A unified theory of New York biking

[redrhodie]

from Felix Salmon:

http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmo...w-york-biking/

But in stark contrast to motorists, nearly all of whom follow nearly all the rules, most cyclists seem to treat the rules of the road as strictly optional.

That's funny!

What planet is this guy living on? Has he never been on a highway with a 55 mph speed-limit? If you even try obeying the law, you'll be road-raged to death. Don't even get me started that he's specifically speaking about NY. I lived there long enough to know the speed limit in the city is "go as fast as you can go to keep the greens lights". No one in NY obeys traffic laws, not cars, bikes, or even pedestrians. Maybe since I left NY, cyclists have gotten worse. I could believe that, but I don't believe the drivers have all become perfect. Maybe they aren't driving the wrong way down one way streets, or driving on the sidewalks, but they're still breaking laws, and often those laws are extremely hazardous to cyclists, like driving in bike lanes, and opening doors without looking.

I see what he's trying to say, though, but I still think a bike is neither a car nor a pedestrian, and shouldn't be treated as either. Sometimes the rules are written for cars, and just don't work for bikes. (like the one in my state, that says cyclists must start a turn signal 100 feet before the turn, and hold it through the entire turn, which you all know makes it impossible to brake with both hands, and may make turning extremely unstable and unsafe. So, every time I hold my bars with both hands when I'm turning, I'm breaking the law.) I agree with him it's dumb to ride the wrong way down one way streets, and run red lights, but his argument that the majority of cyclists are bad and drivers are good is ridiculously one sided.

I also don't believe that even if every single cyclist was to follow the law to a tee, we would suddenly all be accepted by drivers. They would still find us annoying, slow, and in their way.

ETA, my comment was based just on the segment that was cut and pasted, not on the full article. I misunderstood his full intent.