Park police disturbs me

[Irulan]

t is beyond me how such tatical maneuvers can be deemed necessary even if the riders were in violation of riding more than 2 abreast after sunset.

well, there's your answer right there. Perhaps if your group contacted the authorities ahead of time for an event permit or special road closure or what ever it takes to not be in violation of the laws, the cops wouldn't do what they did.

[ilima]

Isn't Stone Mountain technically a private park? They're probably not 'real' cops and they probably don't give a crap.

Now, I do think the two abreast thing is a little silly to get in a huff about as if they're going with traffic, you can have way more than two abreast in a single lane (and the cyclists should be worthy of a full lane if they're going at the speed limit), which would make the group more compact and easier to pass in the left lane.

[Irulan]

easier to pass in the left lane.

you can't always pass in the left lane. Some roads are blind, or slow or there's too much on coming traffic. Or, maybe you are like my mom, 80 years old and terrified to pass a group of cyclists on a curvy road....

[Cataboo]

Assuming stone mountain is a theme park, this is what it says on their FAQ:


* Do you have bike trails or somewhere for me to ride my bicycle at the Park?
Bicycles can be ridden along the roadways inside the Park. There is a dedicated bicycle lane on Robert E. Lee Blvd., on the back side of the mountain. Bikers must ride single file and follow all traffic laws.


If it's a theme park, I'm assuming it's private land & roads.

[ilima]

you can't always pass in the left lane. Some roads are blind, or slow or there's too much on coming traffic. Or, maybe you are like my mom, 80 years old and terrified to pass a group of cyclists on a curvy road....

Yes, but the context of my post was cyclists traveling at the same speed as cars. Why would your 80 yo mom need to pass the cyclists in that case?

Also, left lane implies two lanes going in the same direction. If your mom is afraid to drive he left lane-that is going the same direction as the right lane-perhaps your mom shouldn't be on the road at all.

[Selkie]

Based on the facts presented, it appears that the cyclists were not following the rules and knew it.

The officer was doing his/her job.

To be honest, I would get nervous coming upon a big group of cyclists riding fast on a curvy park road, even if there was a passing lane. I'm 46 years old and have a good driving record.

We all have a civic duty to obey the rules of the road, regardless of our mode of transportation.

[Irulan]

Yes, but the context of my post was cyclists traveling at the same speed as cars. Why would your 80 yo mom need to pass the cyclists in that case?

Also, left lane implies two lanes going in the same direction. If your mom is afraid to drive he left lane-that is going the same direction as the right lane-perhaps your mom shouldn't be on the road at all.

I guess we are going to get all nitpicky here... somewhere I missed that there were two parallel lanes, and I was picking up the concept of a group of bikers blocking/filling a single lane on a two lane road, in general. Stupid me I guess.

[ilima]

I guess we are going to get all nitpicky here... somewhere I missed that there were two parallel lanes, and I was picking up the concept of a group of bikers blocking/filling a single lane on a two lane road, in general. Stupid me I guess.

Not stupid. I've actually been to Stone Mountain. Unless there's a big laser light show thingy going on auto traffic is pretty light--at least it was 10+ years ago when I was last there.

[Pedal Wench]

When we ride in the park, we're typically two across, but to be honest, where there are two lanes in each direction, we'll take the whole lane. In that situation, I feel it's safer for the cars to move to the outside (same direction) lane to pass us, than for them to try to move over slightly and pass us with another car next to them. (Car in outer lane, car sharing inner lane with us.) The traffic is typically very light, especially later in the day. It's a closed loop - there is no through traffic, and all cars have to pay to enter the park - bicycles and peds are free.

The group in question probably was going too fast. But just like a pedestrian shouldn't step out into a line of fast-moving cars, the policeman shouldn't have done the same. Yes, an animal could have done the same, and there wouldn't be an issue - that's an accident. This was intentional.