Why cant Cyclist's follow the rules of the road?

I wonder why cars and cyclist but heads all the time on this topic? Each groups feels a sense of entitlement to the road. Why cant we share the road. The laws are setup to share the road, the car drivers don't agree and the cyclists are riding two abreast, each trying to claim there part of the pavement. The unfortunate part the cyclist will loose every single time.

 

Each needs to allow the other on the road, and make it safe for both. Bikers also need to stop for stop signs and lights. Cars need to look out for bikers on the road.

 

Even in motorcycle groups we have the similar things happening. One groups feeling thier sense of entitlement, ruining it for the rest of us.

 

We need to make our roads safer for our kids to ride on. What happen to curtosey?

Does one bad apple spoil the whole bunch?

 

Vehicle drivers need to stop being so aggressive in traffic!

 

Rene

Our Gang Bicycle Club

NE Illinois

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Permalink Reply by Rene Lawell on May 24, 2011 at 4:20am

All great comments! Thank you!!

 

To answer NotoriousDUG and others,

 

I think you need to just be aware and not ride with blinders on.

The rules of the road ARE mainly meant for cars, and IDOT has taken a few laws out of it for bicyclists to follow. The problem bicyclist have we are not predictable to cars, I know its a pian to stop at the light and not blow through it. But here is my thinking. I have been hit by 3 cars and a motorcycle. I used to commute everyday to school and back when I was young, and I did not have a helmet. No helmets yet 1970's, and There were not as many cars on the road as there are now, and there was no such thing as road rage. Bicyclists have to be very safe and be one step ahead of the car driver. Use good judgement and be predictible. Being predictable will save lives.

 

When I am driving, I expect cars to do certain actions, and when I see one not doing it, it upsets me.

But the bottom line is, I was being safe myself, and being aware, and I avoided a collision with that car.

 

The problem we are running into, is the not predictable car drivers, but having a conflict with the not predictable car driver, coming in contact with the not predictable bicyclist, and one of the two will get hurt. and it wont be the car driver.

 

Weaving in and out of traffic is not safe, blowing through stop lights and signs is not safe. Cars come out of no where today and they are fast and speeding and many are very young with little to know experience behind the wheel, not to mention the elderly still driving well into their 90's.

 

So my point is not so much obeying the rules of road, but being predictable in traffic.

 

Rene'

Our Gang Bicycle Club

 

Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on May 24, 2011 at 4:32am

Define "blowing."  

 

Rolling through a stop sign or light when there are no cars coming and nobody is inconvenienced or having to slam on the brakes or swerve out of their own right-of-way might be technically illegal  but the only damage done is to those who worship rules and put them on a higher shelf than people. 

 

"Blowing" a stop sign or light, IMHO, is when a rider knowingly (or unknowingly) causes another road user to have to take evasive action to avoid hitting them.   Treating a stop sign as a true yield (and yielding the right of way if necessary) and rolling through without significantly slowing or coming to a complete and full stop (or riding on through a red when the intersection is clear instead of waiting for it to turn officially green) is perfectly safe and does not constitute "blowing" of a stop sign/light in my world view although I am sure it does in many other people's opinion.

 


Rene Lawell said:

 blowing through stop lights and signs is not safe. 

 

Permalink Reply by Kevin C Dormant on May 24, 2011 at 4:41am
+1

James Baum said:

Define "blowing."  

 

Rolling through a stop sign or light when there are no cars coming and nobody is inconvenienced or having to slam on the brakes or swerve out of their own right-of-way might be technically illegal  but the only damage done is to those who worship rules and put them on a higher shelf than people. 

 

"Blowing" a stop sign or light, IMHO, is when a rider knowingly (or unknowingly) causes another road user to have to take evasive action to avoid hitting them.   Treating a stop sign as a true yield (and yielding the right of way if necessary) and rolling through without significantly slowing or coming to a complete and full stop (or riding on through a red when the intersection is clear instead of waiting for it to turn officially green) is perfectly safe and does not constitute "blowing" of a stop sign/light in my world view although I am sure it does in many other people's opinion.

 


Rene Lawell said:

 blowing through stop lights and signs is not safe. 

 

Permalink Reply by Rene Lawell on May 24, 2011 at 4:54am

There is a huge difference between rolling through at the bicycle speeds (coming to a slow crawl and proceeding though) and blowing through at bicycle speed. Rolling means you took the time to look both ways and then rolled through, blowing means you never look at all, and went through like you owned the road.

 

I will roll (under the current definition as stated above) through a stop sign, but not a stop light. You need to pick your battles. I never said Rolling through stop signs is not safe, I said blowing them all together.

 

rene

Permalink Reply by in it to win it 8.0 mi on May 24, 2011 at 5:36am
Roll on!
Permalink Reply by Spencer "Thunderball" Thayer! on May 24, 2011 at 5:39am

There are still more automobile drivers who "blow" stop signs than cyclists. This conversation is inaccurately focusing on a type of transportation rather than asking why there are certain individuals who blatantly disregard traffic laws.

Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on May 24, 2011 at 8:39am

In most situations at bicycle speeds (and I'm no lycra-wearing speed freak and usually run at 20MPH or less on my upright roadster) there is plenty of time to see through the intersection that it is safe and check traffic without substantially slowing down.  There are many stop signs that are totally unnecessary for safety and are put there just as "traffic calming" to slow automobiles down or just to dissuade them from taking certain routes.  I'm not needing slowing down. 

 

I can think specifically  of many stop signs on Milwaukee street in my area of Logan Square/Bucktown where there is no road going off the the right but one merely T's off to the left.  There is absolutely NO reason a bike should have to stop or even slow down for these stop signs since there is NO danger of cross-traffic and a car couldn't possibly be in that area unless it was driving in the bike lane and even if it were then it could be seen with plenty of opportunity to stop.

 

There are many situations like that.  But there are other situations where slowing down to 10MPH or even 5MPH is a good idea as visibility isn't as good.  At 10MPH a bicycle in proper working order can stop in about 10 feet.   I don't care what the law says, I'm going to keep myself safe.  I've never been in a bicycle accident or even a motorcycle accident in decades of riding and using my head (as well as breaking the occasional rule/law from time to time. In the end the ONLY person responsible for my own safety is myself and if I make a mistake it's ME that is going to pay the consequences on a light 2-wheeled vehicle.  

 

Again laws are meant to serve people -not the other way around.

 

I also want to reiterate what Spencer said about vehicles that disobey the stop signs.  I don't think that a lot of drivers even realize that they blow through them.  I have a stop sign right out front of my condo (another one of those silly ones that should be a yield but because the alderman's office is there it's a stop sign) and I can sit at my front gate and watch 9 out of 10 cars blow through it without even slowing or even yielding to vehicles that they should yield to coming the other way or peds crossing at the crosswalk.  

 

And for cars it is a much bigger deal because other than putting a dent in their fender there is little consequences when a car hits anything smaller than them.   Cars and Bikes are NOT equal and play by different laws of physics.  Those that think they should have to play by the same statutory laws when they aren't on the same sheet of music as far as physics are concerned due to their great discrepancies in mass and powered/non-powered propulsion  are just fooling themselves into worshiping rules for rules sake. The rules are illogical and expecting the same rules to apply to bikes as they do to cars is illogical. 

Permalink Reply by Doug Haynes on May 24, 2011 at 3:56pm

Wait, so you want more cyclists to follow the rules of the road but you, yourself, do not come to a complete stop at stop signs?  It does not matter what speed you roll the stop at it is still breaking the law.

Nothing in your argument makes sense with your title and I think you may have an imperfect grasp on rules of the road as well.  Cyclists are supposed to follow all of the rules of the road.  IDOT does not apply 'some' of the rules to cyclists, they apply them all.  You are not really advocating that people follow the rules of the road to the letter, you are advocating that they ride predictably, pay attention and be safe...

 

Rene Lawell said:

There is a huge difference between rolling through at the bicycle speeds (coming to a slow crawl and proceeding though) and blowing through at bicycle speed. Rolling means you took the time to look both ways and then rolled through, blowing means you never look at all, and went through like you owned the road.

 

I will roll (under the current definition as stated above) through a stop sign, but not a stop light. You need to pick your battles. I never said Rolling through stop signs is not safe, I said blowing them all together.

 

rene

Permalink Reply by Robert Beck on May 24, 2011 at 5:04pm
The reason cyclist's cannot follow the rules of the road is because it is cool to blow stop signs, ride through the red light at intersections, ride against traffic on busy streets, but most importantly ride with no breaks in the city!!!!   Hooray look at me I'm riding a bicycle with no breaks!
Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on May 25, 2011 at 1:39am

Brakes.

 

srsly!  can has grmr naow?

Permalink Reply by in it to win it 8.0 mi on May 25, 2011 at 1:59am
no breaks might drop your blood sugar, you should change that habit...

Robert Beck said:
The reason cyclist's cannot follow the rules of the road is because it is cool to blow stop signs, ride through the red light at intersections, ride against traffic on busy streets, but most importantly ride with no breaks in the city!!!!   Hooray look at me I'm riding a bicycle with no breaks!
Permalink Reply by magomawe on May 25, 2011 at 2:17am

I agree with riding predictably. I think more cyclists need to do that which includes signaling for turns and stopping at red lights.  

 

That being said, people are going to act according to their incentives.  Coming to a complete stop wastes a lot of momentum, so few cyclists will do so at stop signs.  I think everyone should yield and stop if a there is a car or bike that is waiting to cross their path.  But if there is no one there, why would a cyclists do more than yield? Similarly if there is a red light and no one is coming, after stopping, I don't see a problem with going through the red light.  That is clearly illegal, but if it doesn't inconvenience anyone in motion and the cops aren't going to ticket cyclists ... then there appears to be no incentive to follow the rules completely.

 

Since the rules were written with cars in mind, bikers will always bend them at their will, unless their will be incentives to do otherwise.

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