mozad655

Another accident caused by some cyclists who decided to take the full lane, thus blocking the road and provoking dangerous overtakings. Apparantly one of them was hit by a passing police vehicle (which in their mind automatically made the cyclist a victim). The officer signaled that they should make room for passing vehicles, and the cyclists refused. The cyclists expected the police vehicle to drive behind them at low speed for the entire way. In other words, that all vehicles on the road slow down to their speed. Apparantly trying to blocking all traffic behind you is the "safest" way to ride. Funny how most of these accidents with passing cars seem to happen to riders with that kind of egocentric mentality. I'll leave you with a video of what followed after; the cyclists shouting at the police and playing the victim game because their vehicle is delicate and they got hurt in an accident that they provoked. I am a cyclist. I have never owned a car. I believe reckless cyclists like these are a shame to the cycling-movement but fortunately also a rarity. Darwin is taking care of that for us.

https://www.liveleak.com/view?i=87f_1433901279

bikemig 

Pretty hard to say who was in the wrong here since there is no video of the actual accident only the ranting that occurred afterwards. I do like that lady who just popped up out of nowhere to add her two cents and take a vid with her smart phone. She's a sweetheart.

kickstart

It always amazes me that some can't see beyond their narrow point of view, dogmatic yielding to others is just as ignorant and unproductive as dogmatic lane taking. I ride in the real world, not in my head, I find observation and pragmatism works best.

benjdm

Oh, bulls*^t. Riding in the center of the lane doesn't provoke dangerous overtakings. Impatient and reckless drivers are the ones doing the dangerous overtakings.

I piss off other drivers when I'm driving by following the speed limit laws. Just today, I had a car behind me tailgate me for several miles before he ran a red light and used the intersection's left turn only lane as a passing lane to pass me at the intersection. I suppose I provoked him into making a dangerous overtake by not speeding?

bovine

Wait, did the cyclist die? Were his/her genitalia or other reproductive organs rendered nonfunctional somehow from the collision? How exactly is Darwin exerting his will here?

FBinNY 

Bikemig nailed it. We don't have anything to think about here. All we have is the after event fight.

It's like arguing the ref's call without seeing the play.

BTW- most of these events have fault on both sides.

AlmostTrick

Well I'm certainly convinced... Mozad needs a clue!

walrus1

@kickstart Yep and in the real world taking the lane is, when warranted, one of the best things a cyclist can do.


When did the A&S forum become the victim bashing forum? Frankly every time I see it it causes me to want to leave Bike Forums. These threads should be about us supporting each other especially when a fellow cyclist gets killed. There's plenty of cyclist bashing out there in the world. We shouldn't be adding to it here. I really wish the mods would put a stop to it.

LesterOfPuppets

Taking the lane in a 25mph zone is reckless?

insanity!

ItsJustMe

Yup, those drivers were certainly FORCED AT GUNPOINT to run into those cyclists. They clearly had no other choice.

BobbyG

"Discretion is the better part of valor," to paraphrase Shakespeare. You maybe dead right....but you're still dead.

dynodonn 

LEO are human too, making the same bad decisions as other motorists that they are trying to enforce laws on. I once had an LEO accelerate past me at full throttle, when I took the lane to line up with an upcoming bike lane, due to a slight dogleg in the roadway.

The interesting part was that this type of pass would not have happened a couple of weeks earlier, when there were sharrow markings on that section of roadway prior to a repaving of the road. The sharrow markings were reinstalled a week or so later, ending many other higher speed passes being made by other motorists.

Leebo

Bike are vehicles. In MA, same rights, same rules. And share the road.

Leebo

Bike are vehicles. In MA, same rights, same rules. And share the road.

kickstart

I get what your saying, but its certainly more harmful to pretend cyclists never make mistakes or behave badly. Nobody would benefit from limiting responses to a group hug over any and every incident gleaned off the internet.

Excluding an occasional troll, its not "victim bashing" or "blame the cyclist", its understanding, analyzing, and critiquing a cyclists actions in an incident because its educational, which will hopefully help us be mindful of potential issues, and not make the same mistakes ourselves.

molten

[QUOTE=mozad655;17883799]Another accident caused by some cyclists who decided to take the full lane, thus blocking the road and provoking dangerous overtakings. Apparantly one of them was hit by a passing police vehicle (which in their mind automatically made the cyclist a victim). The officer signaled that they should make room for passing vehicles, and the cyclists refused. The cyclists expected the police vehicle to drive behind them at low speed for the entire way. In other words, that all vehicles on the road slow down to their speed. Apparantly trying to blocking all traffic behind you is the "safest" way to ride. Funny how most of these accidents with passing cars seem to happen to riders with that kind of egocentric mentality. I'll leave you with a video of what followed after; the cyclists shouting at the police and playing the victim game because their vehicle is delicate and they got hurt in an accident that they provoked. I am a cyclist. I have never owned a car. I believe reckless cyclists like these are a shame to the cycling-movement but fortunately also a rarity. Darwin is taking care of that for us.

"It amazes me" as much as it "amazes" you: that the non-natives who move to where I live -- bring in the living traits. Of where they move from. Rather than adaption to the society of where these non-natives choose to move to. That seem to cause much of the trouble these non-natives cause. To the native society AND TO ALL TAXPAYERS.

molten

You weren't the smallest one in school class; so you never got beaten-up. Nor picked-on.
So you don't know what it felt like.
Motor-Vehicle vs Bicycle = a matching "bully" situation. Turned incident.

bikemig 

I love this thread. There's no there there since there is no video of what happened. Yet the arguments are flying fast and furious. We just need a sticky here where everyone can bash everyone else. Then we can call a truce in all the other threads in this forum and discuss something novel like advocacy and safety . . . .

AlmostTrick

^^^Let it go on record that I officially bash this post!

Leebo

Point you are trying to make?

Matariki

Yep, cute dress, too.

bikemig 

I was worried that no one would take me up on my invite!

02Giant 

Apparently the road in the background isn't the stretch where the accident happened, there is plenty of room for motorist to pass the cyclist.

FenderTL5

ditto

KonAaron Snake 

I have a pretty dim view of cyclists who take the full lane at all times as a matter of ideology or principle, but that said...NO ONE DESERVES TO BE HIT. Period. Ever. If the officer hit them passing, it is the officer's fault. To put this in simplest terms, two wrongs don't make a right...and someone else's behavior doesn't justify yours.

Everyone...including cyclists...has a duty to avoid accidents. What this means is that if a pedestrian is walking through a red, you are still obligated to slow down and avoid hitting them. Their behavior doesn't make it deer season. This is no different...the cyclists acting like inconsiderate asstards (assuming that's what happened, I can't judge that without seeing the road) doesn't justify an unsafe pass by an officer. If there was contact during the pass...unless a cyclist moved into his lane, it was by definition an unsafe pass. The officer also has a higher responsibility as a public guardian given a great deal of authority.

This is especially offensive because the officer had other options...like issuing tickets, arresting people for creating a disturbance, etc.

If the cyclist had been a poor black guy in Philly, I assure you he would have been beaten, possibly shot, behaving like that.