Artmo 

The OP is a complete numpty . Why replying to them.

bktourer1

If you don't like the way I drive, stay off the sidewalk

bktourer1

I've been told i need to ride on sidewalk no the road

sabele

Get a review helmet mirror and watch traffic coming from behind. I have had more trouble with oncoming traffic crossing in front of me than trailing traffic forcing me to the right. (or left if you ride in the UK)

sabele

I tell this folks that even they should be smart enough to figure out why a side walk is called a SIDE WALK.

Dvdvija

I remember when I was young, I was told to ride against the traffic so the drivers can see me better. I always drove against traffic with no complaints. Now I'm back to riding bike, I noticed everybody is riding with the traffic. When did all this changed? Or is this depends on what city, or state?

fuji105

Try it in your car, and you might get a glimmer of insight as to why following the rules of the road is a successful strategy in life.

livedarklions

I think there was a period decades back where the "ride against" was a bit of "folk wisdom" that a lot of people had. When people actually started collecting data on it, it was so obviously wayyyy more dangerous that people and states have been adamant about telling people not to do it.

genejockey 

I remember being told to WALK against traffic, but from the moment I got a bike - and that was 57 years ago - I was told to ride WITH traffic, never against.

indyfabz

Like putting butter on a burn.

livedarklions

Why is it always a steak on a black eye in the old movies?

genejockey 

What about butter on a burned steak?

cb400bill

Ice was too expensive back then.

indyfabz

Because they didn't have frozen peas in a bag?

AlanO

No, I always ride on the correct side. Riding where nobody expects you could end in death.

livedarklions

Well, if you were in one of these movies, you probably had a big block of ice sitting on top of your ice box to keep the food cold, but you couldn't use the ice pick to chop off a piece of it for your eye because you were too busy using the pick as a murder weapon.

I blame Westinghouse for eliminating ice pick murders. Not a lot of those lying around when everybody has a refrigerator.

robertAltman

What happens when you pass cyclists going with traffic? Now you have an extraordinarily dangerous situation with bikes going on two directions in the same “lane” AND cars potentially passing at the same time.

The OP might think this he is being smart, but he is just shifting the dangers into others.

I do like knowing where traffic is; I ride with a Garmin Varia radar. Many people use a bike-mounted or helmet mirror.

I’m not going to argue or be rude. It is unsafe and anti-social to ride against traffic. Do some reading at bicycle advocacy groups like bikemn.org.

Lastly, people aren’t correcting OP to be jerks; they are trying to keep the roads, riders, and OP safer.

dkatz1

Well, it's use and now. There are some places where I ride in bike lanes on various roads, and jerks on bikes who are in them going the wrong direction when there is no apparent reason I have ZERO patience for.
ON the other hand, there's a road I commute on where there is a bike lane. Busy automoative traffic. I come to a place where I need to turn left, and when I'm heading there, and the traffic has let up, I will cross the road (this could be how much of a distance I'm not sure...hundreds of years?) and go in the wrong direction in the bike lane over there (where there are hardly ever any cyclists)...If there is another person on the bike, I will get the hell out of their way.
A related thing that annoys me is: I'm riding on a busy road (without a bike lane). There is a pedestrian or jogger coming at me. They ARE supposed to be going against traffic, it's true. However: they never seem to move to let me by (yesterday I was riding on a busy road where a pedestrian COULD have stepped up over the curb.
THEY can see what's coming. Instead, I move out into traffic to get around them. I of course, can only see behind myself so well. Seems to me those jerks should accomodate me.

dkatz1

I don't think most people like that are caring. they're jerks.
The time I came closest to getting doored by a thoughtless jerk, they yelled at me to "ride on the sidewalk". It wasn't because they cared about my well-being.

A Wanderer

OP, please be careful not to damage too many organs on the way out. There may just be a use for you, yet.

genejockey 

Where their passenger could have doored you?

SDkid605

Myself, I ride on the opposite side;
If a car is going to hit me, I'd like the option to ditch and avoid a crash; I can see them;
As opposed to someone blindly hitting me from behind.

Have had some freaks swerve at me.
But at least I saw them coming at me. Gave me the chance to bail out; wouldn't get that chance from behind.

Mostly I just ride sidewalks, even though it's "Illegal" here to do for those over 12 years old;
I ride by my local Police station regularly on the sidewalk;
No one but old freaks looking to cause trouble says a thing about it.
Cyclists around here with half a brain know when it is time to walk your bike, or at least put a leg down and scoot yourself along safely.

Jmpierce

I was a volunteer for a local Bicycle Federation for a few years and attended some farmer's markets and other events to get the word out. Every event we attended we had people who were advanced in age come up to us and say we should educate riders to have them ride against traffic. They always said that they were taught to ride that way. I think they were confusing walking/running and cycling. I don't remember being told to ride against traffic. I do remember being told to walk/run against traffic.

I'm not sure if anyone is familiar with the Straight Dope but and article devoted to this was published some time ago.

https://www.straightdope.com/2134434...gainst-traffic

I was a Bike Officer for 9 years in a downtown setting and saw some pretty crazy things but the one that stands out is a guy who rode his bike backwards because he said he felt safer. He rode on the handlebars facing backwards. He rode like this he said because he had been hit a couple of times by cars and said he could see them better riding backwards. He approached me a couple of times to brag about riding that way. I'm not sure what happened to him. I haven't seen him for a couple of years.

VintageSteelEU

I did yell at an idiot recently, who decided to check his mobile (I'm guessing for navigation / address as he was a delivery guy) and was going not so much against the traffic, as across the road. Suddenly.
If it was a rainy day, I wouldn't have a chance of breaking in time. If someone was in my position in a car and only slightly distracted, the delivery guy would be a wet bloody spot on the road. Just don't. Don't ride on the wrong side of the road, no matter what country you're in and whatever imaginary reason you might have. Other road users might and should be paying attention to what's going on around them, but they will also assume you are following at least the basics of the highway code. By all means, get yourself killed if you wish, I don't really care, but if you do, at least do it in a way that doesn't ruin someone else's day.

wolfchild

You should listen to all those people who tell you to ride on the correct side of the road because they are right and you are the one who is doing it wrong.