Running the reds (the elephant in the corner) (Comments: 8)

8 comments to “Running the reds (the elephant in the corner)”

Adam Durand, May 23rd, 2009 at 3:56 pm:

• Nice post! Even when they have plenty of room to pass me, some motorists seem to want me to cease to exist, and I’m not buying that!

bob, May 24th, 2009 at 5:14 pm:

• Thanks Adam.
  I bought the book
  “Traffic, Why We Drive the Way We Do”
  by Tom Vanderbilt,
  and I followed the laws last night,
  and today.
  A post on my blog will give you the results.

Furious Kitten, May 27th, 2009 at 6:19 am:

• I filter forward at lighted intersections as well, usually straddling the line between the far right lane and the right-hand turning lane. Yes, it is much safter up front, by the crosswalk than in the pack sucking fumes. I don’t know why motorists get angry because after all, more bicycles on the road leads to less congestion. The ones who blow by me a foot from my elbow even though they have plenty of room- I just assume they are evil, unhappy people who like to pick on people they see as weak. I mean, seriously! I’m a 40 year old woman pedaling on a 90′s model steel frame hybrid, wearing a bright helmet and conservative clothing. How can anyone be mean to THAT?? Pitiful that in this day and age we would have to fear for our safety while biking on a lit, wide roadway on a residential street.

bob, May 27th, 2009 at 8:38 am:

• I can appreciate turn lanes & such,
  by ‘maintaining’ my spot in traffic.
  But I have no desire to be the middle
  of a bumper sandwich, something I see way
  to often. My irk was raised from some other
  community blogs where drivers hopped in
  venting about getting passed on the right
  while stopped at red lights, and how that
  is an infraction of traffic laws & the cyclist
  should be cited. And that was the justification for being hostile towards all
  cyclists.

  MY POINT:
  I am not allowed a lane.
  I am continually ‘overtaken’ (within 2 feet)
  in the lane.
  But when traffic stops,
  I must stop?
  Well, since I’m not being recognized as a
  legitimate user of the road, and no one is
  enforcing MY RIGHTS, then I WON’T recognize
  what ‘they THINK are the rules of the road’.

  I still think some people need to be pulled
  from their cars…..
  Too many little people become bullies when
  behind the wheel, another great part of the
  book “TRAFFIC”.

bob, May 27th, 2009 at 8:38 am:

• I can appreciate turn lanes & such,
  by ‘maintaining’ my spot in traffic.
  But I have no desire to be the middle
  of a bumper sandwich, something I see way
  to often. My irk was raised from some other
  community blogs where drivers hopped in
  venting about getting passed on the right
  while stopped at red lights, and how that
  is an infraction of traffic laws & the cyclist
  should be cited. And that was the justification for being hostile towards all
  cyclists.

  MY POINT:
  I am not allowed a lane.
  I am continually ‘overtaken’ (within 2 feet)
  in the lane.
  But when traffic stops,
  I must stop?
  Well, since I’m not being recognized as a
  legitimate user of the road, and no one is
  enforcing MY RIGHTS, then I WON’T recognize
  what ‘they THINK are the rules of the road’.

  I still think some people need to be pulled
  from their cars…..
  Too many little people become bullies when
  behind the wheel, another great part of the
  book “TRAFFIC”.

John, May 27th, 2009 at 9:31 am:

• Ahhh. You read bikeforums.net huh. Lots of do as I do people over there and other places as well.

  I’m a helmetless, scofflaw who also doesn’t have a mirror. I evaluate the safest and best way to get around on my bike and sometimes it’s breaking the motor vehicle laws. I have jumped stop signs, ridden on sidwalks and even on the wrong way on streets. What ever it takes to keep me out of harms way.

  I can’t remember ever wondering what people in cars think, but I do like to post stuff like that in forums to stir things up. (Occasionally) 8>)

bob, May 27th, 2009 at 10:04 am:

• ha!
  i hope it was you or some one stirring
  things up.
  i like to aggitate,
  but i know to stay away from most
  comments sections, like on AOL,
  ’cause you get the worst of the worst.
  but when you get a pro cycling post
  on the local section of the news paper,
  and it gets countered by a bunch of angry
  drivers, well i took the bait.

  and then i get to ‘share the road’
  with these same idiots,
  who seem to think that since you ride a bike,
  you are somehow a second class citizen,
  worthy of abuse,
  and not a person,
  with a life just as important as theirs.

  i think this is the year i yank someone
  from their car…….

Bikerjohn, June 1st, 2009 at 9:47 am:

• I can only agree with what you’ve observed about motor vehicle traffic. The tactics a bicyclist needs to employ to “get there in one piece”, are not necessarily the proper rules of the road. Cyclists are more closely related to “pedestrians” than to motor vehicles…

  Don’t ever expect motor vehicle operators to treat you with equal consideration. I think the aggression and general callousness behavior of typical motor vehicle operators has something to do with the anonymity of being shrouded behind a steering wheel (and all that steel plastic and glass).