Originally posted by Mango
While I wouldn't ride a bike down Hwy 1 myself; I don't see a problem with people doing it. Is it crazy? To me yes.. but lots of people in cars and
trucks are crazy too.
If you are driving a big rig or RV around a corner so fast that you couldn't miss a bicyclist if a truck was coming the other way, what would you do
if a family of 5 was sitting around the corner in a disabled minivan?
I guess we should ban minivans too.
I rode a bike around town for years; because, I had no car. I've been hit a few times times, and each time was by an inattentive driver that violated
my right-of-way. Cars will often pull out in front of bike riders in situations when they would never pull out in front of cars. They never think of
the other person, can they stop, will they be hurt, just.. me me me.
Yes, here in California bikes have "right-of-way" just like cars and are expected to ride on the road, not the sidewalk, and follow the same rules as
cars. I'll admit many bike riders don't follow the laws; but, you have to also admit just as many drivers break laws all the time.
I have two turns on the road by where I live and often see drivers stop at a yield sign with no traffic to yield to, then drive 1/2 block to a stop
sign which they run. I'd say they just didn't care about the law, except they stopped at a yield sign that took a little skill to look for cars and
drive at the same time. In reality.. it is just unskilled drivers that never took the time to learn the law.
I had a guy bump me(almost kill me), honk at me, and yell at me to get on the sidewalk because he didn't have the skills to safely pass a bicyclist on
a road with 3 lanes going his direction. He then pulled into a gas station down the road 1/4 mile to get gas.
I can't tell you how much I wanted to pull into that gas station and chew the guy out or worse. But, being smarter than your average unskilled
driver; I realized, everyone at the gas station would just see a "crazy bicyclist" confront the guy for seemingly no reason.
People in cars often have no clue; as some bikers have no clue as well. A little bump to you, is lifelong injury or death to the rider. Bike riders
have to put up with so much @#$! most people would loose it. By law, they have the same rights as cars.
So deal with it, or at least do a better job explaining to me how sitting on your arse in an air conditioned cab, spinning a wheel with your hands and
pushing pedals with your feet, is so hard that you just can't bear to slow down enough to share the world with people on bicycles or pedestrians. I
know it is annoying to deal with bikers; but, life is full of annoyances we all have to deal with.
Keep driving faster than conditions allow and maybe I will put some flowers on your cross on the side of the road sometime.
Just because a bike rider is killed by some unskilled, maniac driver, that probably does not know the laws in which they are bound to obey.. does not
make the bike rider stupid.
Edited for syntax..
[Edited on 6-28-2007 by Mango]
[Edited on 6-28-2007 by Mango] |
If they'd only get out
of the middle of the road?