Originally Posted by tomcryar
common "courtesy" to who or to whom.............you make no valid argument one way or the other. what is it that you want to say?
What I wanted to say, I said. Please reread the post: there's a lot crammed in there.
It's common curtesy to other cyclists, pedestrians, and (believe it or not) drivers to ride in the road. One of the priority rules to safe cycling that were drilled into me as a child was to ride predictably. Therefore, I ride in a consistent manner each and every time I'm going somewhere, be it 2 streets down, 2 miles down, or the next county over.
If we (cyclists) tout, even only once a year (or where there aren't any sidewalks), the ability to be recognized as a vehicle, then you have the responsibilities to behave like one. Otherwise, we risk constantly losing access through vehicles being unaccustomed to seeing us and/or legislation that doesn't know we exist.