Want to know why everyone hates cyclists?

[V]

Originally Posted by CalgaryFan1988

The second part, you should be ticketed for running a stop sign, same as a vehicle. IMO

I know that I would if I was caught, of which the probability is nearly zero, since I have plenty of time to assess the situation coming into the intersection. It's not like I'm blowing through at top speed.

But the way I see it, is that the rule for bikes should be changed to ticket those who blow through a stop sign, but those who slow down and coast through are posing no threat to safety. It's a silly ticketable offense.

I should point out that I don't bike downtown at all, and I'm sure the atmosphere there is completely different, and bikes might want to operate more like cars.

[RougeUnderoos]

Originally Posted by Cuz

If you never want to be on the sidewalk, then why do you go there? Oh because the road is too dangerous? Perhaps if you weren't in a rush (which most cyclists seem to be) and showed the patience that most motorists show during rush hour then you would find yourself in far fewer "dangerous situations." As far as I am concerned, the only cyclists that should be using the sidewalk are kids.

Yeah, I ride my bike because I'm always in such a hurry. It's the fastest way to get around! Except every other way but walking.

You drive a bus, correct? You of all people should know that there are plenty of stupid drivers out there. You are driving the biggest, heaviest piece of machinery on the street and yet you get cut off all the time. I know you do. I've been on the bus.

Now, if people are willing to risk their lives to turn in front your 10,000 pound(?) bus and force you to slam on your brakes so you don't kill them, do you think they'll think twice about turning in front of 175 pounds of bicycle and human and suffer no consequences other than a dent and a stranger with a broken leg and a neck halo?

As for the "patience that most motorists show", stick around here for a while. The griping about crappy drivers (coming from other drivers) comes up pretty often, and for good reason.

[Magnum PEI]

I never ride on the sidewalk, its safer on the road. Hedges, bushes, signs, and other obstacles limit visibility. I've seen a couple people almost get hit from cars backing out of driveways. Plus you can get fined. It's the one thing I've actually seen police ticket cyclists for (not including their pathway blitzes).
It's easy enough to find routes on less major streets if you dont want to ride on busy streets just plan ahead. I try to stay on 50 km/h roads. When I'm in 60 zones drivers actually yell at me to get on the sidewalk.

Originally Posted by RougeUnderoos

Yeah, I ride my bike because I'm always in such a hurry. It's the fastest way to get around! Except every other way but walking.

You drive a bus, correct? You of all people should know that there are plenty of stupid drivers out there. You are driving the biggest, heaviest piece of machinery on the street and yet you get cut off all the time. I know you do. I've been on the bus.

Now, if people are willing to risk their lives to turn in front your 10,000 pound(?) bus and force you to slam on your brakes so you don't kill them, do you think they'll think twice about turning in front of 175 pounds of bicycle and human and suffer no consequences other than a dent and a stranger with a broken leg and a neck halo?

As for the "patience that most motorists show", stick around here for a while. The griping about crappy drivers (coming from other drivers) comes up pretty often, and for good reason.

I find cycling to be far quicker than transit. Going from the south to the Uof C was 2/3 the time as transit. Coming home it was half the time. And I'm not exactly a triathlete or anyhting either.

[CalgaryFan1988]

I see cyclists at times on the shoulder of hwy 2. That can't be legal, in Quebec/Ontario they enforce it. Why don't they here?

[MelBridgeman]

the bike lanes of 2 st SW don't stop the cyclist from jamming up 4th/5th street SW..

[GoinAllTheWay]

For the record, I admire cyclists, I really do. But man do they strike me as suicidal at times.

I used to work on 4th st SW and took 5th home to get to Elbow Dr. This is a windy, narrow road. One day on my way home I was approaching a guy on his bike with one of those double wide kid trailer with two of his kids in it. As I was coming up behind him I had to move slightly into the next lane to have a safe distance between him and I. As it usually happens, another car comes from the other direction as we were rounding a corner I had no room so had to move over but realized I had no room left and had to hit the brakes and come in behind the guy on the bike. At the next set of lights he leans over into the passenger windows and said "maybe next time don't drive so close to me" to which I replied "maybe next time you could wait till AFTER rush hour to take your kids down a narrow winding road with your double wide trailer".

Now we have moved offices and take the road behind Chinook to get to Glenmore. There is a residential road before that that has a ton of hills and always has cars parked on the side of the road. Each and every day I manage to be coming up on a cyclist while going up one of the hills with cars parked on it and each and ever time the guy on his bike swing out like 6 feet into my lane WITHOUT LOOKING FIRST. The number of times they have pulled this maneuver almost resulting in them going over my hood is unreal.

A couple of weeks back we were driving to Turner Valley down the Cowboy Trail and there were TONS of people on their bikes, must have been a ride of sorts. There were hundreds of them. So 99.9% of them had the smarts to stay on the right side of the yellow line away from the rumble strips but one jackass as I was coming up on him decided he wanted to pass some people in front of him and went pretty damn close to the middle (again, without even a glance to see if a car was approaching him from behind) of the lane as I was coming up behind him forcing me to go into the oncoming lane. If a car was coming from the other direction, I shudder to think how that could have turned out.

[Devils'Advocate]

I love Ottawa. I can get almost everywhere I need to go on a bike path. No cars pissed off at me. I don't have to contend with busy streets. It's safer for everyone.

FWIW - I rarely, if ever, ride on the sidewalks. If I do need to go on the sidewalk, I'll usually dismount and walk the bike. But if I have to cross a cross walk, it is 50/50. It is too slow to dismount and cross, so I am slowing down traffic that wants to turn.

[frinkprof]

Originally Posted by MelBridgeman

the bike lanes of 2 st SW don't stop the cyclist from jamming up 4th/5th street SW..

To be fair, 2nd Street SW doesn't really have "bike lanes," it is just what Calgary refers to as a "bike route," which usually means that it doesn't have segregated lanes (denoted by paint, physical barriers, or otherwise), just that there are painted pictures of bikes on the road that are in various stages of being faded, under (legally) parked cars or snow.

[J epworth]

Originally Posted by CalgaryFan1988

I see cyclists at times on the shoulder of hwy 2. That can't be legal, in Quebec/Ontario they enforce it. Why don't they here?

Here's the rules for deerfoot: (5) No person shall ride a bicycle on Deerfoot Trail, being a highway in the City of Calgary, between 64th Avenue North and Marquis of Lorne Trail (commonly referred to as Highway 22X).

From: http://bikecalgary.org/node/2490

My dad bikes out to heritage pointe from Cranston all the time, totally legal to do that, it's just between 22x and 64th north cyclists need to take other routes. Makes sense, how else would anyone living on dunbow road area be able to cycle into the city without being on hwy 2.

[Cuz]

Originally Posted by RougeUnderoos

Yeah, I ride my bike because I'm always in such a hurry. It's the fastest way to get around! Except every other way but walking.

You drive a bus, correct? You of all people should know that there are plenty of stupid drivers out there. You are driving the biggest, heaviest piece of machinery on the street and yet you get cut off all the time. I know you do. I've been on the bus.

Now, if people are willing to risk their lives to turn in front your 10,000 pound(?) bus and force you to slam on your brakes so you don't kill them, do you think they'll think twice about turning in front of 175 pounds of bicycle and human and suffer no consequences other than a dent and a stranger with a broken leg and a neck halo?

As for the "patience that most motorists show", stick around here for a while. The griping about crappy drivers (coming from other drivers) comes up pretty often, and for good reason.

Oh yeah, there are plenty of stupid drivers out there, and I hate the stupid drivers just as much, if not more, than cyclists. Its just that there is a higher percentage of cyclists that are stupid, than motorists (and I see more bad drivers than cyclists, which is just a numbers game).

During our training, one of the biggest things we are taught is to anticipate what other vehicles are going to do around us, and the best way to help with this is to use the proper following distance (unfortunately some of my co-workers forget this). I have been fortunate and in my two years with transit I have only had one hard braking incident and I was out of service at the time (some moron decided to stop in the middle of an intersection to turn left from a non-turning lane). Anyways my point is that everyone who uses the roads should use these skills, especially cyclists, and try to avoid situations before they arise (Yes I am fully aware that some things happen that one couldn't possibly foresee).

When I said "the patience that most motorists show," I was referring to during rush hour, on a street like 6th ave where most motorists are patient and wait their turn. This is also the most common time of day to see cyclists at their rudest.

[Shaggin Wagon]

It's the 90/10 law. 10% of any population are dicks. Not following the rules can be applied to cyclist or motorist but it is only a small proportion of that population. So now I am a dick following the rule cause people see a cyclist on the sidewalk.

I moved to Edmonton last year. I'll ride on the sidewalk because I fear for my life on some roads. I'll take a ticket and fight it if I am given one. I am mindful of the pedestrians

In edmonton there is no law to wear a helmet. You see people with no helmet running stop signs. The people with helmets here tend to follow the rules better.

No one is a winner in these debates. There will always be some idiot who puts their safety and others at risk. That is no reason to be prejudice against everyone. Treat each individual idiot as there own idiot.

[Temporary_User]

Originally Posted by GoinAllTheWay

For the record, I admire cyclists, I really do. But man do they strike me as suicidal at times.

I used to work on 4th st SW and took 5th home to get to Elbow Dr. This is a windy, narrow road. One day on my way home I was approaching a guy on his bike with one of those double wide kid trailer with two of his kids in it. As I was coming up behind him I had to move slightly into the next lane to have a safe distance between him and I. As it usually happens, another car comes from the other direction as we were rounding a corner I had no room so had to move over but realized I had no room left and had to hit the brakes and come in behind the guy on the bike. At the next set of lights he leans over into the passenger windows and said "maybe next time don't drive so close to me" to which I replied "maybe next time you could wait till AFTER rush hour to take your kids down a narrow winding road with your double wide trailer".

Did you just describe a situation where you went to pass a bike and it was unsafe to do so so somehow this was the bikes fault?
You know the solution to that would have been to wait behind the cyclist until it was safe to pass right?

Your reply to him seems to just shows your ignorance. You don't know why this guy was out on this particular road at this time. Why were you on that road? Perhaps he had the exact same reason. It doesn't really matter though. From your story it sounds like he was cycling as safe as can be and you were an impatient jackass driving unsafely.

Originally Posted by GoinAllTheWay

Now we have moved offices and take the road behind Chinook to get to Glenmore. There is a residential road before that that has a ton of hills and always has cars parked on the side of the road. Each and every day I manage to be coming up on a cyclist while going up one of the hills with cars parked on it and each and ever time the guy on his bike swing out like 6 feet into my lane WITHOUT LOOKING FIRST. The number of times they have pulled this maneuver almost resulting in them going over my hood is unreal.

Just like if you are to rear end a car chances are it was your fault for following too close, the same applies for unsafely passing a cyclist. In most places 3 feet is the bare minimum space required to pass (and this is only safe at an extremely slow moving pace). You don't know why any of these cyclists swerve out. And you say into your lane, what lane were they in before? You came up behind them, it sounds like you are both in the same lane at all times. Perhaps they swerved to avoid a pothole, car door, roadkill, any other obstacle. If you are going to overtake a vehicle, move fully to the other lane and pass safely.

[WilsonFourTwo]

Originally Posted by Devils'Advocate

I love Ottawa. I can get almost everywhere I need to go on a bike path. No cars pissed off at me. I don't have to contend with busy streets. It's safer for everyone.

You're definitely lucky to have that situation. Calgary is (for better or worse, I argue better) working its way towards that scenario, and we definitely have to acknowledge that Calgary has a pretty good path system going already.

Moving forward I think that for every $100 the city spends on mass transit, they should spend an amount ($2 or $5??) on pathways and pedestrian/cycling options. It wouldn't take long to transform commuting options within 40-50 blocks of downtown.

[WilsonFourTwo]

Originally Posted by GoinAllTheWay

I used to work on 4th st SW and took 5th home to get to Elbow Dr. This is a windy, narrow road. One day on my way home I was approaching a guy on his bike with one of those double wide kid trailer with two of his kids in it. As I was coming up behind him I had to move slightly into the next lane to have a safe distance between him and I. As it usually happens, another car comes from the other direction as we were rounding a corner I had no room so had to move over but realized I had no room left and had to hit the brakes and come in behind the guy on the bike. At the next set of lights he leans over into the passenger windows and said "maybe next time don't drive so close to me" to which I replied "maybe next time you could wait till AFTER rush hour to take your kids down a narrow winding road with your double wide trailer".

The reality is that it wasn't clear/safe to pass another vehicle on the road. If the vehicle in front isn't going fast enough and you can't safely pass, sorry, you'll just have to wait the extra 30 seconds. Replace the guy biking with a motorcycle, scooter, car, truck, construction equipment, garbage truck, minivan, tractor, semi, or bus and this is a non-story.

Its an example of how a cyclist is actually doing what they're supposed to (operating on the road as a motor vehicle, heck even stopped at the next light apparently) as everyone demands, and still gets admonished.

[WilsonFourTwo]

Originally Posted by Temporary_User

If you are going to overtake a vehicle, move fully to the other lane and pass safely.

How friggin' hard is it to pull into the left-hand lane on an empty two lane road to pass? One of the only things about cycling that sets me off is when some idiot in a big diesel pusher blows past me in the same lane when there is another completely empty lane right next to him for passing.

Most things don't phase me (I expect people to be selfish dicks, its in our nature, including mine) but this is the one thing about cycling that actually sets me off.

I get that me only doing 30-35kph in a 50 zone is an inconvenience at times and I do my best to share the road and minimize the odds of me adding another 15 seconds to somebody's 40 minute commute. Is it too much to ask for a tiny bit of respect as well?

[Devils'Advocate]

You can pull 35 kph on a bike? Damn. I gotta pick up my game...

One other reason I avoid riding on the main routes, even if they have bike lanes, is because that is where most of the manholes are AND where most of the cracks and potholes are. If the cracks/potholes are big enough, I have to swerve out of the bike lane and into traffic, which is sometimes impossible during rush hour.

[chemgear]

Originally Posted by Devils'Advocate

You can pull 35 kph on a bike? Damn. I gotta pick up my game...

I can do 75 kph. But only when I'm passing.

[jammies]

I hate cyclists because their majority solution to the roads being dangerous for cyclists is to make sidewalks dangerous for pedestrians. Irony much?

Plus the ratio of bad/good cyclists in the core is more like 90/10, not 10/90 - I actually get quite excited when I spot someone on a bike who breaks no laws in the five to thirty seconds I have eyeballs on them.

"Look! He's riding on the road, with a helmet, and he stopped at a red light in his lane and waited for the green! IT MUST BE FESTIVUS AND THIS IS A MIRACLE!"

Is the solution making nice bike lanes and such for them? Let me quote myself, "It's rather like solving rape by buying every rapist his own hooker."

[GGG]

For me too many cyclists try to stay out of the way of cars. If you are on a road with park cars take the full car lane and drive down the center of it until you are around the parked cars.

Downtown during rush hour you can keep up with traffic so for me that was one of the safest places to ride. You occupy the full right hand lane, drive down the middle and dont pass to the front at red lights and dont let other cars pass you.

If you are a bike commuter ocupy your lane to keep yourself safe.

Never go on the sidewalks.

[pylon]

LOL, I love this thread, it reminds me what a massive D-Bag I must be and all the CP feathers I am ruffling of the CP faithful on a daily basis:

- Drive a BMW, check.
- Ride a 1500 cc Cruiser with loud pipes, check.
- Cycle to work, use the sidewalk, and switch between pedestrian and vehicle mode, check.

I somehow need to combine all 3 of these things into one mega traffic violation while forgetting to signal. There has got to be a way to do it.

I also make my fire way to big at the campground, have a poorly behaved dog at the dog park, work at a car dealership, BBQ on my balcony at like 2 AM sometimes, think Star Wars and anything related is vastly overrated crap. I am the worst person ever on CP.