Cyclists are stupid, dangerous, irresponsible, and rude.

[salsabike]

Um, people do generalize about bad drivers all the time.

Have you not heard of 'women drivers'? Or 'Masshole drivers'? Or even worse because it's two stereotypes "Asian women drivers'? People don't stereotype ALL drivers because they'd be including themselves. The only people who stereotype ALL drivers are those who don't drive. Everyone else has to pick a class that they are not a part of in order to effectively bash.

Same for cyclists. We don't stereotype all cyclists because we'd be including ourselves, so we pick on a class like 'triathletes', 'racer types', or 'DUI bikers' or whatever.

It's human nature to exclude yourself from the group you are speaking against in some way shape or form.


I do like your post though, Knott and I agree, if that pissed you off, can you imagine what it would do to the non-cyclist?

Well said.

[KnottedYet]

I didn't say anything about any stereotypes.

I spoke specifically about 2 people on bikes who brought negativity into my universe.

[Melalvai]

My daughter got hit by a bicyclist a couple weeks ago, when she & I were walking to school in the evening. He was riding on the sidewalk and he honked but didn't give us time to react. She jumped off the sidewalk at the same time that he swerved to the right to go around us.

This was one year almost exactly since she was on a bicycle and got hit by a truck.

My opinion of the driver of that truck, and the driver of that bicycle, are very similar. But at least the bicyclist who hit her didn't put her in the hospital. A gash on the leg is a lot better than a skull fracture.

[OakLeaf]

And maybe it's the lower potential for injury that ultimately makes people take bikes less seriously. If it was a car driving on the sidewalk, you'd both have called 911 as soon as you were safe, and the cops would've been there with lights and sirens. As it was, it didn't even occur to you, right? - and if you had called about a bicycle on the sidewalk before a collision happened, the dispatcher would've laughed you off the phone.

[Eden]

And maybe it's the lower potential for injury that ultimately makes people take bikes less seriously. If it was a car driving on the sidewalk, you'd both have called 911 as soon as you were safe, and the cops would've been there with lights and sirens. As it was, it didn't even occur to you, right? - and if you had called about a bicycle on the sidewalk before a collision happened, the dispatcher would've laughed you off the phone.

You really think so huh...... a few years ago someone drove their car right down the sidewalk - for about 1/2 a block - in front of my house because there was traffic and they didn't want to wait....

There were no lights, no sirens, no cops..... no one got in trouble....

I think the big difference is that even if people do stereotype some drivers, no one takes a look at a bad driver in an SUV and then turns around and says, SUV's shouldn't be allowed on the road and means it seriously - in fact unless the behavior is *seriously* egregious it is completely ignored, but if a cyclist slides through a stop sign people get all up in arms about how all cyclists are law breakers and how we shouldn't even be allowed to use the roads and they mean it... (the same people who will scream about cyclists sliding through stops probably don't even realize they do it in their cars *all of the time* 99% of people I see around here never fully stop or stop in the crosswalk...)

[radacrider]

There is poor judgment behavior all over the place - some intentional, some due to ignorance, some due to selfishness.

<flashback warning>Intentional - waaaaay back in grade school, sibs and I walked to school. 1 kid was always harassing kids walking while on his bike. One day, saw him coming, turned, grabbed his handlebars and forced him onto the grass of someone's front yard (yep, he fell). He stopped harassing others after that.<end flashback>

Woman riding on sidewalk, neighbor street with stop sign, crossed road without a stop sign in my direction without slowing down or barely even looking. I swerved left and yelled, "Nice stop!" (more for my own venting than any notion it did any good).

I see people jumping up to the sidewalk all the time to avoid a long line of cars where there is no room to ride up along on the right side.

I see people ignore pedestrians in crosswalks (of course, vehicle drivers do, too). I try to stop for people waiting to cross (signalling of course, which gets vehicles to stop, and sometimes other cyclists will and sometimes they blow by me).

I see great judgment and considerate riding and driving, too, though and while I might more easily remember the crappy stuff, I believe I see more nice behavior in reality.

[luv2climb]

What about sidewalks were cycling is actually encouraged? We have many sidewalks with signs that say "BIKE ROUTE" or "BIKES USE SIDEWALK OR TRAFFIC LANE" (the latter due to a bike lane ending before an intersection). On those, I go much slower and softly ring my bell when necessary. I don't use horns or make loud, startling noises.

[GLC1968]

I think the big difference is that even if people do stereotype some drivers, no one takes a look at a bad driver in an SUV and then turns around and says, SUV's shouldn't be allowed on the road and means it seriously -

Of course not, because SUV's don't cause accidents, people do. I would bet money that if the person driving that SUV was different from the person making the observation, they WOULD say something like "old people shouldn't be allowed to drive" or "young people shouldn't be allowed to drive" or whatever...

Again, people don't generalize about their own class unless for some reason they hate their own class or they are making a joke.

I think the answer to the bike hatred is to get more people on bikes. Then people will be more likely to blame the specific cyclist who IS to blame and not assign it to an entire form of transportation (that they likely know nothing about).


And Knott - I was directing my commentary about people stereotyping car drivers just like they do bike riders at the general audience. Not at you. I didn't mean to imply that you stereotyped in your original post.

[OakLeaf]

Of course not, because SUVs don't cause accidents, people do.

Except that news stories are ordinarily written to absolve the driver and place responsibility on the car. The usual phraseology is something like: "Dymwhit was driving her 2009 Mazda on Straightflatwide Road when it crossed the median and struck the 2007 Chevrolet driven by N.O. Cent."

I'm not sure what my point is. I'm just especially ticked off that Ben Sollee had to cancel most of his current tour because Florida roads are unsafe. Just, bah.

[Trek420]

My daughter got hit by a bicyclist a couple weeks ago, when she & I were walking to school in the evening. He was riding on the sidewalk and he honked but didn't give us time to react. She jumped off the sidewalk at the same time that he swerved to the right to go around us.

Don't get me started on bikes on the sidewalk. He honked, or rang a bell? Bikes on the sidewalk are to pedestrians what cars are to us on the road.

There are routes where I make a decision to be on the sidewalk. So I make a decision to be a ped and walk the bike.

When I'm walking I "take the lane" for oncoming cyclists. Dude, I don't know your bike handling skills, I don't know if you can avoid me or navigate between an opening door on my right and the freight elevator on my left. I don't know which way you will go.

I do know that if needed I can get out of your way but as a ped I'd prefer that you yield or get off and walk.

Kids, elderly cyclists I see downtown, invisible cyclists I understand. They may not know the "rules of the road". But for the majority I see riding on the sidewalk because of that one way street before your work, c'mon. Walk or ride the extra block around on the street.