Posted on 08/09/2009 9:21:20 AM PDT by Excuse_My_Bellicosity
Are you delusional?
You're talking about people towing boats and driving huge RV's, right?
LOL! :-)
Don’t cyclists in Oregon have to obey traffic laws? Why weren’t there people cited for running a red light?
I’m talking about people playing with bicycles in the traffic lane and refusing to move over to let traffic pass.
I don’t run into too many people pulling boats or driving RVs at -10 mph in a 45 mph zone. Nor do I see many of them riding in the middle of the traffic lane at dusk with no rear lights like bicycles around here do.
We have beautiful bike paths in our parks for people who want to play with their bikes. My neighbor puts his bike in his truck and goes there to play on his bike almost every day after work. He isn’t obstructing traffic and I don’t know anyone he bothers when out with his toy.
Take 10% of the drivers that now drive 15 miles or less to work on main highways and freeways. Put them on bikes that naturally gravitate to low traffic residential roads, and roads with wide shoulders. Does traffic on the freeway and major highways improve or get worse for motorists? When I commute to work I impede no traffic in any way. I'm on carefully selected roads where my interaction with motorists is negligible. I leave the often congested freeway I usually drive on free to other people. You may occasionally find yourself behind me in a left turn lane, and it may take you 1.5 more seconds to get through that intersection than if I was in a car. Other than that, I impede you in no way whatsoever. If I was in front of you on the freeway in my car however...
Drivers wouldn't be slowed down to 10mph because a biker is taking too much room and with on coming traffic you can't go around the obstacle.
I don't know where you live, but I encounter this situation in the Twin Cities and surrounding suburbs maybe once every two years, usually on country roads with no shoulder on a Sunday afternoon. Nearly every urban road with a curb is easily capable of providing enough space for motorists to whiz past cyclists unimpeded.
Traffic patterns at intersections would be better because you wouldn't have bikers running lights, or stop signs.
Even assuming your life is filled with cyclists running lights left and right, how exactly does that impede traffic? Illegal, very foolish on the cyclists part, and annoying, but if there's no accident, how is traffic impeded?
Every year there are 5-6 bikers killed in Chicago.
That number seems kind of low for a city that size. I bet that's less than the number of pedestrians killed. Should they be banned?
It's not a good activity in a large urban environment. Bikers should go back to the suburbs.
Actually urban and suburban streets are perfectly designed for cyclists and motorists to peacefully coexist. There's plenty of room along the side of the road. It's single lane highways without a paved shoulder that are a problem. Most cyclists avoid those types of roads. Apart from the antics of the "Critical Mass" idiots, and the occasional red light runner and lane hogger, I think most of the objecting to cyclists existing is simply curmudgeonism. Curmudgeons hold an honored place in my mind, but they get silly about bikes sometimes.
Feel free to call the police on them. If they are riding when automobiles have to have their lights on, the bicycle is required to have a front and rear light. If they are riding on the road they are required to be as far to the right as possible unless they have to avoid some obstacle in the road. They are breaking the law, report them.
seriously...I can’t recall the last time a cyclist slowed me down on a 35-45mph urban street... I get around them just fine... perhaps you need more taxes to widen the roads, LOL!
If there is a bicyclist riding at night with NO lights and you hit them cause you can’t see them... that’s their idiocy.
I find that my bike is really pretty useful for coping with at least one type of government heavy-handedness: It is great for getting around the huge outbreaks of orange traffic cones and barrels that have practically shut down large parts of Lubbock during the last few years. Both of the major thoroughfares near my home are down to one lane, one for the eternally under-construction Marsha Sharp Porkway, the other for one or the other of the city’s own mass of street projects. To add insult to injury, the major cross street that intersects these is now cone-blocked as well.
Normally, it is very dangerous to ride on main Lubbock streets, since Lubbock drivers are some of the craziest and most heedless to be found anywhere. These days, however, with motor traffic forced to slow down to bike speed or stop altogether, it is easy to just zip right by them in the bike lanes or along the curb. The city and Texas Department of Transportation have not yet started to extend the cone/barrel plague onto the curbs and sidewalks but they’re probably working on it.
I find bike paths more dangerous than roads, and given the choice will choose a well designed road over a bike path any time. Cars are predictable and stay in their lane. Cyclists on a trail are not, and do not. Trails attract casual cyclists, roller bladers, and pedestrians, that all act unpredictably. You don't have to worry on the road that an oncoming car will drift to your side of the road for no apparent reason. On a bike path, lane drifting is the norm. It's true that a collision with a fellow cyclist is likely to be far less serious than a collision with a car. But it is also far more likely. A busy cycle path on a nice day, with all kinds of riders going all different speeds and directions, is a hazard.
The last time I called the cops they told me bicycles are only required to have a front light and rear reflector and they have the right to ride in the traffic lanes just like a car or motorcycle.
I have no problem with the ones who ride way to the right and make room for traffic during full day light. At dusk it’s hard to see walkers, dogs, etc. Bicycles any where on the street, but especially in the traffic lane should be lit up at least as well as a motorcycle or not be out there.
Sailboats and Sea-doos are toys, and they cost a lot too.
Photo-shop or real? If real, where? When?
We have people who play with their bikes on a 6 lane divided road, they cross into the far left to turn left across 3 lanes of traffic and ride two or three to a lane.
I find it hard to believe a bake path is more dangerous than that.
Sounds pretty smart to me!
Yep, I'm with you HIDEK6, the person paying the millions may be stupid but the one getting paid is pretty smart in my opinion!
Turn a fire hose on’em!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.