Originally Posted by genec
The problem is that someone has to be "first..." While I ride around in the street demonstrating the proper VC method, there are 5 X more cyclists riding the same area on sidewalks.
While taking a Road II class a couple years ago we were honked at and a motorist told me that we should be riding "like those other cyclists... " "Oh, which cyclists." "The ones on the sidewalk and at the curb... you folks should not be out in the street." My next reply: "And how exactly do you make left turns then..." His response: "Well you figure that out... "
The problem is that no one tells the motorists to share the roads and that cyclists have the same rights to the road as they. (that 5 minute speech back in drivers' ed just did not sink in) Then the motorists see all these folks on bikes riding along on the sidewalk, and that suits them just fine. (and those cyclists have no motivation for doing it any other way... nor the inclination to seek another way) Then I come along riding 15MPH in the middle of the "motorists' 35MPH lane" and the responses are uh, "less than friendly."
BTW we were also honked at in the Road I class (classic, actually) by an SUV driving motorist that thought we were not riding far enough right. We were a large group both times of about 10 cyclists... was this not "enough" cyclists for those motorists to "come to accept this without a fuss?"
Until motorists have a clue... then the individual cyclist pretty much has to fight for their postion on the road. Hardly a positive environment. (BTW bike lanes don't help much in this fight, but they do indicate that cyclists at least shouldn't be "on the sidewalk.")
This clearly indicates society's ignorance about vehicular cycling. Motorists must be educated that cyclists have the right to use the roadway, and punished when they harass cyclists operating properly. Better still, society in general should be familiar with proper roadway cycling, so they do not misconstrue proper cycling to be inappropriate, unlawful, or dangerous.
How do we accomplish this? Cyclist advocates have limited power by themselves, even when we talk Clear Channel radio into airing thousands of PSAs about road sharing and distribute all the flyers in the world. This ultimately requires the cooperation of government. This is where vehicular cycling advocates target the majority of their energy, attempting to educate law enforcement at the state and local level why cyclists should be considered legitimate users of roadways, and what we believe must be done to improve the behavior of both motorists and cyclists.
In the ten years that I've been cycling in Cary, I believe that motorist harassment has decreased, while both motor and on-roadway bicycle traffic have increased. I generally sense a greater level of cooperation by drivers. The only places where I have experienced increases in harassment are on wide-lane residential streets where bike lane striping was recently added, and the corresponding area filled with debris, requiring me to stay outside the marked lane. I think the motorists may be getting used to road cyclists staying outside the debris-filled bike lanes, though.