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Stuff I don’t get: Bicyclists

Look here, Mr. Bicyclist. I appreciate that you’re doing your part by not increasing auto emissions into the air thereby ensuring we don’t die at the hands of global warming. I mean, really, kudos! It’s not like you’re buying lame-ass carbon offsets while gallivanting around in a private jet. So, seriously, good job. But . . .

You are either traffic or a pedestrian. You can’t go switching when it’s convenient. I’ve been behind you, going slow because you seem incapable of doing 45 MPH and don’t have the decency to, you know, get the fuck over a little bit. And we do have minimum speeds in these parts. But I have no problem with it since you’re saving the world from manbearpig and all that. But when we pull up to the red light and you hop up on the sidewalk and go through the crosswalk, that makes you an asshole in my book. If you’re in such a damn hurry, get a car. And, if you’re in a hurry, you should realize that other people (who may be behind you) have shit to do also and maybe instead of driving in the middle of the lane, you could get over a bit. But that’s not the dumbest thing. The dumbest bit is when you decide you want to be traffic again so you just hop off the curb back into the street causing the soccer mom a few cars up from me to drop anchor on her minivan to keep from turning you into a squishy red spot that attracts bugs. Maybe you should put rear view mirrors on that thing or at least look. A several thousand pound Kia Sedona vs. you and your little girl shorts isn’t much of a contest. Just sayin’.

Pick a side, we’re at war.

58 Responses to “Stuff I don’t get: Bicyclists”

  1. Manish Says:

    Nobody would be up in arms if I said, “when you pull out in front of me in your minivan I am going to run you down.” That is because we know that only idiots pull out into traffic without a safe distance between vehicles.

    o.k., I’ll bite..I would be up in arms. Its your responsibility to act in a safe manner even if another user of the road does something unsafe. If someone pulls out their minivan in front of you its your responsibility to stop, not to “run them down”. Same holds for a bicycle.

    You don’t absolve yourself of responsibility by being a Bike Asshole instead of a Car Asshole

    I never said that bicyclists absolve themselves of responsibility. What I did say was that drivers bear more responsibility as their vehicle is capable of killing and hurting others while most cyclists are putting their own neck on the line. In the same manner, a month ago, a British Airways crew delayed a flight because they didn’t get enough sleep the night before. This was the responsible thing to do as they had the fate of 300 people in their hands.

    I’m surprised nobody has yet mentioned another little thing. I suppose it varies from state to state, but in general, roadways are paid for by vehicle registration fees and gas taxes. Do cyclists pay those for their bicycles?

    Vehicle registration fees and gas taxes don’t nearly pay for the governmental cost of driving by a long shot. In particular, local government usually gets nothing from vehicle-specific taxes but spend a lot on road maintenance, emergency services (IIRC about 20% of 911 calls are traffic related), etc. In reality, its the cyclist who subsidizes the driver.

    One thing I see here (mostly by Manish, but I think I saw a couple others) is the attitude of “If you don’t do it, why should I?”. That troubles me.

    If you read that in my comments, let me clarify. What I see is an out sized level of outrage directly towards cyclists over traffic infractions that doesn’t seem to translate into outrage towards driver traffic infractions. Speed is the #1 cause of traffic fatalities, yet is pretty much accepted as o.k. by most. (In fact, the prevalent attitude is that speeding tickets are merely government revenue generation…an attitude unfortunately shared by a few local jurisdictions). Studies have shown that driving while talking on a cell phone is akin to driving drunk. I see some outrage towards drivers talking on their cellphones but not nearly at the level of drunk driving and it should be.

    To be clear, I see no issue with cyclists following the Idaho laws (even if not in Idaho) which are that stop signs can be treated as yield signs and red lights as stop signs (provided that they are courteous and not taking someone else’s right-of-way). I also see no issue with drivers going a little over the speed limit as long as they are alert and paying attention to the road.

  2. #9 Says:

    Byclists and motorists need to share the road and display some scintilla of civility.

    That sums it up. They have a right by law to use the streets.

    Most of them are considerate but like car drivers and truck drivers most of us remember the 10% that are assholes. Bike riders are all over where I live. The most important thing I can tell you is DO NOT let them wave you on through a curve or hill you cannot see around.

    I have seen asshole/inexperienced bike riders wave cars into serious trouble. Take the extra few minutes to be able to find a safe time and place to pass them.

    I haven’t thrown a bird at an asshole bike rider in a long time. It takes some time to learn to be patient and share the road. No matter what you do, the 10% asshole rate is a fact of life just like for cars and trucks. Why worry about assholes? You cannot change them, just be glad not to be one.

  3. Tyler D. Says:

    I have to register and insure my car before I can use the roads. So why doesn’t a bicyclist have to do the same?

  4. Sailorcurt Says:

    Vehicle registration fees and gas taxes don’t nearly pay for the governmental cost of driving by a long shot. In particular, local government usually gets nothing from vehicle-specific taxes but spend a lot on road maintenance, emergency services (IIRC about 20% of 911 calls are traffic related), etc. In reality, its the cyclist who subsidizes the driver.

    I’m going to have to throw the BS flag on that one.

    Are you implying that the cyclists share of expense involved in the “traffic related” 911 calls more than offset the fees and taxes paid by drivers? Are you implying that no “traffic related” 911 calls involve cyclists?

    What about all the huge number of cyclists under the age of 18 who contribute virtually nothing to the operation and maintenance of EMS?

    I’m not buying what you’re selling. If you have any evidence to back up your claims of fact, I’m open to them.

    Your consistent “us against them” attitude makes me wonder why you are so defensive about this subject? Are you one of the cyclists that expect me to assume responsibility for your safety due to your refusal to follow the rules of the road?

    Let me clue you in. If you do something stupid like swerve off the sidewalk into the path of my car, run red lights or stop signs, or veer in front of me as I’m passing you, I will do everything in my power to keep from squashing you flat. If those actions fail and you are seriously injured or killed, I’ll feel very bad about it even though I know it really wasn’t my fault. That’s just the kind of guy I am.

    My feelings of guilt or anxiety won’t relieve you of pain heal your body or bring you back to life. Therefore, it would behoove you not to be stupid on your bike no matter how self-righteous you feel your cause to be or how much responsibility you attempt to pass off onto others.

    You said it yourself, in a competition between a 2,000 lb vehicle and a 20 lb vehicle, you are going to lose every time.

  5. Manish Says:

    Are you implying that the cyclists share of expense involved in the “traffic related” 911 calls more than offset the fees and taxes paid by drivers? Are you implying that no “traffic related” 911 calls involve cyclists?

    not sure where you got that, but clearly most 911 calls involving traffic collisions will involve cars because there are a whole lot more cars on the roads then bicycles. General tax revenue subsidizes our roads and since cyclists use a whole lot less of the road (i.e. less space and less wear-and-tear to the roads) cyclists ultimately subsidize drivers using the road. The most serious 911 calls are going to be collisions on highways where cyclists can’t go.

    Are you one of the cyclists that expect me to assume responsibility for your safety due to your refusal to follow the rules of the road?

    Are you implying that you always follow the rules? I have to call BS on that. If you’ve been reading my comments you would realize that my beef is drivers who are self-righteous when talking about cyclists who don’t follow the rules when they themselves don’t follow the rules. Let me ask you a question..how fast do you drive on the highway? Is it really 55 MPH? Do you care that you are putting yourself and other users of the road at risk when you speed?

  6. Sailorcurt Says:

    less space and less wear-and-tear to the roads) cyclists ultimately subsidize drivers using the road.

    That would only make sense if cyclists actually contributed to the expense of building and maintaining the roads, which they do not. When was the last time you had to pay a personal property, fuel, excise or license tax on your bicycle? Do you think just the act of USING the road somehow pays for it? (Yes, I realize that many localities have laws requiring licensing of bicycles but those licenses are generally a one-time, low cost thing and the laws are generally ignored anyway).

    So, because bikes use less of the roads that they don’t contribute to the maintenance of, they are somehow subsidizing the drivers that DO contribute? Sorry but that doesn’t make much sense to me. That would be like you tapping into my wireless network to use the high speed internet that I pay for and then claiming that you subsidize my internet connection because you use less of it than I do. If you don’t pay for something, you aren’t subsidizing it regardless of how little of it you use.

    Are you implying that you always follow the rules?

    Um. No.

    Let’s put your arguments together:

    1. Motorists should take greater care and be on the lookout for cyclists who ignore the law because the fact that a car can kill or seriously injure cyclists makes the auto driver somehow more responsible for the health and well-being of the cyclist.

    2. Because motorists routinely ignore some laws such as speed limits on interstates, it is OK for cyclists to routinely ignore other laws such as stopping at stop signs or jetting back and forth onto and off of sidewalks in traffic.

    I will concede the (arguable) point that motorists who speed are putting their own and other’s lives at risk. OK. So what? Somehow that justifies you putting your life at risk by placing the responsibility for your well being in my hands while I’m driving? I don’t get the correlation. Other than the common argument used by your average 4 year old: “He does it, why can’t I” To which I use the standard parental reply: “If he jumped off a cliff, would you want to do that too?”

    My whole point, during this entire thread, has been that both motorists and cyclists need to learn to be more considerate of each other. Heck, we as a society need to learn to be more considerate of each other whether in the act of locomotion or not.

  7. Manish Says:

    That would only make sense if cyclists actually contributed to the expense of building and maintaining the roads, which they do not.

    I do contribute to the expense of building and maintaining roads via my property taxes, sales tax, etc. This is my point…registration and gas taxes don’t nearly cover the cost of the roads because a good chunk of that money is spent by local governments who don’t receive any car-specific taxes.

    I don’t think that you are getting my argument at all, but anyway let me try to summarize..
    1)First off, on has to see that there is a difference between following the rules and being safe. I related a story in this comment:
    https://www.saysuncle.com/archives/2007/05/04/stuff_i_dont_get_bicyclists/#comment-170682

    about how following the rules almost got me killed.
    2)Having said that, all users of the road should take care in operating in a safe manner both to themselves and others.
    3)I’m not condoning breaking the rules by anyone, but safety does come before rules. The rules only work if everyone follows the rule and everyone doesn’t follow the rules (sometimes unintentionally, but this still holds).
    4)I would like to see a similar level of OUTRAGE from drivers towards other drivers who operate in an unsafe manner as the OUTRAGE they display at cyclists operating in an unsafe manner or not following the rules.

    My whole point, during this entire thread, has been that both motorists and cyclists need to learn to be more considerate of each other. Heck, we as a society need to learn to be more considerate of each other whether in the act of locomotion or not.

    This I agree with, but look at many of the comments left here and tell me that I shouldn’t be a little defensive.

  8. jed Says:

    Hey, I get just at irritated at asshat drivers, like the folks who blindly follow the left-turning traffic through the intersection after the left-turn light has turned red.

    I have, however, yet to observe a vehicle driver behaving like the cyclist I encountered today. This yahoo was pumping away, going well under the speed limit, in the middle of the lane in front of me. As soon as it was safe to do so, I changed lanes and accelerated ahead of him, returning to the lane I had been after I was well ahead of him. Apparently, this was some sort of personal affront to his masculinity, or something. As I was waiting for the light to turn at the next intersection, so I could turn left and be on my way, he pulls up on my right, and proceeds to make a left turn through the red light, crossing in front of me, and sticks his tongue out at me. When the light changes, I turn left and proceed down the road, where he’s waiting for me at the next red light. I pull up beside him, leaving plenty of space. When the light changes, I proceed forward, and he pulls a 180 in the middle of the intersection, and flips me off.

    Had he been driving a car, the infractions would have been at least:
    – obstructing traffic
    – failure to obey a traffic control (red light)
    – improper turn (left across an adjacent lane)
    – failure to signal
    and possibly
    – illegal u-turn (it varies across municipalities in CO)
    – careless driving (combination of all the above)

    Which reminds me of the #1 infraction commited by cyclists all the time — passing on the right.

    Anyways, this guy wasn’t just an asshole, he was a self-righteous asshole, clearly believing that his superiority as a cyclist entitled him to some sort of special treatment on the road. I hate people like that, whether they’re cyclists or Democrats.

Remember, I do this to entertain me, not you.

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