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Comments
good to hear
By Eoin
Sun, 05/02/2010 - 11:12pm
I'm glad to hear that it didn't make his commute noticeably longer. A while back, I decided to start strictly obeying traffic laws on my bike. I agree that it makes my commute more pleasant, is better exercise, helps legitimize bicycles as transportation, and, best of all, allows me to achieve sublime levels of indignation when cars fail to respect my right to the road.
I observed the red lights
By HenryAlan
Mon, 05/03/2010 - 9:57am
I observed the red lights this morning, and there indeed was that much more pleasure when I shouted at the various cars cutting me off on the bike lanes. One car decided to drive for a prolonged period in both the bike lane and the car lane. I rode along side for about 50 yards, shouting at him to pick a lane. Good fun!
don't be afraid to give their
By pierce
Mon, 05/03/2010 - 10:23am
don't be afraid to give their side window a good smack if they veer over too close to you--this infuriates drivers, but at least it wakes them up and pulls them away from the cell phone for 5 seconds
what an ass
By crazylegs
Mon, 05/03/2010 - 11:19am
you are. you give bikers a bad name. Wish I could be there when some driver gives you your due. And it WILL happen if it hasn't already. Coward.
veer into me and you will be
By pierce
Mon, 05/03/2010 - 12:45pm
veer into me and you will be there... i'm an ass for using the only means i have available while you slowly squeeze me into a metal sandwich because you can't wait for the person in front of you to turn left? You'd rather I break my hip on a parked car's mirror?
I don't go around smacking cars willy-nilly, but when some moron on a cell phone is oblivious to the human life he's risking next to him, yeah, i'm gonna smack your car silly until i get your attention, my little bell isn't going to work.
I'd rather be an alive and an ass than dead and polite.
And I'll add that once on cambridge street near lechmere I had this exact interaction with a Jeep Cherokee, and the guy got out of the car and charged me, and I boldly said to his face exactly what I said here, and you know what? The guy backed down and apologized.
I agree
By Eoin
Mon, 05/03/2010 - 12:47pm
An empty hand striking a car is preferable to a car striking a cyclist. But car-smacking should only be done in self-defense, never for revenge, Grasshopper.
A Better Way
By SwirlyGrrl
Mon, 05/03/2010 - 12:12pm
I wear a VERY bright flasher on my waist on the side that cars approach. If they are too close, it gets really annoying because it shines into side windows. I don't think drivers so much specifically notice that feature, but they do stay further to the side when I wear it.
In the day time and night time, this situation is best avoided by proper street cycling technique: if it is too narrow for a car to pass without getting super close, take the lane! Narrow streets have low speed limits anyway, and cyclists often move close to those speeds.
I use a handlebar mounted air horn
By Eoin
Mon, 05/03/2010 - 12:56pm
Same effect, but auditory instead of visual. Especially in the summer when they have their windows down.
Critical Mass should do this
By Adam Pieniazek
Mon, 05/03/2010 - 9:21am
I'd love to see Critical Mass take a similar approach to their monthly bike ride / "protest". Imagine the chaos that would happen if a mass of bicyclists rode the streets during rush hour obeying the letter of the law to a T. At red lights cyclists are supposed to queue up behind other vehicles, which IMO is a bit silly and short-sighted. Perhaps out of that chaos the city would take a real look at putting in bike only roads, proper bike lanes (not "doored" zones) and maybe even a bike highway running through the city (yeah right).
Bikes in single file line
By Anon
Mon, 05/03/2010 - 10:58am
Bicycles queuing up at a traffic light should also be in single file. Riding side-by-side is explicitly forbidden in the laws.
Imagine the Critical Mass line of bikes in single file line stopped at a traffic light? Brilliant!
Riding side by side is not
By anon
Mon, 05/03/2010 - 11:31am
Riding side by side is not prohibited in the law. I do not remember the full text of cycling laws but there is a provision to ride side by side under some circumstances.
Riding side by side
By anon
Mon, 05/03/2010 - 4:21pm
It is prohibited...check the MGL BEFORE you write. It makes you appear smarter that way.
No
By Eoin
Mon, 05/03/2010 - 4:32pm
From Chapter 85: Section 11B
(1) Bicyclists riding together shall not ride more than 2 abreast but, on a roadway with more than 1 lane in the direction of travel, bicyclists shall ride within a single lane. Nothing in this clause shall relieve a bicyclist of the duty to facilitate overtaking as required by section 2 of chapter 89.
See for yourself.
Now what was it you were saying about appearing smarter?
damn
By anon
Mon, 05/03/2010 - 6:40pm
schooled
I see a growing movement
By Eoin
Mon, 05/03/2010 - 12:54pm
Stopping at all stop signs, stopping – and waiting – at all red lights, stopping at crosswalks for pedestrians, going the right way down one-way streets, front and rear blinkies at night, using the hand signals. I've been doing this for some time, and boy does it irritate some drivers. Especially when I'm waiting at a red light in front of them with no cross traffic.
So who's with me?
Oh my god! They go
By anon
Mon, 05/03/2010 - 1:03pm
Oh my god! They go completely nuts! I would love to see all cyclists obey traffic laws. Let's see what the car-babies do then.
Whit
Lights are not the rate limiting factor
By SwirlyGrrl
Mon, 05/03/2010 - 12:16pm
I have found that overall traffic conditions and my level of fitness and head/tail winds in particular have far more of an effect on my journey time than waiting at red lights does. I see red light waiting as an opportunity to adjust stuff, make a phone call, or take a drink.
Shall I give him cookie?
By BStu
Mon, 05/03/2010 - 12:38pm
I'm sorry, but I don't get the self-congratulatory tone from this guy deciding that he'll start obeying the law most of the time. Its the LAW for a reason. All he's unveiled is how particularly stupid bikers are, but he still excuses illegal behavior on the part of cyclists. He tut-tut's, sure, but thinks cyclists should be immune from legal repercussions until they actually cause an accident. This whole attitude is galling. Obey the law. You put yourself and others at risk when you decide the law doesn't apply to you. That applies to drivers just as much as bikers.
Wow, what a concept. I always
By anon
Mon, 05/03/2010 - 1:38pm
Wow, what a concept. I always do this, and it gives me great pleasure to stop on red, watch as other cyclists pass, and then zoom past them when the light turns green. Not as if it makes an impression on some of them. I've met lots folks that believe it's some kind of radical political act to break traffic laws and they probably can't be convinced otherwise.
I'm a car driver
By Kathode
Mon, 05/03/2010 - 2:50pm
and I really find that stopping for red lights works well for me and the people around me!
Really. I don't understand
By mike
Mon, 05/03/2010 - 4:53pm
Really. I don't understand the bicyclists suggesting that this would BOTHER a car driver. There's nothing I hate worse than bicyclists running red lights.
Indeed
By Stewart
Mon, 05/03/2010 - 6:32pm
Please explain to me why I would find it upsetting to see a bicyclist follow the same rules that apply to everyone else on the road.
It happens all the time. Say
By J
Mon, 05/03/2010 - 6:53pm
It happens all the time. Say there's a red light up ahead, and the cyclists starts to coast. Many drivers insist on accelerating madly to pass, only to slam on the brakes after a few feet.
Of course a more common example is when a cyclist decides to take an entire lane (ie, follow the same rules that apply to everyone else on the road.) which seems to INFURIATE drivers.
If you tried it you would
By animatedblader
Mon, 05/03/2010 - 6:41pm
If you tried it you would know. When you are on a bike and you stop at the light, cars line up behind you. Then when it turns green, they are mad that you aren't accelerating as fast as a car. That's when they start beeping, shouting obscenities, and trying to run you off the road.