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I think a lot of the car rage at bicyclists has to do with this unfounded sense of entitlement. I suggest you read up on bicycle laws. http://bicycledriving.or

by cllns 14y ago

I think a lot of the car rage at bicyclists has to do with this unfounded sense of entitlement. I suggest you read up on bicycle laws. http://bicycledriving.org/public-awareness/motorists-should-know http://bicycledriving.org/public-awareness/motorists-should-... (tl;dr: It ain't your lane) There are a ton of reasons for not being in bike lanes including snow, pot holes, glass, other debris, and the very real potential of getting doored.

cglace 14y ago
I don't think posting a sign every five feet saying "bicycles are allowed to be in this lane too" would make anyone less mad about having a slow bike in front of them.
- cllns 14y ago
  No one suggested this. I think people would be less mad about the situation if they thought about it from the bicyclist's perspective.
pnathan 14y ago
Well, if it's a 50 mph zone and I'm a car going 15, that's illegal. Don't see why that isn't true for bikes.
- bunderbunder 14y ago
  That's not actually true, unless you're on a controlled access highway. In which case there will usually be signs mentioning that non-motorized vehicles are not allowed on that road posted at all the entry points.
  - bryanlarsen 14y ago
    It's not illegal to do 15 specifically, but if you doing it just to be annoying, you're very likely to get cited for obstruction of traffic.
- JoeAltmaier 14y ago
  How about horses? Tractors? Get real. Bikes can't do much over 15, most cyclists anyway. That's why they can go slower: they have to.
  - pnathan 14y ago
    My point isn't that I'm looking for an excuse. Obviously a bike can't do 50. But it really disrupts traffic when someone is trotting along at 15. Be that a horse, dogcart, or tractor. In a car-centric infrastructure, it's a disruption. Obviously the USA infrastructure, particularly in rural areas, is car-centric and thus non-cars will be disruptive. That's my point.
    - JoeAltmaier 14y ago
      Nobody has to be in such a hurry as to warrant legislating someone elses rights out of existance to save 30 seconds. That's MY point. It all looks car-centric when you're driving a car. In rural areas, if you've even been in one for even a short amount of time, you learn that the roads are almost exclusively there for the commercial traffic. Iowa has a grid on a 1-mile spacing of gravel roads - not so you can race to grandma's house in your car, but so all arable land can be serviced by tractor and truck.
      - pnathan 14y ago
        I'm not advocating anything (I don't see a reasonable solution proposed to date), but I would like you to understand the problem. Let's say you're traveling 10 miles in either bike (15 mph, very fast cyclist) or car (55 mph). It will take roughly this many minutes to travel: (* 60 (/ 10 15.0)) 40.0 (* 60 (/ 10 55.0)) 10.90909090909091 The difference is half an hour, just going 10 miles. So really think a bit: if you're stuck behind $slow_traveller for 10 miles (curvy roads, hilly roads, whatever. Google for Palouse in WA if you want an idea of my local road system), you've just lost 30 minutes of your time. Fiddle the math how you like; it adds up to a lot more than 30 seconds. 30 seconds of hassle is what I get in town: not much. Note that I live in a rural area and bike around as much as I can. So I swing both ways here, and I still say that bikes disrupt road infrastructure which isn't designed to handle them.

by cllns 14y ago

cglace 14y ago

I don't think posting a sign every five feet saying "bicycles are allowed to be in this lane too" would make anyone less mad about having a slow bike in front of them.

cllns 14y ago
No one suggested this. I think people would be less mad about the situation if they thought about it from the bicyclist's perspective.

pnathan 14y ago

Well, if it's a 50 mph zone and I'm a car going 15, that's illegal. Don't see why that isn't true for bikes.

bunderbunder 14y ago
That's not actually true, unless you're on a controlled access highway. In which case there will usually be signs mentioning that non-motorized vehicles are not allowed on that road posted at all the entry points.
- bryanlarsen 14y ago
  It's not illegal to do 15 specifically, but if you doing it just to be annoying, you're very likely to get cited for obstruction of traffic.
JoeAltmaier 14y ago
How about horses? Tractors? Get real. Bikes can't do much over 15, most cyclists anyway. That's why they can go slower: they have to.
- pnathan 14y ago
  My point isn't that I'm looking for an excuse. Obviously a bike can't do 50. But it really disrupts traffic when someone is trotting along at 15. Be that a horse, dogcart, or tractor. In a car-centric infrastructure, it's a disruption. Obviously the USA infrastructure, particularly in rural areas, is car-centric and thus non-cars will be disruptive. That's my point.
  - JoeAltmaier 14y ago
    Nobody has to be in such a hurry as to warrant legislating someone elses rights out of existance to save 30 seconds. That's MY point. It all looks car-centric when you're driving a car. In rural areas, if you've even been in one for even a short amount of time, you learn that the roads are almost exclusively there for the commercial traffic. Iowa has a grid on a 1-mile spacing of gravel roads - not so you can race to grandma's house in your car, but so all arable land can be serviced by tractor and truck.
    - pnathan 14y ago
      I'm not advocating anything (I don't see a reasonable solution proposed to date), but I would like you to understand the problem. Let's say you're traveling 10 miles in either bike (15 mph, very fast cyclist) or car (55 mph). It will take roughly this many minutes to travel: (* 60 (/ 10 15.0)) 40.0 (* 60 (/ 10 55.0)) 10.90909090909091 The difference is half an hour, just going 10 miles. So really think a bit: if you're stuck behind $slow_traveller for 10 miles (curvy roads, hilly roads, whatever. Google for Palouse in WA if you want an idea of my local road system), you've just lost 30 minutes of your time. Fiddle the math how you like; it adds up to a lot more than 30 seconds. 30 seconds of hassle is what I get in town: not much. Note that I live in a rural area and bike around as much as I can. So I swing both ways here, and I still say that bikes disrupt road infrastructure which isn't designed to handle them.