[Markk9]

I had two bicyclists pull out in front of me a few years ago, running a red light in downtown Allentown, PA. I was going between 25 and 30, when they made a right turn placing them right in front of me, all I had time to do was try and split them, almost made it. I clipped the bicyclists on my left side with my left leg. I didn't fall, took all my skill to keep upright and stop. Once I stopped, the two bicyclists became very aggressive, blaming me for the accident. Once the police showed up, it was two against one, I got the ticket. The rider that went down was trying to milk my insurance for money, and I was going to fight the ticket. I had a green light, they ran the red light. The good thing about Allentown is they put up video cameras at 90% of the downtown intersection. My insurance company got a copy of the video for the hearing and I won. The bicyclist lied to the judge up until the video was played, once the video played I was found not at fault.

The problem I have with bicyclists is they try to control the whole road around here in NC and back inPA. Once the bicyclists leave the urban area they are even more dangerous, they will ride 3 plus abreast in packs of over 20 riders. They will try and hold up traffic by riding over the yellow on straight sections to keep from being passed. Nothing like going around a blind curve and coming out into a group of bicyclists that are all in both lanes blocking the whole road.

A big part about car (motorcycles to) and bicycle problems is the speed difference. If you can't keep up with traffic, get over to side and let them pass. With a motorcycle, we can keep up and even out pace the cars on the road, on a bicycle you can not.

Mark

 

[snake oil]

There are alot of arrogant bicyclists here in Oregon. I swear they have the mindset that they are polticaly correct so everyone should kiss their ass.

 

[Road King Cole]

:clap:

Great thing for that video, they should press charges against him.

I agree that many feel they own the road and don't feel the need to stay on the side.

There was a you tube video all over the news locally last week about car drivers aggression towards cyclists in Boston. It showed a small confrontation between a driver and a cyclist who had a video camera on his helmet. Made the driver look bad.

The driver just came forward with "the rest of the story". He says the cyclist was looking for a confrontation to video. He was hogging the whole lane riding very slow and giving the finger to the driver at one point. After the driver was finally able to pass the cyclist the cyclist sped up and pulled up to the drivers door...

There still may be more sides to each story, but it does sound like the cyclist with the camera was looking for a story and got one.

rkc

 

[Amenraa]

They are part of the reason I have loud air horns on the Jeep. So tired of their attitudes.

 

[Michael Psycle]

Most bicyclists ride ok. A few ride poorly. I see a lot going through traffic lights, especially when they are going downhill. But just about all those times they can see that there are no cars coming in either direction. So it is illegal but not dangerous most of the time.

What happened to the OP is different. Here you have a couple of liars. They give a bad name to all bicyclists. Motorcyclists are dealing with the same issue. A few really bad riders smear the reputation of most law abiding bikers. Same with cyclists. I would not tar a whole group because of the actions of a few. I feel more kinship with cyclists than I do with cagers and sometimes wave to long distance cyclists when I am on rural roads.

I'm ok with sharing the road with most of them.

 

[tebglide]

Screw em. When they start paying to register those bicycles to ride on the road then they can claim they have as much right to the road as I do. Til then stay the hell out of the way of traffic.

 

[Markk9]

Most bicyclists ride ok. A few ride poorly.

I think you have wrong, the vast majority of bicyclists I have met while out riding act badly. It's also getting worse as the years go by.

 

[tebglide]

+1 It's kinda like an underaged kid getting in your face. Whatever you do about it you are going to be wrong. And they know it.

 

[mhonn2004]

Same way here in Texas. They think they can do anything and it is okay. As stated earlier they need to stay on the right side of the right lane as far over as possible. If possible they should ride on the shoulder of the road if there is one.

 

[snake oil]

Screw em. When they start paying to register those bicycles to ride on the road then they can claim they have as much right to the road as I do. Til then stay the hell out of the way of traffic.

I agree and from what I see they can certainly afford it.

 

[Ahar]

We just had a big bike rally here, they found out about my great country roads and took them over for a week.
Individually they are OK at sharing the road, but as in most cases with the animal species, they are total pricks in packs.

 

[MFXDB]

I would say that 80-90% never stop at red lights or stop signs. Maybe if I wore spandex in bright colors I could get away with that, too.

 

[darsen]

Nuttin like a swiff kick to the front tire puts a smile on my face :woohoo: just thinkin

 

[EasyWider]

I would say in gerneral, most cyclist here in sunny So Cal know they havent got a snowballs chance in hell againts the motorized maniacs here, wether they be 2 or 4 wheeled. Most behave themselves, and aren't really a problem.

 

[luvstoride]

The problem I have with bicyclists is they try to control the whole road around here in NC.........

Markk, you ever try to go north on Lake Brandt road during a nice Saturday? Anywhere up in that area they totally try to take over the roads. If they are riding as far to the right as they can safely ride, I give them plenty of room, the other asshats get "near misses".

 

[Ahar]

I think some of the byke riders at the rally found out just how dangerous dead trees are while on their little excursion here.

Thats the dead trees that are laying down on the back of bigass logging trucks. These guys get paid by the load, GTF out of their way, they ain't got time to play your little spandex assed games.
Their airhorns are loud and I heard them more than a few times over the week.
All the roads the bykes were on have a nice whitelined shoulder with plenty of room for single file. For some reason quite a few of them thought they needed to socialize with their buddy while pedaling.
I tended to pass them on the tight side of the lane, the logging trucks used their airhorns, that pretty much put them in line.

 

[HogDreamer]

The roads around my home don't have much of a shoulder but that must be the type of riding conditions the bicyclists enjoy. But they don't like to ride on the shoulder anyway. Nope, three or four abreast on the road is not uncommon.

Traffic laws? They seem to think they are exempt of all rules of the road. Red traffic lights are not for meant for them. Guess those funky looking jerseys suck away all their common sense.

I am very surprised more bicyclists are not hit by regular traffic on the roadway. We have had a number of peddler's hit this summer but when you think how many are out there, the percentage is lower than I'd expect.

 

[HarleyLance]

While I think the whole bicyclist thing is great, we have a number of riders here in the Seattle area that live in parallel universes - they expect cars to respect their rights, yet abuse their rights on the road by running lights, stop signs mean nothing to them, cutting in and out of lanes without signaling. And when things go wrong, they usually blame the motorists.

 

[nortster]

I had two bicyclists pull out in front of me a few years ago, running a red light in downtown Allentown, ...
...
The problem I have with bicyclists is they try to control the whole road around here in NC and back inPA. Once the bicyclists leave the urban area they are even more dangerous, they will ride 3 plus abreast in packs of over 20 riders. They will try and hold up traffic by riding over the yellow on straight sections to keep from being passed. Nothing like going around a blind curve and coming out into a group of bicyclists that are all in both lanes blocking the whole road.
...
Mark

@gree:
It gets even worse around the velodrome near Breinigsville PA

I used to get steamed behind packs of bicylists hogging both of the two lanes.
They think they are protected like kids running mindlessly out of a school bus.

 

[JayFL459]

Good Post .. For the Most Part in FL anyway .. They pretty much stay to the side but as mentioned sometimes in packs seem to be more oblivious to the laws to the point of impeding traffic badly .. Found a bunch like that on the BRP this summer that finally blew the horn, revved the engine and passed them incredibly close after 2 miles+ of 10-15 MPH and they acted like I was the ass for passing them ..