slowandsteady

...this forum should be renamed "Crybabies on Bikes."

rando

Crybaby.

JavaMan

Good point.

slowandsteady

JavaMan

Calling people idiots does tend to hit a nerve now and then!

EnigManiac

Tom, no-one here disputed that the cyclist you originally wrote about behaved foolishly and recklessly by running the red, racing up onto the sidewalk and cussing you out. We are all behind you on that, I am sure (although I can't speak for everyone). However, you must see why people, myself first among them, called you up on the carpet over the obvious and glaring hypocrisy of ranting about the guy going up on the sidewalk while you, yourself, were on the sidewalk. Had you mentioned in the OP that it is legal to ride on the sidewalk where you live and your only objection was that the other rider raced onto it, possibly endangering pedestrians, there would likely not have been mention of it. But, considering that sidewalk cycling is illegal almost everywhere, it was a natural assumption that you were commiting a (mildly) illegal act while bemoaning someone else doing the same thing. Some of your responses to some of those peoples free expressions could be described as defensive, petulant and childish, so you must take responsibility not only for the omission of an important fact, but also your own conduct in the thread. Not once did I see you acknowledge the omission or the obvious dangers of sidewalk cycling nor offer a description of the type of sidewalks (clogged with pedestrians, traffic-free, etc.) to clarify. Everyone was expressing ideas, as you mention these forums are intended for, and you disagreed with some of them, but now you remove your remarks in protest of others exercising the same privelege you did. It makes no sense.

Safe riding. No hard feelings. Take care.

JavaMan

EnigManiac - I don't know who you are, but you are very polite and have a nice way of expressing yourself.

EnigManiac

Thank you. Kind of you to say

tomcryar

P.S. EnigManiac--I do appreciate your comments, and I have learned something from you. I don't agree with your views on "sidewalk cycling" but that is for another time. Thank you and several others for some intelligent discourse. I do have a problem with childish behavior (not child-like bahavior, which is good). 99 percent of the comments I received here have been good. Just these few made me quit this thread. So, They can have it. I'm done .

geo8rge

"The laws only apply to you when you want them to."

Laws are only useful when they make sense. If you are on a road, and the traffic is dangerous, and the sidewalk is relatively empty it seems that you should be on the sidewalk.

When I was in Rome Italy I did not see many traffic lights. Pedestrians would just walk off the sidewalk, the cars stopped. Itlay is a nation of common sense not laws. In the US there is a perception that highly paid police memorizing hundreds of rules and regulations are the solution to all problems.

EnigManiac

Common sense is often in short-supply in the US and elsewhere. But what is common sense, accepted practice and cultural custom in one place seem foreign, absurd and illogical in other places.

To me, it just doesn't make sense to ride on a sidewalk: they're narrow with little escape room; dangerous due to business, residence and office doors opening directly onto them and motorists and passengers exiting vehicles; bumpy and uncomfortable due to the dividing lines between sidewalk blocks and sloped curbs at cross-streets; slow due to sharing the narrow space with other sidewalk users.

Of course, I live in a congested urban environment and these are the kinds of sidewalks I am accustomed to. It makes absolutely no sense to ride on them where I live, but perhaps in suburban areas where sidewalks are flanked by grass and few pedestrians are walking on them, they might provide a safer route than the adjacent fast-moving multi-lane thoroughfare. Common sense, therefore, is relative.

0_emissions :=)

I have an Albanian friend who used to play soccer in Italy. He might offer a little different view. Yes, there is more common sense, but most of the drivers there are INSANE. You really do have to look both ways before crossing, because most do not stop for you. Again, this might just be his view, as he got hit once whilst crossing the street. Could have been his fault, I don't know.

rando

I would like to point out that I was calling all those who were calling the OP a "crybaby", crybabies themselves, not the OP. I believe the subtle humor was lost because of the way I wrote it. I meant no offense to the OP.

+1 on enigmatic being a very valuable member of the forum, even though he and I have disagreed occassionally, he is very knowledgeable and polite.

cudak888 

I'm surprised this thread is still going...

-Kurt

rando

It's on life-support right now, soon to be dead, only to be resurrected later. much like velojesus.

rando

crybaby.

rando

linux_author

????

- if this is even remotely possible (which i doubt), then you're obviously not using a Linux-based operating system?

- on_topic:

riding on the sidewalk in my neck of the woods down here in Florida is sometimes a necessity... there are many highly traveled roads with high-speed traffic (50mph+)... nearly half the drivers hold a cellphone planted in an ear while driving, and when snowbirds or spring breakers abound, many are slightly or more than slightly intoxicated, impatient, or distracted...

catatonic pegged a good point... while it is possible to find some good stretches of road and not use the sidewalk, there are many areas where you would have to be INSANE to ride on the road - even if legally entitled...

Caspar_s

sing:
We're Canadian and we're not gay, we're just so polite it seems that waaaayyy!
/sing