stever@tektronix.UUCP (Steve Rogers) (09/30/83)
The only way for bicyclists to get the respect of drivers is to obey ALL the rules of the road, and for bicyclists to police other bicyclists when they are doing something stupid (e.g. riding the wrong way in a lane). Bicyclists should also treat pedestrians the way they claim they want to be treated by drivers. When we ride on a sidewalk, we become the dangerous object to walkers (I can remember walking on the grass at UC Davis because of all the bicycles whizzing around me!). I don't mind being honked at if it is in the "toot", "toot" mode, but when the horn blares behind me, the reaction is a combination of fear and powerful anger. I consider it to be an agressive act and usually react in kind (I don't enjoy doing so). But except for the angry and impatient people in the world, who focus their anger and impatience on randomly available targets, there is no reason why drivers, bicyclists, and pedestrians cannot work together to share the streets, walks, and paths. We need to have a common set of rules for behavior, and at least for the bicyclists and the driver, the vehicle code does provide most of them in the states I have lived in. In my experience as a driver, bicyclists, runner, and walker, I have seen some pretty stupid things done by drivers, bicyclists, runners, and walkers, including myself. We should help one another to be better drivers, bicyclists, runners, and walkers in our multi-modal world! P.S. As a bicyclist I have felt intimitated by groups of runners barrelling down on me on a narrow path. We must all try to put ourselves in other peoples places in order that we can interact better on our side.
stever@tektronix.UUCP (Steve Rogers) (10/23/83)
Having a strong belief in the rightness of riding with traffic, which I have been doing for over twenty years, I got on my bike after a month's absence to go down to the local bicycle collective. On my way there, I had to cross a bridge that had been narrowed and detoured because of highway work below. It was a very narrow lane with a sharp right turn and partially blind. I could not believe it, as I was riding in the center of the lane, when a car attempted to pass me going over a DOUBLE yellow line. If I had not immediately yielded (i.e. read stopped against the edge of the bridge), an oncomming car would have got us both. I caught up to the driver at the next stop light (they never expect that!) and told him off. He finally rolled down his window after I began chaning his license plate and told me that he did not need to be told how to drive! This guy was in a nice shiny new black car and was wearing coat and tie. A guy on a motorcycle behind him told me he would back me up if I wanted to report him. But, of course, even with the new bicycle law, the police won't do anything unless damage has occurred (I would hope they would do something if they had witnessed it!). Under the new law, I had absolute right-of-way. I still strongly believe in riding with traffic at all times. But we need to educate drivers as well as bicyclists. Maybe the only way is to keep a local data base on offending drivers and send them a copy of the auto/bicycle laws after each offense. Several reports on a driver should convince the police to at least call on the driver to cut it out! To be fair, we would have to have ready to hand out, bicycle/vehicle laws for offending bicyclists.