Open letter to Bicyclists

mslacat · Post by **mslacat** » Thu Dec 02, 2004 9:44 am

*************** Rant Alert ***************

Before I begin this letter let me say I am a big time former bicyclist, and current
enthusiast. Growing up I did not have a car, I got every where on my bike. My first car
was a an inheritance of sort at age 23. In high school I was 5-11 and 130# and my thighs
were larger than my waist. I have replaced, lubed, dismantled and rebuilt just about every
part on 5 through 18 speed bikes. I rode in the summer and dead of winter. I do not
hate bicyclist, because I was there once, but I HATE stupid bicyclist.
If you are going to be a bicyclist of any sort the first thing you have to realize, it is your
responsibility to make sure people can see you. If you want to get into a pissing match
later about whether a car "legally or not" should have seen you, IT WILL NOT MATTER
IF YOU ARE DEAD!

Driving to work a few minutes ago I notice a slight dot of some reflective material out of
my left eye I take my foot off the accelerator. An adult person dart across the road in
front of me. I am not talking perpendicular to the road, he is driving on the left side of
the road in the same direction as me, but doing significantly less speed than my 35 MPH,
1200 lb. car, and he does a lane change from the left shoulder to right shoulder. He is
wearing dark jeans, black ski mask, no lights, or working reflectors, dark down parka ,
with just a hint of white at the collar, that is what I saw. When he did his little maneuver
I had no chance to break, and by the time my foot slammed on the brake he was already
done with this maneuver. I swear to god the only thing that saved this guy from,
becoming my new hood ornament on my car was the fact that I am a former bicyclist, and
when I saw that flash of white collar I in my mind I thought college student off to school
and took my foot off the gas pedal.

There are lots of cheap lights for bike, you can put them on the bike or yourself. If you
know bicycling is your main means of transportation, do not by a Navy blue winter coat!

Oh yea......... don't drive stupid!

That is the absolute closest I have ever come to killing somebody in my life. I almost had
to go back home and change my underwear. The thing is, that kid, was me 20 odd years
ago, except he has no idea what being a responsible bicyclist is!

Post by **kmax** » Thu Dec 02, 2004 11:24 am

Couldn't agree more msla. I used a bicycle for a huge portion of transportation in college as well(though not as much as you it sounds like) and I agree with everything you said. The only thing I would add, is that part of being a responsible(and still alive) bicyclist is to realize that if you are going to ride your bike on the roadways you are a part of traffic. Don't think that just because you are smaller and going slower the rules don't apply to you. Use a hand signal once in awhile to let people know you are turning, actually try stopping at that four way stop to make sure it is clear, etc., etc.

BelgradeBobcat · Post by **BelgradeBobcat** » Thu Dec 02, 2004 11:47 am

Oh geez-I shouldn't even get started on this subject.

I do like to ride bike, and especially when the weather is nice I put on a lot of miles. Thus I sometimes feel like the most hated creature on earth (if you ride a lot you know what I mean).

If you're on a bike-wear bright clothing, follow traffic laws, and especially use lights when it starts getting dark. Lights are pretty cheap.

My biggest pet peeve is cyclists who travel the wrong way (left side) of the road as if they were pedestrians. It's a big problem when I'm riding on the right side of the road and meet these people-suddenly I'm playing chicken with them while trying to get left and not run over by cars. Wrong way riding is also illegal, but lots of parents don't know this and tell their kids to do it.

The worst offenders for disobeying traffic laws are college kids-at least from what I've seen.

But while riding bike, I see some incredibly stupid and illogical motorist behavior. Also, from my experience, it's generally okay to run over and kill a cyclist anyway. Through a lot of research I've found that law enforcement will very seldom even issue a citation to a motorist in a bicycle/car accident even when the motorist is clearly at fault. As a motorist you only have to feel bad for injuring/killing a cyclist and you're on your way without even a ticket. Almost every article reporting a car/bike incident will end in the statement "no citations have been issued".

When I'm riding I take the above into account and hope for the best.

Please don't run me over

Cat'sPawAlum · Post by **Cat'sPawAlum** » Thu Dec 02, 2004 12:19 pm

As a bicyclist and motorist, I agree there are problems on both sides...but the thing that irks me the most are the cyclists who insist that, because they have the same "rights" to the roadway as vehicles do, it is perfectly OK to take up an entire lane of travel (instead of using the shoulder) and impede traffic aproaching from behind. While it is certainly legally true that bikes are subject to the same rules and rights as cars, common sense dictates that the two are obviously quite different. As a cyclist, I try to stay out of the way of vehicles as much as possible, not assert my "right" to the whole lane. This is courteous and safe, things that both groups should keep in mind while sharing the road!

BozoneCat · Post by **BozoneCat** » Thu Dec 02, 2004 1:21 pm

You're preaching to the choir, Mslacat. I thought there were problems with bicyclists in other cities, but Missoula is on a whole nother level. You combine the ignorance of many people riding bikes with the fact that there are about 5 times as many people riding bikes here in Hippieville (no buying gas - damn the "man"!), and you have a real problem. I think that if cops started writing more citations for bicyclists, they would start to observe the laws of the road better... but good luck ever getting that to happen!