Cyclists -- Why do you hog the road even with a large shoulder?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a cousin who is temporarily living in Germany. He is amazed at how nicely the Germans treat all cyclists. He is not looking forward to coming home because he enjoys his commute to his job by bike!

That's a country with high education standards and low crime.

We don't live in such a country.

Low crime??

Most important - a driver licensing system that wouldn't allow people who don't know how to operate a car safely in the presence of
Cyclists to obtain a license.

And of course cyclists need no such training themselves ?

How many times has a cyclist colliding with a car killed (or even injured) the driver?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because I have the same right to the road as you. Deal with it.

You're a troll. Or, if not, why do you not ride on the shoulder??

As I said, I am entitled to the road. Why should I ride on the shoulder, where there's usually more debris? I have the same right to the road as you. Deal with it.

Cyclists have a LOT of traffic fatalities. You should probably consider whether the driver in 2000 pound truck behind is really going to "deal" with the same consequences as you if they hit you out of impatience. (Spoiler alert: they won't. Your guts will be splayed out over the road)

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't know where this pull to the right nonsense is coming from

Cyclists have a right to the road just like cars

I blow through stopsigns and treat traffic lights like yields but I always check first. I used to obey all traffic laws but in DC no bikers actually wait at red lights or come to a full and complete stop at a 4 way stop so I joined the local customs.

It does amaze me watching some bikers blow through without looking. Thats asking for a serious accident.

I love the bike lanes in DC. Its tough riding in downtown I tend to avoid it if at all possible. Sometimes there is no choice and its pretty dangerous. I have a right to be on the road.

I got this far in this thread before I had to comment.

I take 13th st NW a lot. I also take that stretch of road up by Montgomery college that runs into eastern avenue on side and Fenton on the other. That one even HAS a wide sidewalk clearly marked as a bike path. Their own bike path!!! Yes, it ends. It turns into an ordinary sidewalk right beofre piney branch. An ordinary, empty sidewalk, like 99 per cent of the sidewalks in nw dc. At most times, especially during rush hour.

It is legal to bike on sidewalks in dc.

Tell me, in the name of all that is holy: why do so many cyclists insist on biking on a road barely wide enough for two lanes od traffic and the parked cars on either side of it and not the sidewalk? Tell me what insane death urge sends you biking down 16th street, weaving between buses and cars going 35mph, instead of taking the perfectly empty, perfectly smooth sidewalk next to them?

Sidewalk biking is legal. And despite reports of how pedestrian friendly dc is, most of its pedestrian byways look like a neutron bomb landed, or everyone died of zombie plague locked in their houses.

Why are you on the roads??? Why are you choking on the hills going up eastern Ave and not just staying on the sidewalk?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because I have the same right to the road as you. Deal with it.

You're a troll. Or, if not, why do you not ride on the shoulder??

As I said, I am entitled to the road. Why should I ride on the shoulder, where there's usually more debris? I have the same right to the road as you. Deal with it.

Cyclists have a LOT of traffic fatalities. You should probably consider whether the driver in 2000 pound truck behind is really going to "deal" with the same consequences as you if they hit you out of impatience. (Spoiler alert: they won't. Your guts will be splayed out over the road)

+1

If you the driver are in any way a moral person, or your family, this would probably destroy your life.

[Anonymous]

I live 1 block a way from a section on the WO&D bike trail. The cyclist decide to always use the single street lane instead of the "bike trail" it's so frustrating and annoying at the same time. I can't tell you how many cyclists, I've seen hit by cars because of the way they think and cycle!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know where this pull to the right nonsense is coming from

Cyclists have a right to the road just like cars

I blow through stopsigns and treat traffic lights like yields but I always check first. I used to obey all traffic laws but in DC no bikers actually wait at red lights or come to a full and complete stop at a 4 way stop so I joined the local customs.

It does amaze me watching some bikers blow through without looking. Thats asking for a serious accident.

I love the bike lanes in DC. Its tough riding in downtown I tend to avoid it if at all possible. Sometimes there is no choice and its pretty dangerous. I have a right to be on the road.

I got this far in this thread before I had to comment.

I take 13th st NW a lot. I also take that stretch of road up by Montgomery college that runs into eastern avenue on side and Fenton on the other. That one even HAS a wide sidewalk clearly marked as a bike path. Their own bike path!!! Yes, it ends. It turns into an ordinary sidewalk right beofre piney branch. An ordinary, empty sidewalk, like 99 per cent of the sidewalks in nw dc. At most times, especially during rush hour.

It is legal to bike on sidewalks in dc.

Tell me, in the name of all that is holy: why do so many cyclists insist on biking on a road barely wide enough for two lanes od traffic and the parked cars on either side of it and not the sidewalk? Tell me what insane death urge sends you biking down 16th street, weaving between buses and cars going 35mph, instead of taking the perfectly empty, perfectly smooth sidewalk next to them?

Sidewalk biking is legal. And despite reports of how pedestrian friendly dc is, most of its pedestrian byways look like a neutron bomb landed, or everyone died of zombie plague locked in their houses.

Why are you on the roads??? Why are you choking on the hills going up eastern Ave and not just staying on the sidewalk?

Intersections can be very dangerous when riding on the sidewalk. If you're moving at 10-15 mph, cars that are turning have a hard time seeing / predicting you approaching the intersection. It's not as safe as you think it is.

For long stretches of sidewalk with few intersections, I agree with you (see the area around the Washington Hospital Center).

[Anonymous]

Also, if you're going around 5 mph (like up a hill) then I agree with sidewalk riding when there aren't pedestrians there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't know where this pull to the right nonsense is coming from

Cyclists have a right to the road just like cars

I blow through stopsigns and treat traffic lights like yields but I always check first. I used to obey all traffic laws but in DC no bikers actually wait at red lights or come to a full and complete stop at a 4 way stop so I joined the local customs.

It does amaze me watching some bikers blow through without looking. Thats asking for a serious accident.

I love the bike lanes in DC. Its tough riding in downtown I tend to avoid it if at all possible. Sometimes there is no choice and its pretty dangerous. I have a right to be on the road.

I generally stop at red lights, but treat stop signs as yields. I always slow down and at 4-ways I go through with another car.

My motto is be safe and not a douche.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a cousin who is temporarily living in Germany. He is amazed at how nicely the Germans treat all cyclists. He is not looking forward to coming home because he enjoys his commute to his job by bike!

That's a country with high education standards and low crime.

We don't live in such a country.

Low crime??

Most important - a driver licensing system that wouldn't allow people who don't know how to operate a car safely in the presence of
Cyclists to obtain a license.

And of course cyclists need no such training themselves ?

How many times has a cyclist colliding with a car killed (or even injured) the driver?

Because, shooking as it may seem to you, cyclists make mistakes too and they are the ones that end up dead.

Jesus what an arrogant position to take. So if I just jump on a bike right now and hit the road I instantly know what I'm doing and how to ride defensively?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Jesus what an arrogant position to take. So if I just jump on a bike right now and hit the road I instantly know what I'm doing and how to ride defensively?

I haven't seen a single person posting here as a cyclist saying they would try to run a driver off the road or intentionally collide with one for driving (in the cyclist's view) improperly.

So apparently there isn't a need for training on that count.

What's more, we license drivers because driving a car has the potential to cause serious harm to others, whether intentionally inflicted or not. That's simply not true of cyclists except in the rarest of cases - try searching for deaths caused by cyclists. They're few and far between.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

If you the driver are in any way a moral person, or your family, this would probably destroy your life.

Sadly it seems that just in this thread there are at least a few people in the area who lack this basic morality. Unless it's because we're on the Internet, and anonymous, where we can brag about immoral acts with impunity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Jesus what an arrogant position to take. So if I just jump on a bike right now and hit the road I instantly know what I'm doing and how to ride defensively?

I haven't seen a single person posting here as a cyclist saying they would try to run a driver off the road or intentionally collide with one for driving (in the cyclist's view) improperly.

So apparently there isn't a need for training on that count.

What's more, we license drivers because driving a car has the potential to cause serious harm to others, whether intentionally inflicted or not. That's simply not true of cyclists except in the rarest of cases - try searching for deaths caused by cyclists. They're few and far between.

And exactly what driver claimed that they would run any cyclist off the road? Please, post the quote or stfu.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Jesus what an arrogant position to take. So if I just jump on a bike right now and hit the road I instantly know what I'm doing and how to ride defensively?

I haven't seen a single person posting here as a cyclist saying they would try to run a driver off the road or intentionally collide with one for driving (in the cyclist's view) improperly.

So apparently there isn't a need for training on that count.

What's more, we license drivers because driving a car has the potential to cause serious harm to others, whether intentionally inflicted or not. That's simply not true of cyclists except in the rarest of cases - try searching for deaths caused by cyclists. They're few and far between.

So a cyclists has NOTHING to learn?!?!?! What would a defensive riding course hurt? I never said drivers should NOT attend such a class, but why are cyclists exempt? That is what the point about being "douche cyclists" is all about. Even when I agree that drivers could learn from such a class you completely dismiss the need for a cyclists to attend. Why? Because "share the road" is some kind of magic wand that exempt cyclists having to ride defensively? Are drivers not taught to drive defensively?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And I do agree with the PP who drew a contrast between the "cyclist" in their lycra outfits vs. someone on a bike ride. The "cyclists" are really the problem here.

I don't understand the hostility to faster, skilled cyclists when you don't mind "someone on a bike ride" at 10 mph who can't even keep a straight line or know the rules of the road. Yes there are cyclist that never stop for signals or stop signs. But a large proportion of drivers don't come to a full stop either and they just have to press their foot to get going again. Everybody is better off when we all follow the rules of the road and act in predictable ways.

As a regular bike commuter, my normal pace is pretty much the 25 mph speed limit in most of DC and suburban residential streets. When I take the whole lane it's because it is SAFER. If I stay to the right of the lane, someone going 40 will try to zoom by inches from me. If he hits me, I'll barely leave a scratch on his fender, but that crash would likely be fatal for me. The scariest situations are the drivers that speed by only to slam on their brakes for a right turn directly in front of me - a crash that would put me under their wheels. The only drivers I'm impeding are the jack rabbit starts at the light and the cars that roll through stop signs and those that insist on going 20 mph over the limit.

Is it because you only feel powerful behind the wheel or that you couldn't imagine pedaling fast enough to keep up?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And I do agree with the PP who drew a contrast between the "cyclist" in their lycra outfits vs. someone on a bike ride. The "cyclists" are really the problem here.

I don't understand the hostility to faster, skilled cyclists when you don't mind "someone on a bike ride" at 10 mph who can't even keep a straight line or know the rules of the road. Yes there are cyclist that never stop for signals or stop signs. But a large proportion of drivers don't come to a full stop either and they just have to press their foot to get going again. Everybody is better off when we all follow the rules of the road and act in predictable ways.

As a regular bike commuter, my normal pace is pretty much the 25 mph speed limit in most of DC and suburban residential streets. When I take the whole lane it's because it is SAFER. If I stay to the right of the lane, someone going 40 will try to zoom by inches from me. If he hits me, I'll barely leave a scratch on his fender, but that crash would likely be fatal for me. The scariest situations are the drivers that speed by only to slam on their brakes for a right turn directly in front of me - a crash that would put me under their wheels. The only drivers I'm impeding are the jack rabbit starts at the light and the cars that roll through stop signs and those that insist on going 20 mph over the limit.

Is it because you only feel powerful behind the wheel or that you couldn't imagine pedaling fast enough to keep up?

Hahaha! You assume the douchebag cyclists in the lycra are "faster and skilled"? That is hilarious! The only skill I observe is the tendency to overspend a on bikes, clothing and gear. Yes, some are more skilled and faster than others. But that doesn't give them the right to hog the road going uphill (at 10-15 mph) when there is room to move over. I can understand riding in the lane at faster speeds, but this is not always the case, especially on hills and while riding in packs. What is the deal with the packs? They are endangering the motorists who are trying to get around them because they won't ride single or even double file. It is ridiculous.