A bicycle is NOT a car or a pedestrian

[Silverharp]

This is something that pisses me off to no end, especially in a state that is as bike friendly as Oregon.
Virtually every road here has a bike lan on both sides of the street and yet you STILL have these jerkoffs who feel the need to either race down the sidewalks at high speed ignoring everyone in their way (I've had to actually jump off of the sidewalk into the bike lane a few times) or will ride in the middle of the road, also ignoring the bike lanes and slowing traffic to a crawl.
Apparently I REALLY pissed some people off a bit back for commenting on the Critical Mass organization and the fact that several of their chapters are known for manufacturing incidents (the most notorious being the Central Calilfornia chapter) to try and play the victims.
the fact of the matter is that I'm tired of the self rightous and the "We're saving the planet, now fuck off" attitudes or the outright "I'm invulnerable!" jackholes who run stop signs, whip out into traffic, weave in and out of slow traffic and the like.
Mind you these are extreme examples of bicyclinig douchebaggery, but still examples that i have witnessed.
Disclaimer: I am by no means laying claim that all Critical mass chapters are filled with douchebags who would throw bikes under moving cars to claim driver error or break out windows on vehicles, just a few specific trouble makers. Hell, the Utah chapter was pretty mellow, made it a point to hold public bike safety classes. As always, the worst get the most press.

[HYHYBT]

Thank you.

[BlaqueKatt]

the fact of the matter is that I'm tired of the ignorant and the "We're we pay for the road, now fuck off" attitudes or the outright "I'm invulnerable!" jackholes who run stop signs, speed, whip out into traffic, weave in and out of slow traffic and the like.
Mind you these are extreme examples of vehicle douchebaggery, but still examples that i have witnessed.


huh guess all groups have jerks in them.....

[Lace Neil Singer]

Round where I am, we call them the "Lycra Louts". There's a perfectly good bike lane down this dangerous main road, but the lycra clad dickheads insist on cycling on the road, in the centre of the lane. Possibly to prove a point... well, at least they won't have to go far when they push it too far and get knocked off their bikes; there's two undertaker shops along that road.

[Ginger Tea]

I'm a cyclist and I don't like what alot of cyclists do. IIR there was another cyclist thread here where I listed some near misses I've had as a pedestrian or even on the road.

Most recent was turning at a roundabout at night, I had lights, I had signaled clearly and the car behind me showed no intention of letting me go, I had to keep going straight and cross at the lights as a pedestrian, yet the driver upon seeing me NOT turn was a bit WTF?, well you only decided to slow down to let me turn once you got RIGHT NEXT TO ME, what did you think I would do? become a hood ornamant?

Mosts roads where they branch off to left turn only (left hand side of the road over here) and straight on/right turn other lane, I stay in the left lane and go straight on cos it's damn well safer for me and most roads where I should turn right, I may as well pull to the kerb get off and cross at a light cos I rarely get given any slack from cars behind me.

It's a vicious circle, lycra louts piss drivers off so they don't give much leway to any cyclists regardless of how much of the highways code is in their favour.

But I really hate dual cycle lane pavements, only small children, parents with todler saddles and the elderly should be cycling on the pavement away from cars, everyone else should be in the cycle lane and the correct lane, I had one cyclists at ngiht driving on the wrong side of the road towards me with no lights, guess which one of us had to go into traffic, hint it wasn't me.

[lordlundar]

Honestly, I would LOVE to have dedicate cycling lanes where I live. Instead I get the option of either riding in the street and potentially getting run over (motorists here seem to think anything not motorized is not worthy of attention) or ride on the sidewalk and risk a ticket. Thankfully no police officer who has seen me ride on the sidewalk has ever ticketed me (probably realized or was informed that's it's the safer option), so there's that.

As for Critical Mass, as a cyclist (for short range transportation, not really recreation), the actions of some of their chapters just plain disgust me. Blocking emergency vehicles let alone other traffic, staging incidents of victimization, riots at motorists, etc. Get a fucking permit people or I will happily cheer as the police come in and slap the cuffs on you for starting a riot! And well I know there are good chapters, the bad ones really need to start being cut off from the organization. They're making a bad reputation for everyone.

[Silverharp]

the fact of the matter is that I'm tired of the ignorant and the "We're we pay for the road, now fuck off" attitudes or the outright "I'm invulnerable!" jackholes who run stop signs, speed, whip out into traffic, weave in and out of slow traffic and the like.
Mind you these are extreme examples of vehicle douchebaggery, but still examples that i have witnessed.


huh guess all groups have jerks in them.....

Oh, I'm not arguing that. It's just something that's gotten to me since moving here. Oregon spent hudreds of thousands of dollars widening streets to make room for the bike lanes and these asshats STILL act like they own the road and the sidewalks.

[Silverharp]

As for Critical Mass, as a cyclist (for short range transportation, not really recreation), the actions of some of their chapters just plain disgust me. Blocking emergency vehicles let alone other traffic, staging incidents of victimization, riots at motorists, etc. Get a fucking permit people or I will happily cheer as the police come in and slap the cuffs on you for starting a riot! And well I know there are good chapters, the bad ones really need to start being cut off from the organization. They're making a bad reputation for everyone.

I agree completely. My first exposure to Critical Mass were the reports about the San Francisco and Texas chapters attacking motorists with their bikes, and then I heard of the Utah chapter and couldn't believe it was the same organization.
Buy what can you do? hopefully they mellow before someone actually dies.

[jackfaire]

But I really hate dual cycle lane pavements, only small children, parents with todler saddles and the elderly should be cycling on the pavement away from cars, everyone else should be in the cycle lane and the correct lane,.

If I can't ride on the sidewalk I won't ride a bike period. I refuse to risk my neck in the bike lane. It's stupidly designed. I will not run down pedestrians and in my city there aren't many. My city is one giant suburb. More people drive/public transit/ or bike ride than walk.

However the bike lanes are designed in such a way that any car wishing to turn right has to cross the bike lane before turning right. So about 20 feet before the intersection the car has to drive through where the bikes are riding to pull into the right turn lane and then after that then turn right.

This means if your a bicyclist in the bike lane and are going straight then you have to dodge the cars going right and if your trying to turn right good luck because you have to fight the cars for right turning space. Whereas in the same areas this is going on there are large sidewalks barren of any foot traffic perfect for riding your bike on.

When I was a kid riding in the street on your bike was a privilege reserved for those capable of peddling at 30 MPH so that if they had to they could get out a car's way before getting hit. We were raised that you respected walkers and always slowed down when passing them.

I dislike the shifting attitude of I am a jerk for riding my bike on the sidewalk and using crosswalks like a pedestrian. Those bike lanes do not and never have made me feel safe and I am always respectful to the walkers.

[Ginger Tea]

I dislike the shifting attitude of I am a jerk for riding my bike on the sidewalk and using crosswalks like a pedestrian. Those bike lanes do not and never have made me feel safe and I am always respectful to the walkers.

Some streets here have narrow pavements or some obstacle to sidestep, yet still have cyclists on them with little regard to walkers.
I don't want to be in the situation where I could be minding my own business walking along and have to avoid a cycle rack (of which this street has many) and have a cyclist run into the back of me.
We don't indicate to those behind us that we are going to sidestep, possibly into their path, we do not have rear view mirrors or anything else, we are just walking.

If the road/street has a narrow pavement a cyclist crashing into your arse is the last thing you want.

[jackfaire]

We don't indicate to those behind us that we are going to sidestep, possibly into their path, we do not have rear view mirrors or anything else, we are just walking.

The bicyclist shouldn't be going so fast that he runs into you because you make a sudden movement any more than a car or another walker should. If your going fast enough that someone making a sudden movement causes an accident then that person is an idiot.

[Crazedclerkthe2nd]

I am an avid cyclist. The town where I used to live had limited bike lanes. I did ride in the road pretty frequently, but I also spent plenty of time on sidewalks because I felt the road was too dangerous, but I did so knowing two things:

1) I would ALWAYS yield to pedestrians
2) I accept that doing so could get me a fine/ticket

I will never forget one time when I was riding home and on the edge of the road (plenty of room for traffic to go by) and this car flew past me and someone shouted: "Get the fuck off the road!"

Uh, excuse me jackass, as a cyclist I have AS MUCH RIGHT TO THIS ROAD AS YOU DO. A lot of people seem to forget this. Although the guy above was most notable example, there were plenty of other times where motorists made it clear I was inconveniencing them (flipping the bird, honking their horn, blatantly cutting me off).

I stand by my record as a safe cyclist. I cycled a lot for over 10 years and in all that time only had one significant accident because of a driver who missed a stop sign. I was injured, but not seriously.

[BlaqueKatt]

actually riding on the sidewalk is a higher risk(some studies put the risk of a vehicle cycle crash at over 4 times higher for sidewalk riders) as at every driveway and intersection, cars are not expecting fast moving bikes but slow moving pedestrians so when they scan for pedestrians they won't see the cyclist because they're back farther(cyclist around 10-15mph vs. pedestrian at 1-3mph).

stats here

how not to get hit by cars

[Andara Bledin]

...cos it's damn well safer for me and most roads where I should turn right, I may as well pull to the kerb get off and cross at a light cos I rarely get given any slack from cars behind me.

I remain confused at this. If you are going straight through the intersection and were riding up until the light, why would you not ride through, then dismount when you get to the other side, walk the bike around so that you were lined up with the new direction, then mount up and ride through the intersection in the new direction as you would if you had been going that way prior and only stopped due to the light changing?

^-.-^

[HYHYBT]

One thing I wonder... I have seen bike paths (marked as such) running alongside roads that did not have bike lanes. The bike path (again, clearly marked) was smooth and on the other side of the ditch from cars. Why do bicyclists not use those where they are available, but instead ride in the road anyway?