Share The Road.
 

There is nothing that pisses me off more than road bikers riding in places they shouldn't be. I frequently drive children around in my semi-rural area, and I am constantly having to move into the left lane to avoid road bikers, endangering the lives of everyone in the car and the biker, not to mention the car I could potentially hit. I wouldn't even mind if it was in a location where I could see further down the road, but here there are turns constantly and you can't see what's around the corner. I'm not willing to jeopardize my life so these guys can ride their fucking bicycles. If they're riding their bikes for transportation, I understand. If there is a bike lane, that's fine. But if you're riding your bike for recreation on roads with no space and endangering everyone around you, you're fucking stupid and I hate you.

Does anyone else feel like this, or is it just me? When I tell people these I tend to get looks that seem to say I'm blowing this out or proportion.

Up on the coast of Maine, people do this ALL THE FUCKING TIME. Tiny, winding roads where there's hardly any room for two cars to travel in each direction at the same time.

Yet here are these moronic bikers, taking up a good 1/3 of the lane.

I guess they're entitled to ride their bikes and all, but goddamn

No, I agree... Luckily, it doesn't happen to me often, and when it does, I just run the biker over and dump my car in the ocean.

The roads are big enough where I am, and some bikers aren't crazy enough to go down Route 1 in my area with a bike since the normal MPH is about 55.

Either way, when I'm up in the local roads, people who walk way to close to the middle of the road really piss me off. Yes, you're walking, but that's what the fucking sidewalk is for, get the fuck on it.

God, I wish I had the balls you do.

O GOD thats the worst. There's a SIDEWALK and they're NOT USING IT. What the hell is THAT about.

I mean, I can understand. You want to take a stroll down a busy, high-traffic road with a friend or something. Walk on the sidewalk, bitches. You won't get dead that way.

(The other day, we were driving up Route 1 out of Boston and we saw that the highway actually had a SIDEWALK. I could not even get over that. Who the hell would walk on Route 1 in Revere.)

Like Sass and Sprout said, it happens in this area all the time, and drives me NUTS. Especially, like you said, when I'm on a street thats difficult to see around, so I have to slow down or risk hitting someone coming around the corner...

Kids in town ride their bikes on the street all the time too. They dont bother with sidewalks and usually just circle around in the center of the street. You drive by and they look at you like you're the one thats not supposed to be there. Kinda makes me wish I could run them over. :eagletear:

I think the thing that is the worst for me is that they're retirement age people, you think they'd be a little fucking smarter.

In Southern California there are biking groups that do this all the time. They ride down Pacific Coast Highway/our Route 1 (always busy) 2 or 3 people dense with huge groups. It bugs me even more when they're all wearing matching bicycling jerseys.

In Santa Cruz there isn't a bike lane on Mission/Route 1 and traffic is terrible. People that are crazy enough to ride their bicycles on Mission get hit quite often and a few have died. The investigators almost always say it's the bicyclists fault for the collisions.

If someone's doing that then they either can't ride a bike or are stupid.

I ride my bike on the streets at least twice a day to get to and from school, but I am always in a bike lane, on a residential street, or on the 1.5 feet of cement next to the curb (I have cars pass by me all the time, entirely in their lane). So ya, no reason that a biker should be in a lane so far that a car can't pass by the biker in the lane.

I don't run into this a lot but I had this problem yesterday. This guy was riding toward me in the right lane on the frontage road (speed limit 50 mph) and I'm in the right lane because I have to turn right. Well, I politely go around him and barely make my turn in a move that probably was a little reckless but hey, I'm not going all the way down the frontage road the long way to end up late for my chemistry test. I look in my rear view mirror to see the SOB do a giant U-turn on the frontage road and leisurely start pedaling my way. All that crap because some 20-something jobless bum decided to go for a scenic ride on his bike down the frontage road.

I really haven't had a problem with biking or walking being in the way. Few people ride bikes, and few things are close enough to walk towards. In fact, most people gets looks if they say they ride their bike around town. Even walking, to a degree, get's some looks, even for college students, and that is despite having a Circuit City, Walmart, and several other stores and restaurants near their dorms.

However, I DO get annoyed when I go into a big parking area and people can't seem to be able to walk across one of the twenty cross-walks. Seriously, the whole purpose of having a cross-walk is so people and walk across it safely. Part of me wishes that a officer who wants to get his/her quota for the month (or year?) would just sit there, ticketing each person who jaywalks. It would be twice as benefiticial-get the quota AND get them to walk on those darn crosswalks.

Err....you realize bikes are legally required to be in the road, right? They have as much right to the entire lane as you do. Here in Michigan it's illegal for them to ride on the sidewalk.In that scenario, you should be slowing down anyway. When visibility's low, you prepare for the worst, not "full speed ahead".

I came damn near to hitting a bunch of morons on campus because they were walking ON the road, OFF the sidewalk, at NIGHT, wearing DARK clothes. I blew my horn and swore are the morons, but they didn't get the message. Maybe it was a suicide attempt.

The road is for motor vehicles, brainless fucks, now stay off it. Gas is bad enough without me having to slow down and speed right up to get around your ego bubble.

I have similar feelings about the Amish. There comes a point where your little traditions are so incredibly inconvenient, and in some instances, dangerous, to everyone else that it's a real problem.

Most of the times these people are courteous. Amish wait for a long train of cars to go by, bikers/walkers move way off to the side so I can get around, etc. It's the assholes who think they are better than everyone else for walking or biking that won't move aside because of their principles, or the Amish who are sure to just careen right out into the street in front of a speeding vehicle because of their cute little principles that piss me off and give all-around bad feelings towards the people that excercise their traditions/hobbies/travel methods in a polite way.

Unless it is a highway or a road with a speed limit > 45 mph you really shouldn't complain. Bikers have the same right to the road as any other vehicle, and it is illegal and dangerous for them to use the sidewalks. It is also common bicycle safety to take up the whole lane to discourage passing, because that's when the most accidents occur. Although, if they are taking up the lane and the speed limit is high, that's abnoxious.

I ride my back from school to my apartment, which is about a 15 min ride. I hate it when people in cars tail me and nearly run me over. The speed limit is 30 and I'm going 20 and those assholes can wait like 10 seconds for me to let them by.

I can't stand it when bikers do that and I'm not a very good driver to begin with, I'm terrible at safely compensating for space! On more then one occasion I've had a biker just drift in front of my car at the last second without looking assuming nothing would get in their way. It even happens on roads with a bike lane, wide enough for at the very least 2 bikers and it's like it doesn't exist, the road is theirs.

Are you sure about this? I've biked on sidewalks my entire life, and never have I gotten even the remotest of hints that such a law existed.

Nonetheless, I see this all the time in my little neck of the 'burbs. I suppose its good that there are so many bikers, but that doesn't change the fact that they can be damn irritating.
My problems are compounded by the fact that generally these people are:
1) Out at night
2) Black
3) Wearing dark clothing
4) Missing vital bike reflectors
5) Swerving all over the road like an addled drunk

In fact, a couple weeks ago I nearly ran over a kid on my way back from work.:eagletear:

packrat: Strictly speaking, it's a consequence of the non-uniform laws created by allowing local authorities to regulate bike use, but most cities and townships prohibit it, yes.

Bikers feel entitled to the road. (Sometimes I feel that a nice brush with death might change their mind, but I digress.) I mean its within their rights to wear spandex. Isn't it within that same right to claim that a car should give way to a bike? No?
I DON'T blame them for being a minor nuisance... why ride on a perfectly good sidewalk when the infinitely more dangerous road is beckoning?

It's like they think the sidewalk is more hazardous. I've seen bikers avoid the road as if it were a congo battlefield littered with landmines. Either that or bikers aren't MANLY MEN unless they are 'road warriors' and severely funk up public transit.

I like when they are honked at and they flip people off without realizing that it's for their own good.

RainMan, let's go over this again:

They have just as much rights to all roads except the freeway system as any motor vehicle.
In most cities they are prohibited from the sidewalk.

When you swerve over or flip off a biker, you're not sending a message, you're just being an asshole. Learn to deal with other people; you're not the most important person in the world.

Who's got two thumbs and walks on highways? That's right, this guy. I've never ever seen this, though considering the frequency of rides in the north-east, it's probably a good idea.

Bah.

A biker who takes up the entire road and swerves constantly causing panic in following traffic, is a problem. It is also dangerous.

A high school classmate of mine's mother was killed while riding a bike IN THE ROAD. She was hit by a car and died instantly. Hmmm, I think I have a theory as how to avoid this... and I think you already know where I am going with this. How many bike fatalities do you hear about when the biker was on the sidewalk?

I wasn't aware of this but this certainly isn't the norm where I live. Many bikers feel it's a good idea to be on main roads when back roads would be just as efficient for getting around. In regards to cities in which it is legal, bikers can and should use the sidewalk if at all possible, especially when there is no one on the sidewalk and the road is full of very dangerous moving machinery.

You misunderstand. I said that bikers often flip other people off who are only trying to keep them alive by honking. Try reading a little harder next time before jumping to conclusions.

I have neither said that I have swerved nor flipped off a biker...I just said I would like to. There is a difference between the two. Again, thanks for jumping to the conclusion that I am out to get ALL bikers.

Wow. Thanks. I like how you are making this about me. I am far from the only person on this world. I'd say you aren't handling my comments against bikers very well. Are you a biker?

It's not like I've said all bikers are terrible people, just those that cause problems when it's avoidable. Next time I advise you to take my commentary with a grain of salt.

Not to mention if you ride on the pavement you then get pedestrians making harumph noises as you pass. So it basically comes down to a choice of which selfish twat you wan't to aggravate more. Cyclists will choose the drivers, because the law leans that way too.

Why lie, this is about drivers reacting with fear and confusion toward the baffling breed that is the cyclist. The modern driver is hot shit in his expensive commodity, the motor vehicle. He looks out at the world through his metal fort and this gives him a sense of confidence and importance. 'GOT PLACES TO BE PEOPLE, COME ON TIME IS MONEY'. The cyclist is imcomprehensible because he takes a more laid-back look at life and eschews this modern symbol of status and importance. Deep down the motorist is jealous of this, though he doesn't know it.

If anything, this is more about bikers taking 'advantage' of motorists just so they can enjoy the pleasure of a nice, even riding experience, even if it hinders the flow of traffic and causes the irritation of car drivers everywhere.

A 2 to 4 ton vehicle is capable of much destruction and cyclists many times aren't aware of that fact and are oblivious to weaving in and out of lanes which were made primarily for motorized vehicles to traverse.
A biker doesn't have as much a capability for causing bodily harm. Of course, the responsibility and the possibility for destruction lies primarily with car owners. This is where the aggravation stems from, in my eyes.

Main roads were primarily made for transportation of motor vehicles, so why should a biker be allowed to hold dominion? The lane system was made to accomodate a single car, truck, etc per lane.

Yes.Civil mode off. HOW FUCKING STUPID ARE YOU. Bikers are fully aware of how much damage cars can do; we are forced to deal with it on a regular basis.Actually, there are still plenty of areas around where when the city was planned out, the streets were designed for horses, not cars.If you don't feel you have space to pass, fall in behind. Bikers are allowed to hold dominion because it's within their legal rights and usually their legal requirement.

Also, you'll find far more cars intimidating or cursing bikers than you will bikers retaliating. It's common enough that you'll probably see it at least once on your drive to work.

I think the problem is less the fact that the bikers are on the road itself, and more the fact that they aren't sharing it, riding in the middle of the road, and just generally being assholes. I don't mind a biker who is staying close to the side as he should be, but if they ride in packs, hogging up the whole road, that's when I get pissed off. It's against the law in NH to ride your bike on the sidewalk as well, so I understand what the issue is, just share the damn road is all we ask.

I personally think its the worst when some kids ride on the wrong side of the road. They shouldn't do that even when there is bike lane right? >w< Almost run over one the other day. I mean, When I was riding bikes, I usually don't have the gull to go on the road, people are crazy here.

When I was a kid we'd ride bikes on sidewalks along fairly busy roads and only ride on the road where we knew there barely was any traffic and of course when we heard cars coming we'd go to the side of the road to let them pass. I figured it was the same for most places.

The same could be said of a driver who takes up the whole road and swerves constantly, causing panic in following traffic. Do you have a point?


If the back roads are just as efficient for getting around then why don't you drive down them instead of getting pissed off at other people who are behaving exactly as the law requires them to? Why do you feel that your have a greater right to travel than they do?

You know, in most states, bikers are required to be on the road if they're out biking at all. That said, I do get a bit irritated at times, because when roads permit, they can at the very least ride in the gravel/dirt shoulder of the road. That's what I always did when I biked to school back in the day, but many of the bikers I come across ride too close for comfort when they definitely don't have to. I don't mean to sound like an angry driver, and they don't bike in the middle of the road, but as the minority (and the less powerful force) on the street, they should really get out of the way as much as they can. Well, within their comfort, at least. It's not that bad biking on the shoulder. Likewise, as the more powerful force on the road, we should be extra cautious. We just shouldn't have to drive on the median to get around bikers is all.

I see why you are defensive Arainach. It makes sense. You and I are separated by a great divide...not really though. You probably use your bike pretty religiously. To get to work and what not? I like cycling and respect that cars should have the right of way on the basis that they SHOULD be respected because of the capacity for mangling. It's as simple as that.

Actually, that explains a lot.

Well, not quite dumb enough to bring up the point that all roads in all regions were built under the same circumstances and remain unchanged. That is faulty thinking right there, bro.

Let me ask you another question...Do you live on the East Coast, where roads have largely remained unchanged since the times of horse and carriage? If so, then our circumstances are quite different and reasoning directly correlated with individual experience.

(Whatever your answer, implying that this gives bikers the right to weave and bob on the side of the road, is pretty dumb.)

I live in Overland Park, Kansas and I would be silly not to include the little fact that the roads that I drive on daily were made primarily for cars and motor vehicles. NOT for BICYCLES and certainly not horse-drawn carriage.

Then why do half of them drive like they are inebbriated?

Look, I am not saying that car drivers are better than cyclists, I just find it curious that you look at this as 'Us vs. Them'.

Again, I believe that many cyclists are aware of what is going on around them, but I've seen enough instances where the cyclists rode around with a sense of reckless bravado that it makes me uneasy when I am driving.

Actually, I just do it recreationally during the summer. I did it a lot while I lived on campus, but I commute now, drive to campus, and walk everywhere once I'm there.Bikers have a right to ride in the middle of the lane if they so desire. Weaving and bobbing is dumb whether you do it on a bike or in a car.Because the side of the road is the most filled with debris that can pop tires or cause accidents, and is often the most curved and hardest to stay straight on? Or because they've avoiding other obstacles such as mailboxes and cars next to them while simply trying not to die.

...I am well aware of this. :D Did I mention anything to the contrary?

I find that a car is a bit more hazardous than a mailbox. That's just me but perhaps it's just my sense of bias and hatred of all cyclists chiming in...

Personally, I'd take my chances with the mailbox.

I almost died from the stupidity in these sentences. Let me lay this open for everyone.

First let us consider a fictitious situation. Say you were in a room that you couldn't leave, and you were told that if you stayed where you were in the room that you would die and that if you moved to another place you had a .5 chance of dying (that's 50% if you can't handle basic probability theory). What do you do?

I'm not sure about other people, but I personally would move because if I didn't I would have a 1.0 chance of dying, if I do move I would at least have a .5 chance of surviving.

Now let us draw the parallel. I have the choice of biking one foot away from the curb or 2 feet away from the curb. If I bike one foot away from the curb I will hit the mail box. If I bike 2 feet away from the curb I have a minuscule chance that an insane (because of the legal consequences), asshole (because of the nature of the action) of a driver will come and hit me. I'm not sure which one to pick now. Run right into the mail box, or take the 0.0 (if you're a probability idiot, this doesn't mean that it's impossible) chance of getting hit by a car.

I can tell you though, that Rainman would choose to run right into the mailbox.

Rainman, ride a bicycle.

It turns out that the driver of the car is the asshole ninety-nine times out of a hundred. They're just too pompous to see it.

I definitely don't have enough balls to ride my bike on the street. I mostly ride my bike on campus and near home (on sidewalks), so there isn't a lot of cars I have to deal with when I'm biking. Unless the sidewalk condition is absolute shit (broken glass, gravel, loose stones, sleeping bums, etc.), I try not to go on the road because I know there's rude people driving that day.

When I'm driving though, it does irritate me when there's a bicyclist, but I've gotten over it by now; if it's a one-lane road, I wait a bit, or just switch lanes otherwise.

I think one of the biggest problems is the visibility and space issue; when I'm driving, it's hard to notice a small biker compared to a large car. Also, around here, the bikers have a tendency to get REALLY close to the car (same with motorcyclists, but I won't get to that). From the biker's point-of-view, there's plenty of space, but to the driver, the biker's gonna scratch off the paint, you know?

This makes it easy. When you see a bicycle in front of you, replace the image of the bicycle with a car. If the cyclist is going slow, replace the bicycle with a car being driven by a grandma. Now, if there is room, pass the car. Don't cut the car off, and do drive so close to cleave it. Just pass it when you get a chance. Easy, right?

There is no cyclist who will swerve into the other lane to cut you off, so don't pretend like there is. Cyclists know how easy it is to be wiped out by a car.

Also, it is really dangerous for a cyclist to ride near the parking lane if there is one. You should not expect a cyclist to get over if there are parked cars in the parking lane, any of the cars could open their doors, resulting in a possible death.

The hell are you talking about. It's ILLEGAL TO PASS CARS now?

lawlalwalwlaw. I need a bloody source confirming this for Cali or something or I'm calling epic levels of god damn bullshit.

So "typically illegal" is now "on this one highway with lots of head-ons". Gotcha.

Holy shit, American drivers. And don't even get me started on the rest of you shitheads in this thread. Is Ary the only one who knows what he's talking about or what?

Ya, now all we have to do is get them to use them (at least in my area this is a problem).

So there were two lanes each way on non-divided roads, and people would pass people in the left lane by crossing over into the oncoming lanes of traffic?

And what kind of highways do you have up there that don't have any sort of division between the two directions of traffic? Where I'm from those are just called roads.

Maybe it's just another sign of how California is the worst place in the country.

We call those roads here.

Roads where we're from is everything except for the highway. Meaning, pretty much everything. Most of them not only last for a few blocks, but entire towns, and, if they're feeling extreme, they'll stretch into the next town. And after that? The world.

What's more crazy about bikers in rural areas are bikers in urban streets. San Francisco and the Bay Area in general has a huge cyclist population with a fondness of hating motor vehicles and the people who use them. Once a month in Berkeley and San Francisco, there's this event called Critical Mass where sometimes up to hundreds of cyclist go on major surface streets, clogging up traffic and antagonizing drivers by insulting them or even throwing their bikes onto their cars.

There are bike lanes here too but oftentimes they are poorly planned and cars have to make dangerous maneuvers around the cyclists. I'm all for sharing the road but crap urban planning and an over bloated sense of entitlement mixed with righteousness ruins the party for everyone.

I really have nothing against people who bike, I actually admire them since they're better than my lazy ass for pedaling all over the city's hills but the ones here care too much about other people's shit. So what I drive a car, get over yourself.

The point that I was making was that if you wouldn't pass a car, don't pass a cyclist.

If they go across a red light when there's traffic going the other way then they deserve to be hit.

If there's anything worthy of capital punishment, this is surely it.