Bicyclists and the pack mentality.

[sourland]

Recently in a nearby community a group of bicyclists busted off the side mirrors, scratched and pounded on the doors of a young girl's car. Did she antagonize them? I don't know, but they left in a hurry when it was apparent that she was crying and calling 911. Biking is very common on the country roads where I live, and most riders are sensible and courteous. In my experience the smaller the group the higher the level of courtesy. Two personal incidents come to mind. In one I was making a left hand turn into a road, blinker on when a group of bikers appeared, ran the stop sign, passed my truck on both sides, gave me the finger and shouted boisterously. Why? In another incident I was going down a hill just as a phalanx of bikers 5 or 6 across the road crested the hill. I stopped, they passed me on both sides, again gave me the finger, shouted and one punched the side of my truck. Again, why? I knew the local country store they were headed to so I turned around and went back to question them. They had no answers as to the reason for their behavior, and the hero who punched my truck denied all responsibility. I just don't get it.

I'm not a 'biker hater'. My daughter, SIL, and GD all bike and have also viewed the same sort of behavior.

 

[speckledhen]

I figure when they pay the road taxes for their bikes, they can ride on the public streets. Till then, in my opinion, they do not have the same rights as my car and had better yield. JMHO. Yeah, they can sure give the attitude, I know.

 

[Carols Clucks]

My mega cycling friend and I just had a similar discussion


She was posting photos of the horrors of a brand new street redesign/widening that had bike lanes that the county had but signs up explaining where to turn etc but blocking the bike lane. She was going to get involved, write letters to the mayor etc.

When I said that it seems the cycling groups here ignore our excessively wide (8 feet 9 inches and yes I have measured) one group even riding in a pack 5 and 6 wide all the way to the double yellow line on a state hwy that has a lot of traffic and a 50 mph speed limit (they were riding up hill no way were they even close to the speed limit...lol)

Her nasty and heated reply was they are allowed full use of the road.

If that is the case, why make bike lanes...... Why complain if you have no plans on using the bike lane?

Don't get me wrong, I ride my bike too. But I am well aware that my body on my bike will loose when in a conflict with a car.

Part of the cycling "rules" include things like taking the lane, not wearing or using a mirror etc. My friend posts things like that all the time.

It seems to me that they have a need to fit in with their group and behave badly when doing so. That safety comes after looking cool and following their own rules.

What they forget is:

A) they are on a training ride; why not incorporate the stop signs as sprints or use them to change up a rider to ride side by side with (2 wide in a lane)

B) On roads with narrow bike lanes, use them to learn to ride single file neatly, not take over the road.

C) Bike lanes with cycling objects that are dangerous, take a photo write a letter get it changed. Don't ride as a pack in those known areas ( single file)

D) If you take your share out of the middle of the road; you are not a good ambassador for the sport of cycling. You are the problem. Your rights do not trump all others. And in case of an accident, the car driver will be the one coming home to their family.

Just my thoughts.


(I pray my friend survives her current cycling obsession; as a single parent her kids need her)

 

[bakerjw]

I figure when they pay the road taxes for their bikes, they can ride on the public streets. Till then, in my opinion, they do not have the same rights as my car and had better yield. JMHO. Yeah, they can sure give the attitude, I know.

Where does the tax money come from for maintaining the roads? The common fallacy is that it comes from license plate revenue but that typically only maintains the DMV and probably then it won't cover all of their operating costs. The majority of road taxes come from income, sales, and gas taxes. There are very few cyclists that travel only by bicycle and I am sure many of them do pay income taxes. I know that I bicycle a lot and I pay plenty in taxes, so as far as I am concerned, I have every right to be on the road because I am paying for them.

That said. I have seen cyclists behave in a less that stellar manner but never to the degree mentioned here. Me, I show respect to all motorists unless they decide that they want to not play nice. I also pay attention to all road signs. Most of the cyclists that I ride with are aware of the laws regarding lane usage. When we are riding casually, we will ride 2 wide but narrow back to single file when cars approach. Most of the time though, we are riding pace lines which are single file. The lead bike pulls for 30 to 45 seconds and then drops through the back. Getting with a good group in a pace line can really put out some distance.

Now as for the behavior of motorists. That's the flip side to the bicycle versus cager argument. I can't count on two hand how many times that I've been buzzed, or had a motorist throw bottles, cans, full sodas, spit, honk, swerve, etc.. at myself or someone riding with me.

As for the young girl? I'd bet a steak dinner that she did something to provoke a response. I know that if a driver buzzes me and I catch up to them, I will let them know my displeasure and a call to the local LEO is not out of the question. Here in Tennessee, there is a 3 foot rule. If you pass within 3 feet of a cyclist, then it is a misdemeanor. And many if my cycling friends wear helmet cams that tie back into their smart phones to provide proof if it comes to having a LEO show up.

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

Ask EMS about people on bikes. Something like 9 out of 10 car drivers will move for EMS. Bikes riding in packs even make EMS find a way around them.

What gets me is when they make you pass them then when you stop at a light they get back in front of you, making you pass them all over again
Cant pass a bike anywhere you cant pass a car in Ga. Same goes for bikes passing cars.


By the way, I got hit by a car when I was on a bike years ago. I assume the car was running about 55 when it hit me.

 

[Carols Clucks]

I think many counties with high numbers of cyclists could balance their budgets if they ticketed every cyclist for running stop signs and red lights.....lol (you know they would stop you if you did it in a car!!)

 

[speckledhen]

In my personal opinion, bicycles do not belong on roads constructed for vehicle traffic, period, not ever, not even the polite riders. If there isn't an actual bike lane or a park constructed just for bicycle use, then the bicycle shouldn't be there, I don't care what the law is. You won't change my mind about that.

I agree with you Carol. If they're going to be allowed on the streets, then they should be ticketed for turns without signals and for running lights and stop signs like cars. They are a real hazard on the roadways, especially if they're monkeying around like I've seen many of them do.

 

[cupman]

I read a story a couple years back about this girl who made a turn and bumped a biker off his bike. The pack went rabid and started pounding on her car and she drove off. They got her plates and called 911. The cops talked to the woman and she told them how they were behaving and cops decided she had enough reason to be scared for her safety and did not charge her with any crime. The bikers were furious. In my city there's a LOT of bicyclists and they are really getting on everyone's nerves.

 

[Bunnylady]

Hoodlums are going to act like hoodlums, whatever their means of travel. At least when they are riding in a car, they are limited to hurling insults and whatever loose objects may be in the car.

Yes, it's true that a lot of cyclists have a chip on their shoulders. I don't know about elsewhere, but the Uniform Vehicle Code of the State of North Carolina considers a bicycle a vehicle, with the same rights, rules, and responsibilities as any other vehicle when it comes to traveling on the roadways. A cyclist has the same right to be on the road as a car does, and is expected to obey the rules. That means stopping for lights and stop signs, and signaling turns. When one car passes another car, it goes entirely into the other lane to do it, it is supposed to do the same thing for a bicyclist.

Every cyclist has horror stories he can tell about how motorists are "out to get you." I've been run off the road and had car doors opened in front of me by people that (I assume) didn't see me. I've also had objects hurled at me, along with screaming epithets that made it clear that those drivers at least did see me. Riding through an intersection, I've had cars pass on my left and make a right turn so close in front of me, it was all I could do not to run into them. An awful lot of drivers seem to treat a cyclist as a sort of stationary object, completely out of mind once it has been passed. Ever wonder why cyclists' clothes are such bright colors? It's for visibility - we hope that loud enough colors will register in the minds of distracted drivers, getting them to focus enough attention on us to at least not run us over. That in-your-face attitude is offensive defensiveness (plus the inevitable adrenaline/testosterone of the extremely fit).

And about bike lanes - nice idea in principle, but the practice is another story. We have roads around here that have bike lanes on them, but they don't always go where you need to go, then what? Take an extra 20 minutes to ride the bike lane, rather than take the direct route? Because the lanes are adjacent to the roadway, loose gravel, glass, and other debris tends to come to rest in them, requiring that the cyclist keep a lot of his attention directed at the road surface in front of him. That can be very dangerous, because you can't be sure that motorists will stay out of the bike lane. I have seen a lot of drivers that ride the right side of the road, even riding halfway in the bike lane simply because there's asphalt there. We have had a couple of cyclists run over here in the last few years, that witnesses say were fully in the bike lane when a motorist mowed 'em down. Weeds and shrubs on the shoulder may force you back out onto the roadway, anyway. Some of the riders around here refer to bike lanes as "death lanes", because they think the bike lane makes the motorist even more likely to tune the cyclist out ("oh, he's over there, I don't have to worry about him"), driving as though the cyclist isn't there at all, and possibly doing something that will get the cyclist killed.

 

[Carols Clucks]

I think what irked me about my friends attitude was:

Even though she is the organizer for her group rides she has no desire to promote co-operative cycling or stopping at lights/signs, it would not be cool.

Her repeated response to me we "Do you know we have the right to the full use of the road if there is no traffic" problem is, if you are blocking traffic and refuse to look back or use a mirror, and are only looking forward, you would have no idea if there is traffic until some one has had enough and finds a spot to pass the pack.