View Single Post
Old 08-21-19, 01:09 PM
  #18  
Vintage Schwinn
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2019
Posts: 635
Mentioned: 16 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 341 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 388 Times in 254 Posts
There is a huge problem with Cyclists that are riding TOO FAST FOR CONDITIONS on these multi-use/bicycle paths!
Many ignore the speed limit and just fly way too fast at near 20mph during the most congested and populated times on these multi-use paths.
These jerks are giving Cyclists a bad name.
These offenders tend to be all male in the 18 to 35 year old age group according to the local police.
These folks are old enough to know better but since most of them are single and without any children, according to the police officer, they have no concept of the importance of slowing down and not being a potential reckless menace. Usually once these young bucks finally have children of their own, they will instinctively then realize that they have been a menace to the pedestrians and families with strollers and the dog on the path, as well as joggers, older children, and the elderly people that use the paths for walking. These 18 to 35 year old idiot road bike "serious" cyclists are just as bad as the 16 year old kid with a new drivers license that likes to drive 40 to 45 mph through the Walmart or Kroger parking lot where they are employed and are earning minimum wage. These 16 year old morons with their new licenses do not realize just how dangerous this is as they believe now that it is harmless to accelerate rapidly through crowded parking lots, and speed through school zones. They believe that Nothing bad will happen. The worst that they believe that could happen is that they might receive a TICKET or a Warning from the local police. They do not forsee the possibility of an accident with another car or hitting a pedestrian. They tailgate too and they believe that they can control their car. We all know of stupid accidents by 16 year old drivers, whether it was in 1954, 1965, 1972, 1979, 1999 or whatever year. You might have been lucky but my bet is if you are male and you were 16 when you started driving, that you were likely as horrible as everyone else in any era.
The important thing is that in the case of these "serious" road cyclists that have to use the PATH, are childish and obviously must feel that it is somehow a threat to their manhood if they must SLOW their cycling speed on the PATH to a very moderate 9 to 11 mph and even slower when Dogs, Old People, and runners going in both directions are blocking the way. Most of these offending "jerk cyclists" refuse to use a bell. They feel that a bell is somehow only for the girl or elderly lady on a cruiser bike with a front mounted wicker basket.
My opinion is that there are now too many of these "jerk cyclists" that the perhaps the time has come again for municipalities and or States to require a large visible license plate to mounted on every bicycle that is ridden on public roads, paths, trails, and public parks. I did not think that would ever be necessary ever again but now I'm not sure. It would be an excellent way to quickly identify Cyclists . I have a friend who is an attorney and his belief is that instead of a plate or sticker for each bicycle, that there should be a State issued bicyclist REGISTRATION NUMBER that is identifies the bicyclist. He/she would be required to display that number placard on the bike like for example competition numbers are displayed in a triathlon. He says that every cyclist's helmet should have a sticker with that same State registration number. Bicycle helmet use would be required at all times on public roads, trails, parks, and paths.
He says that children under 18 violating the registration display policy would incur a potential $50 fine for the parents of said child. The fine for those 18 and older (adults) cyclists who violate the registration display policy would incur a potential $250 fine. I know his idea sound like madness but perhaps this method of madness will improve things. Just as folks can now capture video and identify cars on the video by their license plate, so too would it be possible to identify the cyclist on dash cam video or other video by their individual state issued bicyclist REGISTRATION NUMBER no matter what bicycle that person decided to ride on that particular day. I am beginning to see that this may not be too crazy after all. In certain areas, there are just too many jerk cyclists that are misbehaving. It is certainly not the homless folks that are flying down these paths on weekends when everybody is walking the family, jogging, cruising with the kids, etc. The folks messing things up are the young male "serious" road bike riders that do use the paths. They aren't riding Salvation Army specials, as many are seen on things sporting the names Specialized and others. It isn't grandpa on his Specialized. These dumb--- young fellows need to respect the lower speed necessary on the PATHS or they need to just Not Use the PATHS when high pedestrian, dog traffic, and elderly walkers are present! It can be okay for them to ride as fast as they wish to IF YOU HAVE NOBODY THERE with 1000 meters of visibility, but these young bucks need to think about what they are doing. It might be a good suggestion: Make America Think again.
Vintage Schwinn is offline  
Likes For Vintage Schwinn: