Bicycling - A Dangerous Sport (page 8)

LDH

That picture (just above) near made me vomit.

Princess

Princess, since Chris' reply to you was on this thread, perhaps your reply to him should have been public also. (Yes, I did see your PM.)
Nina

It seems to me his comment was also unkind. I apologized for lumping him together with the others. Since he didn't even bother to acknowledge my PM, I'm pretty much through discussing this with either of you.

gumby

Time fer this here

Gum-wanna- smoke -um-peace-um-pipe-um

Cady

It is not safe to ride to the far right next to parked cars as you run the risk of being "doored" (when someone opens their door into you). One of my coworkers broke his collar bone this way.

I can't speak to Texas, where distances are much larger and riding a bike is not nearly as feasible, but in Seattle biking or driving is a choice. By biking, you reduce the number of cars on the road. I'm curious how much the one biker you wait for slows you down in comparison to how much worse traffic would be and the resulting time loss if everyone who bikes to work decided to drive instead.

Most people can't imagine their lives sans a car. But I lived w/o a car for over six months and that I have one now is just a matter of a number of circumstances. Living w/o a car reduces your expenses, your stress level (slows your life down and biking itself is exercise which reduces stress), and for me is a great choice.

It's unfortunate that a tiny fraction of poorly behaved bikers are viewed as representative of the whole.

Caedes

You haven't driven in rush hour traffic in the Dallas area before have you?

Looking at my location should confirm that, of course nowhere else in the world has traffic ? Obviously when I used to ride to work at Heathrow airport it was never busy. As I said I ride as far to the left (which would be the right in America as you drive on the wrong side of the road)as is safe (i.e the middle of the lane) strangely I tend to follow the UK highway code whilst doing so. As soon as every car driver overtakes properly rather than trying to squeeze past then I will change where I ride.

Since I can't tell from looking how competent or considerate a driver is I have to ride as defensively as possible, I have been riding for a long time now and never had an accident which I think is largely due to defensive riding.

cruzanheart

strangely I tend to follow the UK highway code whilst doing so

Exactly! And since I live in Texas, I expect the people with whom I share the road to follow the Texas driving rules. My annoyance comes when they don't and that includes cars AND cyclists.

Oh, and I agree with you: we do drive on the wrong side of the road! What's even worse is in the U.S. Virgin Islands (where I grew up) they drive on the left but with American-made cars that are set up for driving on the right. Trying to pass anyone, unless you have a helpful person in the passenger seat, is downright suicidal.

Nina

cruzanheart

I'm pretty much through discussing this with either of you

Probably a good idea, since you appear to be reading a lot more into our posts (or lack thereof) than there really is.

Nina

bikerchic

To uninformed:

**Bikerchic,

Loruhmah has apologozed for her word usage in her post. She was merely trying to express her frustration and anxiety at a cyclist who was between her and the curb (illegal) cursing her wildly for a traffic problem. **

In situations like this I think it's best to be silent and thought foolish rather than open your mouth and remove all doubt.

**Bikerchic, be serious. If someone was cursing you, screaming obscenities in public, and filled with such rage that he would do violence to you if he could, and then he had a wreck, human nature would kick in and I know I personally would feel vindicated, and I think most on this thread would too. **

I was being serious. My action would be as above ^.

**Please consider: People get shot quite often, or ram a car into others as a result of road rage. People die. Loruhamah was a victim of road rage, and apparantly very close to 'snapping' herself. Now, if she would have snapped and been the one to run over the cyclist, all that could be said is that he brought it on himself, however, she would have been arrested for her road rage, and rightly so. **

Which is why my action would be to remain silent. Possibly even smile at said rager.

**It is my opinion that "Princess" first post was an extension of road rage, and some of your comments about Loruhamah were also. Kind of like "piling on". **

Last I looked this was a discussion board and we all have a right to our say, no one personally attacked Lo-ru-hamah they/we just stated our view of the other side of the experience she told. There usually are two sides to every story ya know.

**I understand too that there may be a filial connection between Princess and one of the administrators, therefore her rude and obscene comments were basically ignored. **

No forum rules had been broken, just a heated debate. Kitchen=heat, can't take=leave.

**As to your BADD sticker on your cycle, I think it is a rude sign to have on your bicycle when you are desirous of motorists to "share the road" with you. Human nature being what it is, many people would view the sign as a challenge to their driving personally. Why do you want to have motorists pissed off at you from the get-go?**

Hello....tap, tap, please re-read what I said, it's a bumper sticker ON MY CAR! I have no fender on my road bike.

I am well aware of the dangers on the road both being a cyclist and being a driver of a 3,000 lb. vehicle, safety first, the big guy always wins. When a person finds themselves operating a vehicle in a rage it's time to get some help before someone gets hurt. When confronted with a raging person it's alway best to give them lots of room and ignore the outburst, give them time to calm down. Don't react in rage back.

I will say it again Lo-ru-hamah's flippant attitude about the whole thing is what really irked me. This is one of those times I think it would have been best to have kept the whole experience to oneself. I think you can agree we all have had things happen to us where our own "thinking" surprises even us and we come away from it thankful we didn't respond in the way we were "thinking", like I said better to remain silent and look a fool than open our mouth and remove all doubt. In this case as many other's I've seen on JWD better to think twice before hitting the Submit Post button.

luna2

Wow, this turned out to be a very informative thread. I'm sorry for all the anger its released, but its interesting to see the various points of view.

I've always been especially careful of cyclists because my uncle is an avid one. He has solo'd across country from Washington state to CT (once all the way to P-town in Mass) several times as a man in his 60s and early 70's. Once a trucker ran him off the road in Montana, he fell down a steep embankment and ended up in the hospital for several days. He thinks it may have been intentional...of course, there was no way to prove that. He retired from the cross country trips several years ago. I believe he still rides around Seattle, where he lives.

On the other hand, I've seen uninformed or simply rude cyclists do some incredibly stupid things in traffic. I think they (as well as those on motorcycles) forget that they can be difficult to see. I will say that I've seen no bicycles on the highway around here...could be its illegal.

It would be great if everybody knew the rules of the road for whatever vehicle they were on/in and obeyed them. It would be great if the road rage on all sides could be kept under control.

XJW4EVR

I have seen boorish behavior from both the car & bicyclist side. On many occasions, I have been forced to stay behind bikers 4-5 abrest, and taking up an entire lane. On one occasion, I casually honked to have them move over so I could safely pass them, I was subjected to middle fingers and vile cursing. Of course I had my sweet revenge, I ran into the same group of bikers at a restaurant, and I paid for their breakfasts. After the waitress told them that I had bought their lunch, I then stood and announced to the entire restaurant what they did, and how I had no ill feelings over their boorish behavior. THey were then subjected to thunderous boos.

On the biker side, will I have had people cut in front of me so many times that it's not funny. I too have been pinned to a curb. I have had people rev their engines behind me. And I have been subject to all manner of swearing and cursing. However, I take the attitude of another poster. I let the cars win. I am not about to toe-to-toe with a 5,000 lb. car. Two things I tell my wife as we ride on streets is to never ride side by side with me unless we are on a bike path. The other is to always watch for the cars, because they won't watch for you. As evidenced by the fact that almost 5 minutes after I told her this, some jackass in a Volvo pulled out of the mall parking lot (where we had just purchased our bikes) without looking.

Bicycling - A Dangerous Sport

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