Why car drivers get mad

[Aint Doody]

Sorta long--I just got back from the Florida Panhandle--Navarre Beach to be exact--and had only 2 frightening experiences. (I also got to meet & ride w/Bad Juju--but that's another story.) To get from Navarre Beach to the area where there are more miles to ride, one must cross a high, 2-laned bridge with no shoulder. There is a pedestrian walk on the bridge. Anyway I've found over the years that the best thing to do on that bridge is to stay to the right when there is no oncoming traffic. When there was oncoming traffic, I took the lane to prevent the "squeeze play." Mostly people were understanding and coureous. Shoot, I was looking out for them as well as myself. But on 2 occasions when I was heading over the bridge back to Navarre Beach SUV's with Lousiana tags on them honked and tried to run me off the bridge. I mean, there was nowhere for me to go but over the edge!

The first one pulled into the very first condo complex after the bridge. I saw them and hurried to catch them to tell them what they did was not only dangerous but against FL law (3 ft law). Unfortunately by the time I got there, they'd headed up the elevator. Musta had a cold beer waiting--or maybe had been drinking the cold beer and needed the bathroom. Didn't catch the 2nd one.

We were discussing this in my family, and my BIL pointed out that it's the idea that some drivers think they're more important than anybody else on the road. I have one brother who is approaching obesity and thought that I should have walked my bike over in the pedestrian lane that was totally separated from the rest of traffic. (He thinks I shouldn't slow down any traffic even for a moment.) I guess I could have--long bridge. There's another shorter bridge on the same little stretch of road that has a sign that says "Walk bicycles over bridge." I did that there--had to lift it over the guard rail and squeeze past the fishermen.

Anyway the comment that maybe bicycles need to be licensed isn't such a bad idea. That way we could be sure that cyclists would have to pass a test to prove that we understand the traffic laws. And then the comments about "not paying for the roads" would be false. Enforcing that would be difficult, and who should have to have a license at what age would be confusing. I also cringe to think about more government control, but the idea of more people hopefully being aware of safety issues and just why sometimes bicycles take a lane might outweigh the negatives.

[Tuckervill]

I pay for roads through my property taxes and sales taxes, not license fees. So whether or not I use them, I pay. They belong to everyone, not just drivers.

Karen

[Zen]

I have one brother who is approaching obesity and thought that I should have walked my bike over in the pedestrian lane that was totally separated from the rest of traffic. (He thinks I shouldn't slow down any traffic even for a moment.) I guess I could have--long bridge. There's another shorter bridge on the same little stretch of road that has a sign that says "Walk bicycles over bridge." I did that there--had to lift it over the guard rail and squeeze past the fishermen.

Does bodyweight affect the thought process? I haven't heard that news.
I lived in Fort Lauderdale for a few years. The Intercoastal Waterway there is full of drawbridges and there is a sign at the beginning of each that tells cyclists they must walk their bikes over the bridge. Some do, some don't. Just like doping in the Tour, lawbreakers give good people a bad name.