As the weather gets better, cyclists and motorists are out in force together on the roads. Do you follow the rules of the road as a cyclist, or do you follow the rules of common sense and simple consideration of other road users?
Here are a couple of interesting (and humorous) videos - the first one is a completely biased report by a Minneapolis t.v. station about cyclists breaking the law. Notice that there's no video of cars speeding, people talking on cell phones while driving, rolling stops at stop signs, etc. Also notice that the stop sign is a three-way stop, and the cyclists are in a bike lane - shouldn't be dangerous to run the sign if there are no cars on the left. I know that when I ride, and I think this goes for most of the people I ride with, I never run stop lights, but will run a stop sign rather than unclipping if it is obviously safe to do so.
Click here for the news report.
Here is another video that, shall we say, represents another side of the story :)
11 comments:
You've hit upon a pet peeve of mine, Bob. I hate to see a cyclist blow through red lights downtown when I'm commuting. If I was in a car and stopped at a red and a cyclist blew through it, I'd be irritated. It only gives motorists more ammo to hate cyclists.
The situation that really irks me is when I see a cyclist blow through a red, getting in front traffic, then the light turns green and the cyclist is now in front holding up traffic. Seen that scenario multiple times downtown and motorists have every right to be peeved when that happens.
I'm of the opinion that in order to earn respect as a cyclist, you have to follow the rules of the road as motorists do.
I agree - gives a bad rep to all cyclists when people blow through lights. I have been known to run a stop sign or two when no traffic is around, however.
A never ending argument.
The thing with bikes is there is such a wide range of people who ride. From old guys riding rickety Wal-mart bikes with wire baskets looking for pop cans to full kit lycra-clad racers. Obviously, one group will keep up with traffic easier than the other.
Everybody driving a car has pretty much the same "tools."
I think that at every intersection from now on, instead of saying "clear" we should just say "We are the Cyclists" (watch second video), and blow on through.
A bit off topic -- but, last couple commutes this week there have been LOTS more bikes on the trail. This is bittersweet for me as 1) its good to see more bikes out there but 2) it's a hassle getting around them.
I know, I'm selfish and a snob.
Missed u guys this past Wed. We had 21 riders show.
Man, I wanted to be there Wednesday - bad week for me to ride. I got out on Monday, but had concerts on Tuesday and Thursday, and had my daughter's confirmation banquet on Wednesday night. I'm hoping to ride on Saturday - anybody interested in a later ride - maybe 5:30 or 6:00 p.m.? The wind is supposed to die down later in the day - and I have a lot of work I need to do around the house before I can ride (30 people coming to dinner on Sunday).
I'd be interested Bob, that is if you go slow enough for me -- let me know. I need to start getting out.
My work week was bad, so couldn't make Wednesday's ride. Should be there next week.
I might be interested in the early evening. It's too hard to commit right now though. Are you going to post something tomorrow?
I'll post something, and send out an email by about 4 p.m.
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