Bike Fun
From:
Jeremy Brezovan
Date:
May 03 03:10 UTC
Short link
There are a lot of times during my commute, especially in the morning, when
there is no cross-traffic and it would be nice to not sit and wait at a red
light, so I also like the Idaho law. That said, I try to follow the laws we
have and not the ones I wish we had. When I come upon a red light in my car and
there is no cross-traffic, I wait for the green before I go. I do the same on
my bike.
Jim Graham said:
"Do car driversbreak traffic law, do they regularly roll stop signs, do they
sometimes inadequately yield for pedestrians in crosswalks? Of course they do!
Put per-capita not nearly as often as bike riders."
You're kidding, right? There are far, far more drivers on the road, so by that
alone this argument is easily proven false. I won't even get into all of the
completely insane things I have seen drivers do, even in just the past week. An
unearned sense of entitlement was not distributed in larger proportions to
operators of ANY vehicle on the road as far as I can tell; we may as well say
40% of everyone on the road acts like a d**k. I had a guy scream at me and buzz
me once because I had the nerve--the nerve!--to use the edge of the car lane as
we all started moving through an intersection. And I didn't jump in front of
him unexpectedly; I positioned myself while waiting at the red light to make my
intentions very clear. Riding through a bike lane full of shattered glass was
not on my agenda that day...and for that I apparently needed to be taught my
place on the road!
That said, as a bike commuter I have been especially frustrated this spring
with bikers who appear to have no idea what the law is, or who have no desire
to follow it. For example, you all know that the bike lanes are oriented to
move with traffic and are not usually two-way, right? Park and Portland are my
routes to and from work, and frankly I'm getting so tired of dodging people who
are going the wrong way that I want to kick them over as I roll by. That goes
double for the guy who gave me a sarcastic "OKAAAAAY" when I told him he was
going the wrong way (AFTER putting myself in danger by quickly taking part of a
car lane when he refused to yield). But what can I do?
.