Why so many cyclist having a death wish

[Tony C.]

Weather is getting a bit warmer and cyclist seems come out in drove, I was driving home the other evening, its a bit on the cool side and foggy, as I turning right onto a side street not for from my place, a man on a dark color bike with no light or reflector, wearing black clothing with a hoodie pulled over his head, going against traffic approaching rapidly from my right, he appeared in my headlight just in time for me to swirl a hard left to avoid him, if I brake he might end up on my hood, good thing there were no oncoming traffic.

Over the the last few years, I have numerous encounter with death wish cyclist, so far the only casualty is the passenger side mirror on my F150 pickup, a blind? cyclist in a hurry bang into it while I wait at a red light.

Don't get me wrong, I love cycling, wife and I each have our own mountain bike, but we usually ride on trail and seldom ride in the evening, and if I do ride in the dark, I made sure my front and back lights are working, what are these people thinking? Is it Darwinism at work?

 

[NYlakesider]

That's one of the best things about winter up here on my 129 mile of shoreline lake. No pedal bikers!

We get those Lance Armstrong wante-a-bees complete with the Spandex uniform of the day and those upside down bed pans tied to their heads sometimes in groups of 20 or more!

Yes by law they get to share the road, but also by law they have to follow the traffic rules. Stop signs mean stop, yield means yield, no ridding side by side with dozens of vechicles backed up behind them on our twisty, hilly mountainous roads. We have stretches of road up here that have no legal passing zones for many miles! One is 12 miles long!

One thing many of these people seem to have is a death wish. You do not have to be a Mensa class person to understand you are not going to win a "close encounter of the worst kind" with a vehicle that is much bigger and weighs a couple tons more than you do.

 

[Shark Bait]

Around here they ride on the white line on a 50 mph roadway, even when there is a bike path next to the road. They would rather risk getting pasted than deal with walkers and runners on the path (which is not just for bikes). They constantly violate traffic laws and expect everyone to yield to them. I cited bicyclists twice when I was an officer. One ran a stop sign in front of four oncoming vehicles and then accused me of being a racist when I stopped him. (I think he was whiter than I am, so....) The other guy was riding westbound in the east bound lanes of a four lane road and ran into a car that turned in front of him. He was carrying on about how the lady didn't yield to him. I explained that she wouldn't be looking for him going the wrong way in the traffic lane. As the great and wise Bugs Bunny would say, "What an ultra-maroon!"

 

[Baggy Wrinkle]

Dark clothes. Dark bike. No lights. Winter. Equals death wish. I see it all the time. Fortunately, I am also seeing more fluorescent yellow jackets and flashing lights on bikes. Natural selection should weed out the idiots.

 

[M E Morrison]

Darwinism at work?

 

[vonn]

Can't fix stupid!

 

[LVSteve]

The variations in state laws regarding cyclists are pretty maddening. In some states, they appear to have the same ludicrous untouchability as pedestrians. Mmm'kay, the laws of physics will fix that nonsense for you every day of the week and twice on Sunday.

Here in NV, cyclists are definitely not treated as pedestrians, and many who have moved to Las Vegas have been cited shortly after having been bounced off their bike by a car or truck. Some whining on the local news follows, and those of us who know the rules laugh at them.

Their favorite thing is not dismounting while using a crosswalk. The law is there to stop a person on a bike appearing at full tilt in the crosswalk giving the car/truck/bus driver no chance to miss them and applying the aforementioned laws of physics. The law is for THEIR protection, but it is seen by many cyclists as an imposition. Better to be imposed on than to be dead, I say.

 

[JayFramer]

Yuppy college kids that'll ride right out in front of you with out so much as turning their head, because they think they own the road?

I have that problem here.

 

[Ole Joe Clark]

My son in law rides in the Cheaha Challenge and has started training already. He has lights on his bike and I think on his helmet.

 

[snuffy51]

I dislike the "bikers" that like to ride in herds. I think the spandex suits the "pros" usually wear restricts blood flow to their brains.

 

[bigwheelzip]

..... but we usually ride on trail and seldom ride in the evening, and if I do ride in the dark, I made sure my front and back lights are working ....

When I was healthy, hubby and I did a fair bit of road bike touring in Europe, and only once had a slight problem. In the USA, we regularly found daytime car drivers too aggressive toward bikes, and limited our road biking to after 9PM.

We took night viability seriously, with bright reflective clothes, bicycle reflectors, showing red flashing LED's behind and amber in front, and bright LED headlights.

 

[Ron M.]

Seen enough of the "weekend" warriors in their spandex uniforms up here (college town) where they will ride three abreast on a busy road (50 mph speed limit) just being a pain in the patootie because they feel entitled. I've seen many Judge Judy shows where the plaintiff was on a bike and insisted they were the victim when they do something stupid. P.S....I used to ride my motorcycle to work, was heading down a two lane road to my building and the guy on my right cut me off without so much as a signal...and I ended up in the bushes...I confronted him in the parking lot...he said, and I quote..."there are potholes on this side of the street, you get out of my way.." so it goes both ways, sometimes. Wonder if he figured out how his windshield got smashed that day...not that I nor my helmet had anything to do with it.

 

[kenv1950]

I got 'em in the Catskills. Jogging & cycling in the middle of these winding blind corner roads mostly city transplants and college kids. I was going to post a bit George Carlin did on joggers and cyclist but Georges language won't cut it on the forum. I don't know why they think they own the road , i get them 2&3 abreast . youtube
george carlin- cyclist and joggers...

Last bear season when I was walking I had two spandex wearers go buy me on a old dirt road all dressed in black and there were city folk hunting bear .

 

[Rustyt1953]

Go to SE Asia and navigate through the two-wheeled salmon.

We've got it easy.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

A while back a Santa Fe Cylist was killed by a train.
The Bikers demanded safety gates, bells, whistles, lights, etc.
Stop, look and listen.
If you can't see and hear a train coming you probably shouldn't be out riding a bike!

 

[S&W629]

The reason so many bike riders ignore the rules of the road...Is because the POLICE will NOT enforce the laws!!!!

 

[steelslaver]

What cracks me up around here is seeing some guy on a bike in the afternoon with nothing but a couple little bags on it petalling away on a road that I know the road maps shows some towns on that are in reality a single building that functions as small general store/post office. In places in the eastern part of the state even the jack rabbits pack a canteen. Headed east from hear the next real town is about 130 miles and the motel has about 8 rooms total, but hey if its full the next place is only another 85 miles. LOL. If you go north east 45 miles to Bohemian corner (no kidding and 1 building) you can turn north and hit a town of 4000 in 85 miles of up and down. Yet I see them petaling away. Good luck.

 

[shouldazagged]

I won't say they are all like this, but over the years I've known some pedal pushers of the middle-aged yuppie persuasion--$3500 bikes, Spandex, the whole deal--who by virtue of what they considered their vastly superior conditioning felt they were several rungs above the flabby peasantry. This gives that kind an apparent conviction that the slackers driving cars and trucks should make way for their august perfection.

Those of you who are regular readers of one of my favorite comic strips, "Pearls Before Swine" will recognize the character Jeff the Biker.

It's not a death wish for these people, it's just a high-tensile steel sense of superiority. And the often-mistaken belief that their butts look splendid in Spandex.

 

[vt_shooter]

I nearly ran over a pedestrian crossing at a cross walk last weekend. Pedestrians always have the right of way in my state, they know it, and a few of them don't even look for cars before venturing across, they just saunter across busy streets without pausing or looking. Young people, like in their 20's. The one I almost hit I missed seeing until the last moment because, I believe, he started out being obstructed by the windshield molding on the left side (I was turning). Me, when I cross on foot, I make sure I have eye contact with a car's driver before I venture across. Some of the young ones won't make it to the age of learning to do that.

 

[Oldfrt]

I cycle almost every day on a recumbent trike and usually on a segregated bike lane. I don't care for the packs and until everybody manages to put there phones down I stay off the roads. But, my biggest problem is the entitled motor vehicle operators ignoring the stop bars at intersections. I average about 3 near misses a week because some jerk blows into a crossing while I am in it. It goes both ways.