Quote Originally Posted by PamNY View Post
Eden, I'm talking specifically about cycling in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Right on red is illegal, interstates are rare, and both cyclists and vehicles pull into crosswalks because it's the only way to see around double-parked trucks.

I was merely trying to shed light on the discussion (which was specifically about New York City).

It was not my intention to provoke one of those "drivers are bad too" discussions which are common here and in which I have no desire to participate.
From my reading of the article that's what this is all about... It's about the respect that drivers don't afford cyclists on the road. It's easy to say oh its because they are all lousy rule breakers, but that's totally hypocritical. Cyclists and motorists may break different rules in different proportions, but I call *total BS* to the idea that cyclists break rules more often - and it really gets my dander up to see other cyclists buy into that type of thinking.

I'm not defending cyclists who ride the wrong way on one way streets. That's just plain stupid and yes I will tell a cyclist that they are going the wrong way (though few people do it here thankfully) and I'm not defending law breaking from any group. It just really bothers me, really, really bothers me that people have the idea that cyclists as a group somehow deserve what ever abuse or neglect we receive from motorists because some cyclists don't follow the rules. It bugs me that we as a society are willing to say cyclists should be held to a higher standard so that people won't want to kill us, rather than saying motorists should be held to a higher standard because they are more likely to kill.