Erzulis Boat 

I had a cop pull me over for blowing through a stop on my bike. I was pissed, and gave him the same line you did, as car after car went through without coming to a complete stop. He didn't think it was funny. I got a $480.00 ticket. Only moving violation in my life was on a darn bicycle.

Erzulis Boat 

Well, speaking for myself, I enjoyed them more the second go around.

P!N20

On trend.

squirtdad

Looks like to was Campus police....I have heard stories about them cracking down on cyclists do to accidents. Which can believe as my wife went to UCSB a while back....and is simply a menace on a bike do to having the attention span of gnat (which she fully admits to )

Camilo

I laughed at every one in the link

retroman57 

British moleskin plus-twos for me. Calvinists don't cotton to exhibitionists. Feel the same way about un self-aware women who wear skin-tights to the grocery store.
There- I said it! I'm an intolerant bigot. Don't bother roasting me- I'd don't care.

mstateglfr 

Don't start a bad thread and it won't turn out bad.

iab

First, you need to read up on an Idaho stop. Second you need to read up on physics to learn the difference between a 4000 pound vehicle traveling 5mph vs a 200 pound vehicle traveling at 10mph. Third, you really need to see the point that the vitriol was pointed at the cyclist and not the drivers. derp.

iab

Likely because you ride a bike, the most dangerous and arrogant weapon on earth.

iab

You do realize that his portrayal of Jef is an amalgamation of all cyclists? Right? Just like Dilbert's pointy-haired boss does the same to managers. derp.

gearbasher

I swore I wasn't going to post in this thread again. But your "derp" comment changed my mind.
Idaho stop--not legal in Illinois.
As far as your physics theory :"Gee, Your Honor, I only shot him with a .22. It's not like I used a .45."
Here's my crossing guard story: Since moving, I take a different route on the bike. At a T-intersection, I ride up the base and need to turn left at a light in front of a school. The first few times there, the guard would hold up her hand to stop me when there were people in the crosswalk. I would nod at her to show her I'm aware and go into a "track stand". Once the crosswalk is clear, she would wave me on. After a few times, she knew I would stop and wait. So, she doesn't signal me to stop anymore. Now, if I have the light against me when she sees me approaching, she would check the traffic for me and wave me through the light if it's clear. Now, who shows cyclists in a better light? Me or the guy who uses foul language and yells at the crossing guard?

All this reminds me of an old joke:
A cop pulls over a motorist.
Cop: "License and registration."
Driver: "What did I do?"
Cop: "You didn't make a full stop at the stop sign."
Driver: "But, I slowed down."
Cop: "But, you didn't stop."
Driver: "I slowed down."
Cop: "Step out of the vehicle, sir."
The cop then proceeds to hit the guy with his night stick.
Driver: "STOP!"
Cop: "How about I just slow down."

Chuck M 

I'm of the camp that doesn't think the original subject comics are that good. Not because my feelers are hurt by the cyclist stereotype fodder, I'm just not a fan of Pearls Before Swine. Now the Spy Vs. Spy stuff on the other hand, while often not especially as funny as the rest of MAD Magazine, was always entertaining. Plus it is C&V.

smd4

Nothing wrong with not being a fan. I suspect Crankshaft or Pickles would resonate better with this crowd anyway.

billytwosheds 

Holy hell. With the way students on beach cruisers roll through every stop sign in Isla Vista, you'd wonder if this was just someone trying to make a quota.

Me, I would have shown up to court to. If the cop is a no-show, the violation is thrown out.

bbbean 

I would wager that 99% of all close passes are simply a driver with more tolerance for close passes than the cyclist. It isn't necessary to assume your fellow road users are homicidal or have specific intentions. It is far simpler and more accurate to assume they simply aren't as safe or courteous as we'd like. Keep n mind that they also pass other cars, telephone poles, trees, road signs etc pretty close.

smd4

Isn't it simpler to assume that a cartoon made them do it?

I mean, that's why I dropped a grand piano on my neighbor's head.

AirborneFolder

You're giving too much credit. I suspect that some of these people find Cathy to be the perfect newspaper funny.

genejockey 

Gee, thanks! In decades of riding and driving on the roads that would never have occurred to me.

bbbean 

It was apparently news to the person I was responding to, and to the people who regularly complain that drivers are trying to kill them.

smd4

I was more referring to the octogenarian characters in these two strips as perhaps being more relatable to certain members of this Forum.

genejockey 

Oh, no, they're not trying to kill us. They're letting us know they could at any time, with a flick of the wheel. If you don't know the difference between someone who doesn't leave enough room, and someone who intentionally comes EVEN CLOSER, well, I can't help you.

bikingshearer 

You started a thread with the idea of maybe 20 or so posts of light banter, and you got the biggest C&V Rorschach test since Grant Petersen. As good as it it gets in terms of illustrating the law of unintended consequences.

Speaking of Grant Petersen: I saw him at Rivendell once and told him that the on-line community seems to be pretty evenly split between "Grant Petersen is a genius" and "Grant Petersen is a moron." He said "I'm pretty sure I'm neither." Made my day.

chain_whipped

Try to avoid the stereotype. You didn't directly target me and I don't regularly complain but when one experiences 'close to lights out' things in life, one doesnt easily forget. Its also good to speak up about it.

In a matter that I experienced, the driver was homicidal. An elder man. His wife was in the passenger seat, believing she was above the law because she's a voted in trustee of the town including the gated community I reside in. She also is goody gf of a local woman police officer. Of which I spoke to all of them. The LEO was courteous but pretty much shrugged it off. The woman trustee words "do you know who I am?" During her exchange of words, police as witness, the driver just gleefully glared and smiled.... never stating a single word.

Anyways, just three weeks after his intentionally driving me off the road incident, this nut case died of cancer.


(Side note: I also learned this maniac once got into a major physical altercation with a next door neighbor.... during a morning coffee with fellow neighbors. Being the wife has political influence, she had that incident quickly buried.)

So laugh at all the sick dark humor and agree as you wish.

bbbean 

That was the argument I was making.

Sorry you ran into a jerk. I had a bad experience with someone once, but I opt to focus on the tens of thousands of positive experiences I've had rather than the exception to the rule. A sense of proportion and an understanding of math helps.

AirborneFolder

I get it. But those strips are occasionally funny. Cathy is for old people and not funny, not once. Ever.