Something to ponder....

[Mr. Bloom]

I agree whole heartedly with the article. I am constantly annoyed at the bad cycling behavior of the many groups that come out to my area to ride. Blatant disregard for the rules of the road on the part of many! Yes, I have encountered stupid motorists, but considering how much I ride, it's not THAT many.
I try to do my part when I lead rides in that I am a stickler for single file riding. Many towns around here are ticketing cyclists for riding 2 abreast. Some people still do not listen. Yes, we need to educate both sides.

Amen!

I don't know what some folks think...if a 150 lb cyclist wants to truly provoke the driver of a 2,000lb car, we know who loses. Silver and I debate this frequently as she "asserts her rights to the road"...this is one area where I'm more conservative than she is.

In Indiana, cyclists can legally ride in 2's side by side...but Everything is permissible...not everything is beneficial.

[Mel_bikes]

I think people are overlooking the fact that few drivers are obeying the laws. We are experiencing a huge number or red light runners right now. You can't go when the light turns green, you must check. People are just frustrated with traffic. They don't identify with being part of the problem.

I was talking to some women about my riding when they mentioned how they cyclists hold them up, these are 30mph windy scenic streets. All the while complaining that everyone including them are doing 10 over the limit. DON'T people realize everyone needs to be responsible for each others safety.

My community is a destination for cycling, even with these issues it really is very considerate and I haven't had problems with drivers, the comments made me realize that these people don't realize MY LIFE and their children's depend on them following the laws.

[Thorn]

But, doesn't it all come back to the adage of it only taking one to make everyone look bad?

Knowing that our planned ride today had a couple mile stretch on a multi-use paved path and that the trail can have a lot of walkers on pretty days, we left early. Best laid plans and all that--a mile of the trail was being used for an organized walk, but, the trail was not closed. We were allowed to continue (which was good as at that point you're looking at a 5+ mile detour on some pretty nasty roads).

The trail at that point is about 10' wide and the walkers were all approaching us. We road slow (well under 10mph), stuck to the far right edge and kept an alert eye for humans under 3' tall, and proceeded with caution. We probably passed more than 100 walkers. Almost all of them were pleasant (ooh...lookie junior...a bike). One or two were not. The path was theirs to walk 6 abreast and we were to use the grass (seriously).

As we road on after that, I paused long enough to realize that 90% of those walkers and us coexisted just fine. 5% were oblivious and caused a few minor irritations and less than 5% were just rude. Yet, until I stopped to think about it, in my mind I had labelled those 90% with the same brush that I labelled the rude ones.

My point? How many cars don't see the 90% of us that obey the rules of the road, switch to single file in traffic and actually wait at red lights? They only see the 5% that ride 2 abreast in heavy traffic, run red lights and cut across intersections in unsafe manners? While I can agree with some of the basic tenets of Critical Mass, their approach is the rude 5%--in trying to make a point, they label all of us with a very bad brush.

Which asks the next question...in the Critical Mass movement are 90% well-intentioned and only 5% those we hear about?

[Tri Girl]

After doing yesterday's Bike to Work ride, I can understand how motorists get angry and upset with bikers. They were riding 4-5 abreast, taking both lanes of westbound traffic, some even crossing the double yellow line (most of those offenses were by recreational riders tho- but still). Even in large groups, cyclists need to remember to be considerate of drivers. We were seriously holding up traffic, and as such, I decided to ditch the group and ride alone on the way back. We get a bad enough rap as it is, and we don't need any negative publicity. Most of us are considerate of traffic, but like everything, a few bad apples ruin the bunch.

Oh- and those critical mass rides seem like a disaster waiting to happen IMO. Scary.

[northstar]

+1 agreeing with the article.

Today as I was stopped at a stoplight, a car pulled up beside me, window down. He wanted to turn right, so I asked him if he could see past me. He said he could and thanked me for following the rules of the road.

It's nice to be appreciated. I gave us some good PR today.