The Glade 4.0

Stay off the road. I know the law says you are a car, BUT YOU AREN'T. Find a sidewalk, bike path or off-road trail.

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Sorry. Bikes are vehicles too. Some municipalities prohibit riding on sidewalks.

Deal with it.

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Holy shitsnacks!

+1

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Go back to zero, take a pill, and get well ~ Lemmy Kilmister

I don't mind sharing the road. Don't even mind going 15-20 in a 45 zone until I can manage to get around a cyclist. Just don't try to have your cake and eat it too - if you want to be on the road like a car, then wait at the red light with everyone else, in line, and don't try to squeeze yourself past everyone on the shoulder to get through. (PS, bike lanes are practically unheard of anywhere around here that developed more than 15-20 years or so ago.)

I have to agree with Hopwin.

Some idiot driving his car at 15-20km/h in a 60km/h zone is going to get ticketed for obstructing traffic. So why do they let a selfish bicyclist drive there? Roads are for going close to the stated speed limit. If you can't do that speed, you shouldn't be on the goddamn road. Get out of the **** way.

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Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves, Scheherezade had a thousand tales
But master you in luck 'cause up your sleeves you got a brand of magic never fails...
...Mister Aladdin, sir, What will your pleasure be?
Let me take your order, Jot it down -You ain't never had a friend like me
█ ♣ █

I wish bikers were banned from public roads, since they hinder traffic and are unsafe. I know this opinion is unpopular though.

Goddammit, you think I don't pay taxes to support roads? I have just as much right to them as anyone else.

As long as I behave like a vehicle, which I do. I don't ride on the wrong side of the road. I stop for stoplights, and slow down for stop signs as much (relatively) as I do in a car. I wait for pedestrians (California law gives them priority and stops traffic anytime they get near an intersection). I wish everyone would ride like me, frankly.

I understand drivers' frustration. Most bicyclists - heck, people - look at them as toys, not as a mode of transportation. And most people - are selfish asses that think that traffic laws don't apply to them, or that nothing's going to happen if they just do this. The other day I saw two road bicyclists riding down a major street - two lanes in each direction, median in the center, parking on each side with many cross-streets and driveways, etc. These were fairly serious road guys, and with the slope of the road they could keep up a good clip. But, they were riding side-by-side. At least they made a good effort at the stop light. But it's the kind of thing where drivers will get pissed because they have to move around them, because the drivers have to assume that they won't be predictable. Now, I know how close I can get to them, and that there's room in the lane for me and them, but it's tight and it's against the law. But if i say something to them, they're going to assume I'm just another ******* driver (not a fellow cyclist who's been riding in LA Traffic for 20 years), and it will just reinforce their bad behavior.

If society looked at bikes as transportation vehicles rather than as something recreational, it would go a long way to letting us all share the road. Instead, I frequently get hassled and nearly run off the road for no **** reason. Is it jealousy, that I'm in shape and getting around for next to nothing, while you're stuck in a car spending money just by idling? Envy, that I have the nonchalance to walk around in bike shorts? Or, do those bike shorts threaten your sense of manhood?

There are enough assholes in cars on the road - a couple bikes here and there aren't adding to the mix significantly, really.

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This cold and dark tormented hell
Is all I`ll ever know
So when you get to heaven
May the devil be the judge

Aethien, do you think the majority of cyclists ride like you? What percent do you think ride their bike according to the rules of the road?

I'm thinking less than 10%, from my experiences as a car driver.

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In time, this too shall pass.

Technically it is pretty close to impossible since they cannot hope to meet the minimum speed limit on roads with a limit greater than 35 mph.

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I've seen plenty of bicyclists ride straight through red-lights like it was nothing... it really bothers me. And I hate swerving around them since they can't go at the speed limit. They should either walk or get a proper motorized vehicle. They could ride mopeds, motorcycles, or hybrid dirtbikes as a compromise.

I'm not sure that's a good measure, considering that automobile drivers meeting the same criteria are probably somewhere under 10%.

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The idiots that don't ride properly (as described by Aethien) should be ticketed as appropriate.

That doesn't mean those that are riding properly should be punished.

I'll also add that in many cities, cyclists will be ticketed for riding on the sidewalk- it's true in my city. Bikes are supposed to be on the road, not the sidewalk.

That said, as many drivers don't act properly around bikes as bikes don't act properly around cars- have you passed a bike in the same lane? If so, that was illegal. You're supposed to give them a full lane as you would another vehicle.

The laws regarding where bikes can/can't ride, and how they should ride, are usually quite clear.

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Darksiege: You are not a god damned vulcan homie.

The only place there's a minimum speed is on the interstate system.

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"If you haven't got anything nice to say about anybody, come sit next to me." - Alice R. Longworth

"Good? Bad? I'm the guy with the gun." - Ash Williams

Here, the "obstructing traffic" law is intentionally vague. Someone driving a car all the time at bicycle speeds would get ticketed with it. Bicycles, however, are allowed to drive that speed on the road, holding up a big pile of traffic and slowing everyone down to a crawl.

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Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves, Scheherezade had a thousand tales
But master you in luck 'cause up your sleeves you got a brand of magic never fails...
...Mister Aladdin, sir, What will your pleasure be?
Let me take your order, Jot it down -You ain't never had a friend like me
█ ♣ █

On which bicycles are specifically disallowed.

As to bikes holding up traffic: Any cyclist that will let a huge pile of traffic build up behind them isn't paying enough attention. It's easy to move over every once in a while and let people pass, and it's no fun riding with a bunch of pissed drivers behind you.

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Darksiege: You are not a god damned vulcan homie.

Your experiences are different from mine. I'd say somewhere about 80% of the people I share the road with - on average - are obeying the rules of the road. Most of that remaining 20% or so are speeding (to the extent that they would be ticketed) and probably 5% or less are reckless.

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In time, this too shall pass.

On a two lane road? Want me ride in the ditch? Cars can pass when it's legal and clear to do so. The rider is not responsible for traffic. See what Aethien siad about road taxes.

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"If you haven't got anything nice to say about anybody, come sit next to me." - Alice R. Longworth

"Good? Bad? I'm the guy with the gun." - Ash Williams

Personally, I'll do it every few miles on a 2 lane road. It's not very enjoyable to ride with traffic backed up behind me. Usually doesn't take much to find a nice wide driveway and pull over for a few minutes.

It's not safe for you (the rider) to have a pile of traffic behind you. Hence, it's wise for you (the rider) to not let too much build up.

Even on narrow two lane roads, I've never had a problem "managing" traffic by helping the cars behind me pass me- either by moving over enough that they can pass, or other means, and I find it consistently in my best interests to do so.

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Darksiege: You are not a god damned vulcan homie.

I agree, and will do the same when possible but don't expect me to endanger life or limb to do so.

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"If you haven't got anything nice to say about anybody, come sit next to me." - Alice R. Longworth

"Good? Bad? I'm the guy with the gun." - Ash Williams

This is wrong, though it's a quibble. I know, for instance, that US-35 has a minimum limit. I suspect that one could make a fairly accurate generalization to suggest that "only limited access highways have minimum speed limits, which can vary."

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

I object to bicycles on the road, but then again I object to almost everyone other than me being on the road when I'm using it.

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"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."

Most people who drive a motorcycle can tell you that this step would not help much, people are asshats to them too.

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Darksiege
Traveller, Calé, Whisperer
Lead me not into temptation; for I know a shortcut

But passing them in lane is illegal right? So they are encouraging an illegal act by moving over?

Around me there aren't bike lanes and no one is going to not pass a bike that is already riding as much on the side of the road as they can. Nobody is going to get a ticket for doing it either.

As for the whole "As long as I behave like a vehicle, which I do. " unless you're going 45 mph uphill like the rest of traffic - you aren't behaving like a vehicle.

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"...but there exists also in the human heart a depraved taste for equality, which impels the weak to attempt to lower the powerful to their own level and reduces men to prefer equality in slavery to inequality with freedom." - De Tocqueville

Most states have 3' laws in which you can pass a cyclist as long as there's 3' of space between you and the bike. In addition to the 3' laws, there's FRAP laws which state that a bike shall, in the absence of a bike lane, ride as far right as practicable to preserve traffic flow and safety.

And there's no minimum speed laws except for freeways, which bikes are specifically disallowed on.

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Holy shitsnacks!

I don't really mind cyclists most of the time. It's the boneheads who weave all over the lane or ride three abreast that irritate me...

Of course, in Colorado that was most of them. Here the drivers are so awful that for the most part the cyclists don't screw around too much