People, take a look in the mirror! I’m not talking about the mirror at OZ fitness by the free weights, or the one you pass in the hall at work to see if your bottom is looking nice today, and not the one in your restroom that tells you how pretty or old you look.
I’m talking about the mirror on the passenger side of your car that lets you know when you are about to run over a cyclist!! I think that is the most important mirror.
Don’t speed up to pass a bike and then turn just after you pass them. Yield to the bike, they have the right-of-way in that scenario. LTD, just because you are big does not give you the right-of-way. Don’t cut off a bike in the bike lane to make a stop. Yield. Also, honking at a cyclist to let them know you are coming up on them is as idiotic as yelling at the clerk in the library to help you with the Dewy Decimal System. Honking startles the cyclist and potentially causes them to swerve into traffic or react with a one finger gesture.
I’m sick of seeing mangled bikes and mangled bodies.We must be wearing a target you seem to see so well from your high advantage point in your car. But it also hurts you when you hit us. Then we have to drive, use up the gas, pollute the air, and indulge in road rage. That means higher gas prices, health problems from dirty air, and violence over a traffic jam at 5pm.
Share the roads, but give us the bike lane.
Luke
Whlie I agree that autos for the most part are driven by, dangerous self absorbed people. I am reminded of a bumper sticker that said something like, one planet, one people. I am reminded of this mostly when I see bicyclists running stop signs and flipping off cars that do the same. Or when bikers ride so many across the lane that cars can’t pass safely, and get mad when cars don’t let cyclists by. We are a society that has benifited greatly from the auto. I believe as a society we also need the bicycle and it too has its place in history. What I want most is for both sides if you will, to respect the other, obey all the rules of the road and rememdber, neither is greater than the other, both groups have the same rights, and we do nothing but damage to our selves by slamming the other. This would be a good place to review MLK’S I had a dream speech. No it did not talk about the auto vs. the bicycle, but you can apply it to all maters that involve people.
There are actions that are bad, lets address those, stop sterotyping the groups…
By: collinscycleshop on January 22, 2008
at 9:08 am
I agree with the comment. I find it quite hypocritical when some cyclists will blaze through stop lights, go the wrong way down one way streets, etc. and then turn around and complain about the Nissan Armada driver who right hooks them at the next intersection. However, I would also argue that because of the sheer tonnage of the truck though, they should be more focused about safety than the 200-pound cyclist atop his aluminum framed road bike. Everyone should be concerned about their fellow road-users, be them drivers, cyclist, or pogo-stickers, but to nerdily quote Spiderman “With great power comes great responsibility.”
By: neverknowsbest21 on January 24, 2008
at 8:48 am