Pedal vs. Metal

I live in Minneapolis Mn.. I am a driver and a once in awhile bicycle rider.. I have noticed in the last several years this problem with bicycle riders, they want to use the road as if they were a car.. but only choosing to obey the laws when it is to there liking..(Not all bicycle riders but most) on the other hand powered vehicles must obey the street laws or face penalty.. also powered vehicles pay taxes, licenses & fees for their vehicles to use the roads.. Not to mention the drivers test. But that???s another story.. since bicycles are also a powered vehicle they too should pay the price taxes, licenses & fees and maybe throw a test and insurance in the mix....
IF I were more of a full time bicycle rider. I would not push this.. let the cars have the way . I really dislike taxes, license & fees etc.. I would prefer to take the short cuts and not be bothered with vehicles that are much heavier than me.

I live in Portland, and commute via Skyline and Germantown road everyday. I have to say it is extremely frustrating to see bicyclists on these roads, and they seem to be the "top" places where people want to cycle. Not only do these roads have absolutely no shoulder and blind corners, but drivers speed around the turns at 45-50 mph. It's just an accident waiting to happen, and unfortunately the bicyclists are going to be the ones injured or dead.

I, when I was a lad of 10 or so had to earn the money to pay for not only my bicycle but my BICYCLE LICENSE PLATE. ($10.00). Why, when 1% of road tax money is set aside for bicycling improvements is the biking community not taxed as the drivers of motor vehicles are, WHY, WE THE DRIVING PUBLIC REALLY WANT TO KNOW...WHY.

I live in Oregon, and it's true there is a fued raging between bikers and drivers. I've been a part of the road rage myself, after having a cyclist ride out infront of flowing traffic that I was leading I had to stomp on my breaks and caused a few accidents behind me, just like I would do to a driver who made a dumb a move I proceded to honk my horn...now most drivers (or Cyclists) who knew they made a mistake would have hunkered down in shame. This man however decided to flip me off and shout profanities at me. I have no problem with bike lanes or areas deisgnated for bikers or walkers or anything not on 4 wheels. But if you're not going to pay for gas, for whatever reason that means you're not helping pay for road taxes at that point I feel like i have a right to say stay off my roads. Or at least if you're going to ride with them give drivers some respect. Lets face it has morbid as it sounds, at the end of the day a battle between a car and a bike a car is going to win. In Hood River we try very hard to watch out for bikes especially on rural roads with no shoulder, but when you deliberately disregard drivers on the road, you're asking for accidents, injuries and possibly death.

I've no problems with cyclists, as I raced competitvely for a number of years. I respect them and always watch out for them. But recently, I've noticed more and more cyclists on the Dunedin Causeway and Alternate U.S. 19 are either totally ignorant of the prevailing laws, or arogant in their flouting of them. We've had a series of cyclists injuries and occassional death due to the fact that most cyclists here believe themseves to be pedestrians and traffic must yield to them, even when they blow through a red light, or cut a car off in mid-traffic. Too, Alt. 19 is choked every Sunday morning with cyclists riding 4 and 5 abreast, a clear violation of the prevailing laws. Exacerbating the situation, most of these cyclists are arogant when "called down" by the local residents. No one neds to be hurt while enjoying a great pastime. We only wish to keep everyone safe. Knowing, respecting and following the laws will do just that.

As a side note, to enlighten everyone to the extent of the problem, when traffic accidents involving cyclists rose on the Causeway, the Pinellas County Sherrifs office set up a task force to monitor the problem. On one, yes ONE, Saturday morning, the Sherrifs issued 212 citations to cyclists within ONE hours time. The cyclists reaction ? Rather than adhere to the laws about safe cycling, they called the local media and complained the Sherrifs were harrassing them !

Bicyclists have essentially equal rights to ordinary roadways so they MUST obey the rules regarding stop signs and traffic lights. Most of those recent Portland incidents seem to have been provoked by disregard of these rules.

I live in Minneapolis Mn.. I am a driver and a once in awhile bicycle rider.. I have noticed in the last several years this problem with bicycle riders, they want to use the road as if they were a car.. but only choosing to obey the laws when it is to there liking..(Not all bicycle riders but most) on the other hand powered vehicles must obey the street laws or face penalty.. also powered vehicles pay taxes, licenses & fees for their vehicles to use the roads.. Not to mention the drivers test. But that???s another story.. since bicycles are also a powered vehicle they too should pay the price taxes, licenses & fees and maybe throw a test and insurance in the mix....
IF I were more of a full time bicycle rider. I would not push this.. let the cars have the way . I really dislike taxes, license & fees etc.. I would prefer to take the short cuts and not be bothered with vehicles that are much heavier than me.

I am a bike rider in Portland I believe the arguement goes both ways. I have to admit before riding I never really paid attention to the cyclist on the road, as a driver it is easy to overlook them. Now that I am a cyclist I have almost been hit many times and yes I do obey the traffic lights and rules of the road. It is really easy for a cyclist to say that it is the drivers fault and also really easy for the driver to say that it is the cyclist fault. I think if more people would get on their bikes they would probably drive more cautiously. But for the cyclists that disregard the rules of the road its not a matter of if its a matter of when.

Bicyclists are arrogant. They think they can run red lights with impunity and have a right to hold up traffic by taking up a whole lane at speeds much slower than cars. On sidewalks they speed past pedestrians without any warning in a very dangerous manner. Until the police monitor and ticket cyclists for running red lights, holding up traffic in a recklessly manner, and running down pedestrians on sidewalks, there will be serious accidents and fights. How about the cycling clubs who go out in packs of dozens or hundreds and openly, arrogantly flout traffic laws and berate drivers who call them on it. I like bike riding, but I stick to alleys and side streets and obey traffic laws. And I don't drink and ride. Having lived many years in the Portland Metro area at different times in the 60's, 70's and 90's, and regularly visiting relatives from the West side to the East side, people who ride bikes to work need to be monitored and ticketed for traffic violations if there is to be the needed change in cyclist behavior. A BIKE DOES NOT GIVE SOMEONE CARTE BLANCHE TO DO WHAT EVER THEY WANT TO IN TRAFFIC.

I absolutley agree with AdmiralDave. There are cyclists out there who obey the law and maintain a friendly disposition. However, there are also cyclists out there who seem to think that wearing tight shorts and shoes that clip to their pedals somehow puts them above the rest of society. Living in Seattle for the past 6 years, I find myself feeling an intense amount of frustration at least twice a week over someone on a bike that somehow forgot what it's like to be in a a metal cage on 4 wheels that can't stop on a dime when cut off.

The biggest problem I find is when cyclists can't decide if they want to be a bike or a car. They travel in the middle of the road well under the speed limit until they reach a stop sign (or light) and then decide they're a pedestrian and use the crosswalk.

Remember that law of gross-tonnage kids, the object with the most mass will come out on top.

What do you expect. Most cyclists are liberal greenies who think the world revolves around them, so everyone should bow to them. They care about nothing but their life and agenda. There are some safe riders, just as there are safe drivers, but many cyclists seem to think they are above the law, but there is lots of laws they aren't above, like the law of gravity, the law of physics, the law of sizes, etc.

Cyclist do not have to pay registration fees for tags every 2-4 year as drivers have to. Drives receive all the traffic fines as these bikers continue to ride in the middle of the street like they own it. If the street does not have a bike lane ride on the side walk or as close to the right as possible. Do not ride in the middle of the street going 10-20mph. Drives have to pay for gas, registration and insurance so they should always have the right away. When are they going to require cyclist to carry insurance. I have to sue a cyclist if they total my car. I am so tired of them wanting to be treated as cars on the road when they do not obey the law. There is a real issue here and the cops need to crack do on them. Cyclist MOVE OVER WHEN YOU SEE A CAR COMING WE HAVE PLACES TO GO.

Here are the facts from the Portland Stop sign sting where they only handed out warnings.

In the first blitz, police issued warnings to 60 cyclists and to seven motorists, including a citation for a person who was driving with a suspended license.

On Day Two, police issued warnings for 51 cyclists and eight motorists. Two other cyclists received citations -- one ran through a stop sign so fast that he overshot the bicycle lane and nearly caused a collision in the next traffic lane over, Parman said. The second cyclist failed to stop for several blocks after the police officer tried to pull him over.
Kinda hard to argue that bikers don't break the law as much as drivers isn't it?

Cyclist do not have to pay registration fees for tags every 2-4 year as drivers have to. Drives receive all the traffic fines as these bikers continue to ride in the middle of the street like they own it. If the street does not have a bike lane ride on the side walk or as close to the right as possible. Do not ride in the middle of the street going 10-20mph. Drives have to pay for gas, registration and insurance so they should always have the right away. When are they going to require cyclist to carry insurance. I have to sue a cyclist if they total my car. I am so tired of them wanting to be treated as cars on the road when they do not obey the law. There is a real issue here and the cops need to crack do on them. Cyclist: MOVE OVER WHEN YOU SEE A CAR COMING WE HAVE PLACES TO GO.

Seems like there are a lot of cyclist like myself that take a bad rap for the lawless one. I totally support full law enforcement for cyclist including myself and would be willing to pay more taxes to ensure compliance with trafic laws and enforcement for the laws. I also see every day that I ride many, many cyclists that do illegal lane changes, ride between vehicles, run trafic light/stopsign and even circle on sidewalks to keep from stopping at a traffic light. Sidwalk riding in Denver is illegal in most cases and places. Cyclist, we need to get our act together and help keep the sport we love safe and accepted.....call out the law breakers...chase them down and let them know you do not approve of their behavior or lawlessness! POLICE OURSELVES!

I love to bicycle, but I think many cyclists think they are above the law. Like we learned in motorcycle class. A car will always win and safety is ALWAYS first. Why isn't safety first with people on bicycles? It should be first in everyone''s mind, but everyone should also have to obey all the traffice signals as well.

heated423: wow, I ride, but I had no idea I was the second coming. there are jerks on both sides of this argument.