Posted on 07/29/2008 7:55:24 AM PDT by fightinJAG
When gas prices surged above $4 per gallon earlier this year, it didn't take Nostradamus to predict that there would be a resultant rush to carbon-free commuting options—especially in a place like Portland, which is known for its ample network of bike lanes. Cyclists in "Stumptown" are spinning their spokes here in unprecedented numbers, trading in their fuel-guzzling SUVs for stylish 27-speeds.
But the cycling surge has created conflict, as the new breed of commuters bumps up against the old, oil-powered kind.
First came a drunk cyclist repeatedly smacking the driver of a car with his bike July 6, before a passerby stopped the melee by knocking the pedaler to the ground with one punch (the driver happened to be a longtime cycling advocate, who'd kicked off the altercation by chiding the biker for blowing through a red light.)
(Excerpt) Read more at newsweek.com ...
I just did not expect somebody to be carrying that kind of speed on a sidewalk, going the wrong way, in a residential neighborhood. This guy was really moving! So now the drill is to check both travel lanes, the opposite traffic for people turning Left, and both sidewalks both ways!
I just know that as soon as I have this drill down, some idiot is going to be coming off the sidewalk behind me to turn Left, and it's back to the drawing board!
I would also add my observation that on the average, the serious male cyclists tend toward being...effeminate. But that would be catty.
Since it’s green-ecologically-friendly-non-petroleum-based-fuel-using transportation, any road rage asociated with it is allowable.
Actually, it would have likely been the fault of the cyclists. Many areas require riders to dismount when crossing roads when they are using the sidewalks as their paths. If they are on the road, then they must follow traffic laws. So, they were likely in the wrong.
I had one pull out of a parking lot into my lane on an access road on Saturday. It really hacked me off because I know he saw me, I was watching him because I was afraid he would do something stupid like that. I had to swerve around him, then I hit the accelerator and left him in a cloud of dust. I watch for cyclists, but a-holes like that one deserve to be the victim of road rage.
“They don’t sit a driver’s license, they don’t have to register their vehicles, they don’t have to keep their vehicles roadworthy, they don’t pay road taxes, and they don’t have to carry insurance. Yet they get identical rights on the roads that others have paid for as motor vehicles.”
We don’t require the services of cars and trucks. We don’t tear up the pavement like trucks. We don’t cause the same damages as cars and trucks.
If the taxes and fees paid equates to rights, then shouldn’t the guys who truck M1 battle tanks on our Interstates be able to abuse car drivers? Would semi drivers be calling for Mini drivers to be taken off of the road, or worse, killed? I mean, the average pickup doesn’t pay $50k a year in road taxes, or the hefty insurance fees, etc... should pickup trucks be relegated to special trails that go nowhere close to something they’d like to drive to, or forced onto the sidewalks?
I did also have a humorous exchange of expletives with a dike on a bike who didn't yield to me and my turn signal when I had to make a right turn. She turned her tattoos red with anger. It felt good.
I know in my area there are tons of immigrants that ride their bikes to jobs. Almost all of them are in dark clothing at night, no reflectors or lights and ride on the wrong side of the road. These guys are the most dangerous of all — even to other cyclists.
“I would also add my observation that on the average, the serious male cyclists tend toward being...effeminate. But that would be catty.”
Well, I’ve ridden 10,000 miles on this bicycle alone, and showered w/ hundreds of cyclists (all males, and I think I’d remember showering with a female cyclist), and no one has ever made a pass at me.
This record is better than when I was a member of clergy, and I got passes from other members of clergy. So, does this mean that the clergy garb is more effeminate?
well if they live close enough to ride a bike to work, then more power to them. I am not about to trek 25 miles one way in the hot arkansas heat on bike.
“Cyclists are freeloaders of the worst sort.”
Yeah those bicycles really tear up that pavement.
Most cyclists are also drivers. They pay their share.
I actually did get a warning from a cop last week for "running" a red light. However, this light is at the intersection of a main road and an on-ramp to a highway. I explained to him that I normally don't do that, but, at this one particular intersection, it would have been safer for me to run the light than to sit and wait for the light to turn green and run the risk of having a car rear-end me trying to get on the highway.
For those 18 and over who cycle on public roadways, licensing and liability insurance should be mandatory.
“I’ve seen them in the turn lanes in the middle of busy intersections as if they were cars.”
Uh, how else does a vehicle make a left turn, if we don’t do it out of a left turn lane?
What is really infuriating is a motorist who speeds up to pass us on the left side, only to slam on their brakes to make a right turn squarely in front of us. I mean, would it kill them to ride behind us at 20 mph for that last 100 yards?
That’s defective logic of the worst sort, unless you’re just referring to riders under 16.
I ride and ride a lot to and from work and on the weekends in the hill country. However, there are both Idiots who ride bikes and do not obey traffic laws and there are morons in cars that do not obey traffic laws, neglect to see cyclists and endanger the lives of bike riders.
I looked at a bike like this at REI in Seattle a while back.
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