Originally Posted by
Joe Phillips
I live in a small city 40,000. I ride on all errands and to pick up my daughter at school in a pull behind. I get mad at some jackass every day. I rode a lot twenty five years ago and have just now have gotten back into it. I don't remember having any traffic hassles at all. Now all the drivers are jerks. If I rode like I belonged there I'd be dead. The cars make sure they keep me in my place. It's only a matter of time before I go off on somebody. Today I was passing a house when a guy backed out his truck. He stopped at the sidewalk and I made eye contact. Both of us knew I would have to stop if he came out. If I was a car he would never have pulled out. He did. I stopped. This happens every day in some form. I will eventually catch one and deliver justice. I'm a big guy. People who would never jack with me standing next to me on the street will just go for it when you're on a bike. I can't fight a car with a bike but the first one that gets out of the vehicle is toast folks.
It's bad here. They all believe bikes have no business on any road. I ain't making this up y'all. Yesterday a car passed me/buzzed me on the left and almost hit a police car head on. THE POLICE CAR DIDN'T EVEN STOP. I had a 6 year old in the back. He got away at the light right before I got there. I'd have ripped off his head and pissed in the hole.
I'll say something about where this happened. It's a couple hundred foot stretch of two lane chaos. I can't go another way because it's the only way out of our subdivision. It's a funnel of death and a perfect place for a bike lane. I just wrote the Alderman. It's also the only way the kids can walk to school. They don't anymore. They ride three blocks in SUV's. I'm going to try going through the right channels first....but if that don't work... it's by any means necessary time.
MY POINT. It don't matter how careful we ride to appease the cars. Until the police start busting people who won't give us the right of way when the law says we have it, we will be unable to ride safely. I think I'm on my own....and if I'm on my own....don't blame me if I get creative.
Many people argue that we need to "educate" drivers that cyclists have a right to the roads. As you've experienced, this just isn't true. Most drivers know we have a right to the road they just don't want to share the road, so they play dumb and say cyclists don't belong in the road. As you pointed out, motorists know that if they pull out in front of a cyclist, the cyclist will have to stop regardless of who has the right of way. Life doesn't have the same value it once had.