Quote:
Originally Posted by IzzyGray
The ignorant comments here are surprising, well maybe not. I used to ride a lot, and I mean alot(10k miles a year). This was mainly on the road and some Fall/Winter mountain and cyclocross. And during the 5 years of cycling( collegiate), I've gotten into 5 accidents. All of which were the motorist's fault(failure to yield was the biggest reason). I always ride defensively and obey traffic laws and regardless(or irregardless ;-)) of a demographic(cyclists, motorists, women, men), there will always be a percentage of d-bags. Generalizations like "cyclists suck and should get off the road" are definitely the mentality a civilized population should not adhere to. It does not matter whose fault it is when a cyclist and a car collides, the cyclist always loses, and more often than not, it's tragic. I've never come across a motorist that killed a cyclist and afterwards taken the lines of "he doesn't belong on the road". That cyclist, aka mother, father, son, daughter family member to someone should not be aggressively hated.
Then again, maybe some here feel a need to be anonymously macho and subscribe to road rage on a car forum -shrugs-
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Agreed. I think the attitude that many on this thread are taking is sad and I will bet many of them haven't ridden a bike in a high traffic area. Is it dangerous to ride a bike in traffic? Yes. Should it be? No. Look around you, this country is full of overweight people driving oversized cars. We have a lifestyle problem IMO. More of us should be commuting by bike but our lifestyle, workplace, and roads and resources prevent it. A bike on the road is one less car on the road, and don't tell me a bike that takes up a 3' lane holds up traffic. A biker that is being inconsiderate and driving in the middle of the road or a city that isn't smart enough to design bike lanes and flow patterns hold up traffic. Those of you in areas that are not bike-friendly should be mad at the city planners, not the bikers trying to survive on poorly designed roads.
Don't get me wrong, I love driving and don't condone disregarding the rules of the road while biking, but people on bikes are not a bad thing. When I come across anti-bikers 99% of the time it's someone who is overweight, hasn't ridden a bike since they were a kid, doesn't excercise, and doesn't understand why someone would strive to live a healthy lifestyle. The norm for those who do care about their health seems to be to rush around in our cars all day, then drive to the gym in the suburbs for the 45 minute workout. Instead of integrating walking, biking, etc into their lifestyle. I digress....