was going to look at each person. So I did. As can be expected I was only noticing the taller people and making a judgement on that. It's what sticks out.
Hehe, kind of like when you buy a certain car, and all of a sudden, it seems that half the people you encounter now have that very same car- but of course, it's just because we didn't notice those cars before, but do now, because we have one.
But jerks are just jerks....
I mean, I roll plenty of stop signs on my bike- but only in situations where I can clearly see what is going on in all directions and know that I will not be creating a hazard to others or myself. As a cyclist, I may have just as much right to use the road as any car or truck, but I do try and use common sense and courtesy so as not to unduly inconvenience faster/bigger vehicles. I never want to give any sane driver a reason to complain about me being on the road....if a car's coming up behind me on a narrow road, it doesn't take much effort for me to pull off into a driveway for a second to let the guy go by, instead of letting him be stuck behind me for 5 minutes as I labor up a hill at 5MPH, and where he can't see far enough to pass me. Just little courtesies like that go so far.
On the other extreme, the strictly-by-the-book types who come to a complete stop at any and every stop sign just because "It's the law" can be equally annoying. As with most things in life, common sense and moderation are the keys.