dmt@mtgzz.UUCP (d.m.tutelman) (05/10/85)
I'm delighted to find someone whose experiences are similar to mine. I've had about one unpleasant incident a year with motorists, in about 2000 miles a year of riding in NJ. I don't think I was breaking a rule in any of the cases, but I was insisting on being treated as a vehicle rather than a pedestrian in most of the cases. If I assume ignorance rather than malice on the part of the motorist, then he could easily have been ticked off by my "stupid jaywalking on a bike." (Ignorance is probably a reasonable assumption; the one case I took to the police surprised me by how little THEY knew about recommended safe cycling practice, most of which can be summarized, "Remember you're a vehicle.") Which brings me to PASSING ON THE RIGHT. That's something that a pedestrian can do and another vehicle can't. Therefore, when we do it we're giving the drivers the wrong idea about WHAT WE ARE. If we insist on telling them we're pedestrians by passing on the right, then we can expect them to become confused (or hostile) when we insist on being treated as vehicles. (Note: I've changed my own behavior since the discussion started. Once I thought about it, I could find no sound justification for passing on the right, so I've stopped doing it.) Dave Tutelman