Well put, Mark! I tend to follow all of the rules of the road, but only when it works with my safety: I'll do whatever I have to do to stay safe, like use a usually empty sidewalk for a very brief portion on a busy and fast four-lane road with no shoulder, or bolt out into the intersection just before the traffic light for me turns green for me (but after the red light-running motorists, of course) before it gets messy with turning and impatient motorists. Little tweaks.
But otherwise, I ride away from the curb so that I'm seen (also to discourage motorists from passing me in an unsafe manner), I signal my intentions (just point with my arms), I am always ready to brake hard when approaching an intersection (with the assumption that someone in a car will pull out in front of me, whether we make eye contact or not), I ride with a headlight on at all times, and I ride in an assertive and predictable manner. (Now don't label me as one of those rigid anti bike-infra vehicular cyclists -- I ride like that when I have to, but I'd much rather ride on a bikeway -- a properly designed one, that is.) Granted, I don't commute to work on my bike, but despite living in one of the most densely populated counties in the country (and in the most densely populated state), I can't recall the last time a motorist intentionally threatened me or gave me abuse for being on a bike. (Careless driving is another matter.) Because of the vast network of interconnected streets, I try to ride on low-traffic, low-speed routes, tied together with bike paths, walkways, and alleys when I can. Bob E Cranford, NJ On Saturday, February 1, 2020 at 9:19:44 AM UTC-5, Mark Roland wrote: > > Regarding the legality of sidewalk riding, I used to be in the camp that > riding illegally on sidewalks gives bicyclists a bad name. And in fact, > lots of people who do ride on busy sidewalks can endanger pedestrians with > excess speed. Riding a bicycle doesn't turn jerks into considerate citizens. > > Over the years, though, I've changed my viewpoint. The main reason is > because, while in most places cyclists are supposedly considered "vehicles" > and supposedly have the same "rights and responsibilities" as other road > users, the real truth is that all of the laws, all of the infrastructure, > all of the traffic controls, were built almost exclusively for motor > vehicles (or to keep walkers from impeding motor vehicles), and we must > make do as best we can within a system that at best gives lip service to > human-powered transit. So I generally obey the rules. But I reserve the > right to opt out when they make no sense, or, more to the point, put me in > danger if I follow the rule rather than my instinct for survival. > > In this day and age, sadly, using a bicycle as a means of transport for > things like shopping, going to school, social visits, errands, essentially > puts you in the role of a revolutionary dissident to begin with, so might > as well take a few prerogatives!;^) > > On Friday, January 31, 2020 at 8:18:16 PM UTC-5, Bicycle Belle Ding Ding! > wrote: >> >> >> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/f80db91a-23de-48e0-b3b7-df3fe8dfe305%40googlegroups.com.
