Quote:
Originally Posted by pylon
Here is the problem. If you really want to see mayhem on the roads, then have cyclists obey all the traffic rules like a car...fine. You will wait longer at 4 way stops, you will miss lights, you will be stuck in heavy traffic behind a guy that can only pedal so fast.
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The problem is that when a cyclist makes up his own rules; that means you have a different set of rules based on what each cyclist decided for himself. So what you might do is different than what the next guy might do- and you are expecting the motorist to be psychic as well as telepathic.
Case in point with my most recent near miss- I was coming into McKenzie Towne from Deerfoot; heading towards the traffic circle. I take the first exit in the circle so I am in the right hand lane. A cyclist is riding along the sidewalk; shown on the right here:
Link
Now what he does is instead of proceeding along the sidewalk, he suddenly turns and goes to cross at the pedestrian cross walk. Assuming he is traveling at 15 km/h; that gives me about 1/4 second to react. The only thing that saved him was the fact that I am a CPer;
so I have above average driving skills.
He didn't signal, he didn't dismount, and he gave me a look like I had done something wrong when I layed on the horn.
When you hop onto the sidewalk to breeze through a 3 way stop; do you signal? What about other times; do you signal each and every time? To me that is the big thing- treat your fellow commuters with respect and you will receive it back.