Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Patrick Adams on August 23, 2015 at 2:48am

I am so fed up with what i am seeing from bikers today. I have done my fair share of biking and know its a challenge, but everybody and their brother are out now. I am starting to think they need to have a state permit and rules of the road test. I own a BMW drive slow have not had a ticket in over 20 years do not use phone when at wheel. I am noticing casual bike riders obey the road laws more then the avid warriors! The other day crossing where a path intersects with a cross road and which I am very aware as it is a daily route. A female biker  blows the path stop and slams on brake last minute tire in my lane. I have come to a stop as I saw her coming at last minute as she is going fast my window even with her.  She goes into bike rage mode she had on the best of everything money can buy guessing a tri-athlete. She is yelling at me so I roll down the window and tell her the stop line is way back and she needs to pay attention. She goes into a Dee off of Sunny in Philadelphia  with testosterone. Here comes another biker who gets involved and commences to tell me to slow down. I informed him I was slow as she would have been hit if I was not. Now this guy did not see a thing but yea he is all over me screaming saying call the cops,I told him please do as she had the stop sign. I drove off shaking my head. Cyclists are becoming scary people. many are out relieving their stress they think they are invincible and they are putting good drivers in bad situations. They tend to forget a car or truck are a bit larger and you see the arrogance and stupidity of these cyclists every day. Many are overdoing distance look like they are going to faint and pass out on the road. Usually the cyclists with the best gear. Getting to be to many out riding at once. Like the deer in your blind spot darting here and there testing luck its dangerous please evaluate your biking skills and understand your capacity reflexes pick your sport accordingly Many of you might not pass a drivers test on a bike. Honestly most of these bikers are bad drivers check their records.  LOL

Permalink Reply by David Barish on August 24, 2015 at 6:55am

Pat, it is unfortunate that you has this encounter. The reality is that bad behavior crosses the lines of your preferred means of transportation.

The only issue I take is extrapolating from the best dressed cyclists or extrapolating from the group of "cyclists".. I have been guilty of the same  type of extrapolation and have in  fact made disparaging comments about BMW drivers. I should know better. This is our individual experience but is not science. It is dangerous to start seeing an individual and lumping him/her into a group based on past experience. All riders...all drivers...people on DIVVY bikes, BMW drivers... we sometime  forget to see the individual and we then forget to see the person. That dehumanization often leads to the escalation  of the rhetoric. I say this as an observer and not as an accuser. 

Your observation that with increased bike traffic there are increased problems is accurate. I am not so sure it is the well suited riders.  I think they actually do better than many of the rest of us other than blowing stop signs in the suburbs. I think the sense of entitlement on  the road (for both drivers and riders) is a problem. The road is a shared thing. One thing you will find on this forum is the reality that a motor vehicle usually has the capacity to inflict more damage. Still, with more riders there has been more, well a lot more, bad riding.

The other issue you pointed out is a good one. The third person never saw what started the war of words yet came  in brandishing his verbal saber. I did that once when I saw a similar encounter and I regret that I was not more measured. We can all learn from this. 

Thanks for checking in here. We need more dialogue and we need more viewpoints. 

Permalink Reply by Jim Reho on August 24, 2015 at 2:09pm

Excellent response.

Permalink Reply by Irvin Steinert on August 24, 2015 at 3:44pm

"I think the sense of entitlement on  the road (for both drivers and riders) is a problem. The road is a shared thing."

I think that really says a lot. Very well put!

I often think I should get extra consideration because of my vulnerability on a bike. I usually get it from those that are aware and especially from any one that has had to commute by foot or bike as an adult. Perhaps we can be spooked or even angered by an ignorant driver that caused a near miss and instead of acting out, just take a deep breath. We always want to "teach people a lesson" but we realistically can't teach the world one ignoramus at a time.

Conversely: It is so strange how a moving van blocking the entire road for the time it takes to maneuver into a loading area will not bother drivers one bit. They wait patently thinking "well, I might hire a moving van someday". But a bicycle that makes them have to slow down a couple of MPH for a few seconds......

Permalink Reply by Yasmeen on August 24, 2015 at 8:08am

Many are overdoing distance look like they are going to faint and pass out on the road. Usually the cyclists with the best gear. Getting to be to many out riding at once. Like the deer in your blind spot darting here and there testing luck its dangerous please evaluate your biking skills and understand your capacity reflexes pick your sport accordingly Many of you might not pass a drivers test on a bike. Honestly most of these bikers are bad drivers check their records.  LOL

I am not laughing out loud reading your post. It's a shame you dealt with a bad situation with an isolated incident involving two cyclists. True, she should have stopped at the sign and didn't need to go into "rage" mode. Many of us are put in the same position by a car (the car blows a stop sign or aggressively speeds up) and we have to get use to it happening nearly every time we are out there on our bikes.

I am both a driver with a perfect record and a cyclist that rides nearly every day. Please be careful before you lump all of us into a category and say we are all bad drivers "Check their records" because you have gone and checked every cyclists' record and you know that is factually true? 

Trust me, many of us cyclists are very clear about how vulnerable we are. In the last two weeks I attended two different hearings involving cyclists who lost their lives to drunk drivers. I'm very clear about how vulnerable cyclists are and how drunk drivers killing cyclists can be devastating to an entire family who has lost their loved one. I also realize this does not mean the entire population of motorists operate their vehicle under the influence of alcohol. To make that assumption would be absurd.

Just as there are bad drivers, bad pedestrians, etc. there are bad cyclists. I'm guessing the cyclists that stick out - the ones you notice are the ones that aren't the best riders. The cyclists that you don't notice? Well, those are usually the ones respecting traffic and riding cautiously and thoughtfully. Just as with motorists, you tend to notice the bad ones and not the good ones.

Permalink Reply by Waymond Smith on August 24, 2015 at 11:42am

Amen!!

Permalink Reply by Filka Bean on August 24, 2015 at 6:21pm

I agree with you, Pat: friggin deer!!!

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