Roushe

One of the most vehement anti-cycling rants I've read in a while. Unfortunately, she has a pretty big audience.

https://tinyurl.com/bj7g3pa

Russ

Crazyed..27

"Melissa Carter is also a writer for Huffington Post. She broke ground as the first out lesbian radio personality on a major station in Atlanta and was one of the few out morning show personalities in the country." Strange how she is openly gay, but alternative travel makes her blood boil...Does anybody else see this contradiction?

krobinson103

People like that deserve to be ignored. In fact, when my mother drove she would often SLOW DOWN when people got all impatient and tailgated etc.

E.S.

Just rest in the knowledge that people like that are a-holes and their ideology on this topic, while predominant at the moment, is gradually fading and things are getting better in general for cyclists.

JoeyBike

"Whenever I am stuck in traffic"

I couldn't get past the first line! HAHAHAHahhahahahaaaaaaaaa!

I haven't been stuck in traffic since 1989. "Princess". HAHAHAHAhhhhhhhaaaaaaaa!

Methinks, perhaps, her vehicle is of the wrong shape. HAHAHha....*cough*...*wheeeeze*...i'm done now.

DavidW56

Argh...my heart...Aaccck..stroking out..it's getting dark...can't see...soo cold...gggkkk....

DavidW56

...but I see the comments were refreshingly pro-cycling. Amazing! Looks like her readers are not easily fooled after all.

kite991

I'm kind of at a loss of words. But I'll try to gather them here; 1) it seems like wherever she happens to live does not have a bike lane, seeing as how its like shes complaining that there bikers in the same lane as a car. 2) "A car can reach speeds of 100mph...average rider can only go 20mphs. I'm sorry, I don't quite see the why this needs to be compared, its not like a biker is biking on the freeway, or a car is going up to 100mph in an urban area or around towns (the highest speed limit i've seen for a zone where people bike around my town is 45). 3) the last part about her 10 minutes not being wasted just because a biker has a license plate and "general" knowledge about riding on the road is ridiculous, its like she assumes all bikers have no clue on proper safety, or proper riding rules.

I honestly wish that people like her should ride a bike on the road for a couple of days if not a few weeks. Before I used to complain about bikers being such a pain in the butt and a hassle to deal with on the road, but that was before I started biking on the road, and now I have newfound respect for bikers, and treat them in a way that it works out for both participating parties (eg. I give room to bikers when I pass, I try to not get close to them, because for me its pretty scary when a car passes me just inches away from my side. Or i'll wait patiently for a moment that the bikers who are nice pull over to the side to let me pass or when theres room for me to pass.)

I honestly dont know how else to put my anger into this post and I ended up ranting because of that (sorry) but people like this really urk me

genec

The comments are NOT supporting her at all... in fact one comment even went on to note how much more intelligent the commentors were over the original rant.

Sounds like she happened to have a bad day in traffic and was just looking for a scapegoat... too bad she failed to notice all the cars in her way.

Looigi

What the heck does being gay have to do with somebody's view of alternative travel?

Looigi

Intentionally impeding the progress of others for no reason is a good thing? In my book, this qualifies as aggressive driving.

unterhausen

If someone tailgates me, I slow down to a safe speed for their following distance. It's only prudent

contango 

Not at all, if someone is tailgating the safest thing you can do is slow down.

If someone is driving well inside the safe stopping distance you slow to whatever speed it takes such that the gap they have left represents a safe stopping distance. If they don't like it they can either pass or back off.

The worst thing you can do when dealing with a tailgater is speed up, usually all they do is take up the slack and end up dangerously close at a higher speed. If you should have to break hard the inevitable result is an unwanted visitor to your back seat.

kmv2

lol why..

Notso_fastLane

Well, next time, get out of the left lane....

I like that the comments were mostly negative.

Commodus

well it seems that both 'groups' have had to deal with a disapproving majority.

KonAaron Snake 

She doesn't like being inconvenienced by slower traffic - sorry, but my blood isn't boiling. I disagree with her, I think she's too quick to throw out the interests of cyclists, but I understand her annoyance. Sorry, but I see nothing uber offensive here...she finds it annoying being stuck behind slower traffic. I find it annoying getting stuck behind walkers on a MUP...it doesn't mean they shouldn't be allowed to use the MUP, but I think not wanting to wait is a natural human impulse.

I obviously am not endorsing her licensing idea...or the obvious actual impact that she wants - no cyclists. I strongly disagree with her...but she's throwing out an autocentric idea onto the market place of ideas. She's not advocating running us over. I will go through a light if there is no oncoming traffic...I know that there are others that this annoys. I don't think they;re really annoyed by the action since they don't seem to care about peds doing it. They're annoyed because we do slow things down and they're looking to be annoyed.

squirtdad

unless it incites road rage and they brake check you....... there are some true idiots out there

dramiscram

I think she's got a point.

















(just joking)

Yo Spiff

You know its like slowing down to look at an accident. Going to go raise my BP. The comments should be interesting, too.

Added: Ok, that wasn't so bad. She obviously is one of those folks that feels bikes don't belong on "her" road. I wouldn't object to testing and licensing, though I know it is unrealistic and has failed when tried. There are many cyclists who ignore traffic rules and we need to educate them as much as we do the drivers. I rode with someone new several weeks ago who just blew through every stop sign and red light at full speed. It was all I could do to bite my tongue and not give him a lecture. I settled for mentioning (when I finally caught up) that I do stop for signs and lights, so he is going to drop me.

genec

The only reason I would ever accept any sort of bike licensing scheme is to raise a middle finger to folks like her... to say "look I have your freakin' license, now f off."

The reality is that my motor vehicle drivers license IS a legal license to drive, and should be plenty sufficient for driving a bike.

Matariki

I don't agree with her views. They are typical of non-cyclists i.e. not very balanced. I do, however; understand how she would develop them. It is unfortunate that everybody remembers bad behavior (leaning against a car at a stop - that would get me steamed) but we rarely remember the good traffic interactions.

Anyhow, I didn't think this article was a vehement rant. I've had stronger complaints about other cyclists that I encounter on my bike. And don't get me started about skateboarders on the road.

Crazyed..27

+1

Crazyed..27

I once saw a woman walking on the sidewalk reading a book, her toe hit a crack in the sidewalk, and she did a face plant...wish I had my helmet cam on that day.

10 Wheels

[h=2]Don't read if you have high blood pressure....[/h]

Good Idea..