Seen on the road yesterday

[Kano]

DH was on his way home from work yesterday, and said he saw one of those riders who gives us all such a "good" name:

A woman rider, riding north in the southbound lane of a fairly narrow two lane bridge with no shoulder area or bike lane. She had no helmet, AND she was talking on her cell phone.

During Rush Hour.


It's a stretch of road I kind of like to ride, the right direction, and not during rush hour -- gotta take the lane and go like heck to get past the tight spot, but rush hour, it's one of the very scariest places to be!

Karen in Boise

[jesvetmed]

Yike. See all kinds out there! I saw a similar problem, but was a parent with two children on bikes -- no helmets on any of them, going the wrong way. Oh my...

[buddha_bellies]

Last Saturday, a group of us were just doing some leisure rides around town. 2 cyclists who had some nice bikes with fancy panniers decided to run red lights! Not one, but 2 red lights! Argh!!!! And to top it off, when we were at a stop light with several cars in front, instead of staying behind the cars and follow traffic rules, they decided to SQUEEZE by the cars on the right hand side so they can get to the front of the line. God! I felt like giving them a piece of my mind.

The funny thing is, they never went too far from us because of traffic. Go figure. I wonder if they drive like that too.

[MtnBikerChk]

People call me the helmet Nazi because I won't even wave to other "cyclists" who don't wear helmets.

and since my little run in with the Nissan I have the urge to stop all people who I see riding without helmets or running red lights etc and give them a lecture about WHY they need to wear helmets and obey the law.

Makes me so MAD!

[alpinerabbit]

it might not be comme il faut, but people run red lights here all the time (then again cyclists aren't nearly as endangered here as in the states). Although they are cracking down on that crime - DBF got a ticket a while ago.

And squeezing past backed up cars to the front is actually legal here. Go figure.

[Biciclista]

hey wait, you said rush hour! Oh that's right, it's Seattle that doesn't have rush hour. We have bad traffic almost 24 hours a day!

[Eden]

And squeezing past backed up cars to the front is actually legal here. Go figure.

It's legal in Washington too - but whether or not its advisable is entirely different.....It can be a dangerous thing to do. In some cases, like when there is a usable bike lane it can be OK - but you have to be *extremely* careful of people turning right. If there are only a few cars I just get in line. It's no skin off my nose. If there is a huge traffic jam, there certainly are times I take my prerogative as a vehicle that is not an automobile and I don't sit in it.