Bicycling - A Dangerous Sport

by Lo-ru-hamah 82 Replies latest jw friends

  • M.J.
    M.J.

    LOL. Sorry, I was just puzzled as to why you would be treated with such hostility, and for some reason I remembered this guy that could sometimes be seen speeding around my college campus on his bike, just the way I described. He really was booking it, I imagine to avoid any potential altercation!

  • Caedes
    Caedes
    My remark earlier -- and I think I was clear about this -- had to do with cyclists who hog the whole lane during rush hour traffic. I am not talking about a country road, but a 4-lane busy main street.

    So the problem isn't the speed but the fact that you have to overtake properly, what a shame! If you had ever ridden on a bike in traffic you would appreciate that it is only safe to overtake them as if they were another car. Riding in the centre of your lane is done to force motorists to overtake properly leaving enough space for the cyclist. The safest I feel is in the centre of my lane not in the pot-hole littered gutter, after all I have the right to use the road as a cyclist, car drivers don't, they have to have a licence.

    The fact that you aren't even complaining about this on country roads but on a multi-lane road makes it even worse, the other three lanes not enough for you?

    Why should it make a difference that it is rush hour?

  • sass_my_frass
    sass_my_frass

    Loruhama that cyclist certainly put his own neck on the line, but if you were so angry that you would have thought nothing of running the guy over and were happy when somebody else did, I think there's more to the story. Like, maybe you didn't give as much warning when you indicated as you thought. Maybe you didn't see him because you didn't look. Maybe you pulled into his lane without seeing him and nearly ran him over at that point, and he had to pull to the left to get out of your way. That would explain the cursing.

    I'm every kind of road user and it's made me a better driver - cycling in to work I realise that most drivers are only on the lookout for things that are a danger to them, so I stay off the roads and out of the way when I have to. On the motorbike my radar is on full; I know what everybody around is about to do - this guy's going to change lanes, that lady is about to brake, that cabbie is about to do a u-turn...

    In most accidents the bicyclist or the motorcyclist isn't the one to blame (SMIDSY = sorry mate I didn't see you), but they're the ones who lose their legs or their life; with that risk in mind I ride both with my own safety in mind. Most other riders do too, I suspect, but there will be times when their radar goes down briefly and you hit them. Then it will suck to be you paying it off.

    Share the roads.

  • uninformed
    uninformed

    "Right of Way" shouldn't be part of the discussion.

    When I ride my bicycle or my Harley, it seems to me that I am smaller than everybody else. Therefore, I make it my aim to stay out of everyone's way, if I can.

    I hate for my life to depend on people seeing me, I'd rather have my life depend on me seeing them.

    Any bicyclist or motorcyclist that passes on the far left on a one way, or between cars in traffic, you just need to have your life insurance up to date.

    Once in a while, all of us make mistakes. That's why they are called accidents.

    Whether LoRu inadvertently pissed off the bicyclist or not, it did not give him the right to ride along side her car cussing her. Neither does it give the right to certain ones on this thread to call her filthy names. It may well have been a mistake that prompted the bicyclist rage. But, road rage leads to problems and he got his come uppance. Recently a friend of mine in Austin Texas hit a young lady on a bike. It caused her to te knocke into oncoming traffic. She was hit head on by another motorist and died. This happened on the NOTORIOUS Loop 360 about a month or so ago. He never saw her.

    When we ride our bikes or motorcycles we'd better learn to yield. Right of way doesn't do much good when you're dead or in the hospital.

    In my opinion, hard core bicyclist have an attitude. Maybe I'm wrong. But, protect yourself especially in view of the phenomenal use of cell phones where car drivers hardly even know where they are.

    Bicycles and cars and trucks don't mix well. Since you are the smallest, be careful.

    Uninformed

  • cruzanheart
    cruzanheart
    the other three lanes not enough for you

    I had to smile when I read your reply. You haven't driven in rush hour traffic in the Dallas area before have you? The "other three lanes" are full. My lane is full. I have to stay in my lane in order to turn right at the next light to get to the tollway which will take me to the expressway which will take me downtown to my job; or, alternatively, turn right to take another 4-lane highway to the train stop so I can take a train downtown. Twenty-five miles each way. When I slow down to the cyclist's speed I run the risk of being rear-ended by the person behind me who is expecting to do 45 mph.

    I personally dislike driving and do not like spending any more time in my car than I have to, but that's the way Dallas is laid out: very spread out and a car is needed. And, if you will look at the excerpt from the Texas Drivers Handbook that I quoted, you will see that the cyclist is supposed to stay in the far right of the right-hand lane, NOT in the middle.

    Personally, I'm shocked at the opinions of some of the cyclists on here -- that's a level of hostility that I don't want to get anywhere near, in a vehicle or out. As Princess said to my husband, who said (and rightly so) that the law of the road apply to cars AND bicycles:

    Nice. I always liked you.

    But I'm shaking my head in amazement now.

    Nina

  • Princess
    Princess
    Personally, I'm shocked at the opinions of some of the cyclists on here -- that's a level of hostility that I don't want to get anywhere near, in a vehicle or out. As Princess said to my husband, who said (and rightly so) that the law of the road apply to cars AND bicycles:
    Nice. I always liked you.

    But I'm shaking my head in amazement now.

    It was the rolling eye emoticon that completely changed the meaning of his comment, AND I PM'd him afterward. He must not have mentioned that to you.

    If you were a cyclist, this whole thread would have a completely different meaning to you. I'm equally shocked at the opinions of the non-cyclists, including the sweet death wish from Uninformed.

    Rachel

  • lola28
    lola28
    So, in a blind rage I start to turn the car around to actually run him over this time for real and intentionally

    Remind me to never piss you off. I think someone already pointed this out but if you really meant to hurt him with your car you well then that makes you a bitch, yes he cursed at you and that was wrong, but you happened to be in a vehicle and you could have killed him with it.

    Sigh, some people should never be allowed to drive.

    Lola

  • lonelysheep
    lonelysheep

    Some people should never be allowed to ride a bike.

  • OpenFireGlass
    OpenFireGlass

    And, Some people should get their big ass on a bike...

  • cruzanheart
    cruzanheart
    If you were a cyclist
    Some people should get their big ass on a bike

    Just because I am pointing out the hostile behavior of some of the cyclists who are posting doesn't mean I don't ride myself. However, I choose to ride in areas where I am not in the company of cars because that's my choice. I enjoy the ride more that way.

    Big ass? My, my, what an interesting assumption. On what do you base it? Should I post my dimensions in my profile to refute that throwaway line? Last time I looked, it was quite a nice ass, thank you, and not overly large.

    Nina

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