Sharing the road
Folks, we're our own worst enemies.
In cities and towns all over the country local law enforcement is cracking down on cyclists and road rage incidents between motorists and cyclist are on the rise. An off-duty fireman shot a cyclist in the head in Asheville last week. Wars of words between cyclists and motorists in various parts of Greenville have led to a police crackdown ... AGAINST THE CYCLISTS! Some suburbs around Atlanta are trying to ban cyclists from certain roads ... or altogether. If you're not aware of how this activity has dramatically escalated in the last year, then you're not paying attention.
One factor cited repeatedly is the disregard cyclist show for the rules of the road -- running stop signs, etc. That's a big part of it. But the bigger part is the simple disregard for common courtesy. We expect motorists to share the roads, but then we don't do it ourselves.
I know many of you think I'm anti-social because of the way I ride off from the group on Tuesdays and Saturdays when I drive up from Calhoun Falls. I'm a bit of a lone wolf. But more than that, in the face of the growing tide of negative sentiment towards cyclists, I'm growing more tired of the bad behavior of cyclists as a group. Case in point. Last Saturday, as we were riding down the road that heads into LaFrance, I was at the rear of the group (believe it or not) and a car approached from behind. Another rider noticed it first and yelled "car back." Nobody but me did anything and I immediately fell in behind Jonathan Storie who I'd been chatting with. NOBODY else did a thing. It pissed me off. I'm sure it pissed the driver off. There's no excuse for it. I know many of you heard it and you did nothing. If you didn't hear it, I made sure you heard it the next time. Sorry Jonathan (he got an earful of it).
WHEN SOMEONE YELLS "CAR BACK," it means SHOW A LITTLE COMMON COURTESY, STOP YOUR CONVERSATION FOR TEN SECONDS AND GET SINGLE FILE!
This is not a problem with new riders more than with the old farts who've been around a while. It's riders from all camps who are guilty and it has to stop. We have a right to the road, but it's no higher right. Sharing the road is a two-way street. We can't demand courtesy from drivers if we don't treat them courteously and, until I got angry, NOBODY was being courteous to the driver in the incident on Saturday. There's no good excuse for it. It was bad behavior and I wouldn't blame the driver one second if they got upset about it.
I hope Mike the Announcer makes this mandatory reading. The driver you piss off may go off on the next cyclist he/she sees and that next cyclist might be me.
(I often close these kinds of messages by saying, "do what I say and not what I do." That isn't necessary in this particular case. I will run a stop sign if there isn't another car there. If there IS, I'm stopping -- or at least slowing until the driver and I have made eye contact and we each know what the other intends to do. And if I'm aware of a car behind, I WILL be as far to the right as I can safely ride. If you see me behaving otherwise, it's because I'm truly not aware there's traffic behind. )
Bob Chambers
Psycholist
In cities and towns all over the country local law enforcement is cracking down on cyclists and road rage incidents between motorists and cyclist are on the rise. An off-duty fireman shot a cyclist in the head in Asheville last week. Wars of words between cyclists and motorists in various parts of Greenville have led to a police crackdown ... AGAINST THE CYCLISTS! Some suburbs around Atlanta are trying to ban cyclists from certain roads ... or altogether. If you're not aware of how this activity has dramatically escalated in the last year, then you're not paying attention.
One factor cited repeatedly is the disregard cyclist show for the rules of the road -- running stop signs, etc. That's a big part of it. But the bigger part is the simple disregard for common courtesy. We expect motorists to share the roads, but then we don't do it ourselves.
I know many of you think I'm anti-social because of the way I ride off from the group on Tuesdays and Saturdays when I drive up from Calhoun Falls. I'm a bit of a lone wolf. But more than that, in the face of the growing tide of negative sentiment towards cyclists, I'm growing more tired of the bad behavior of cyclists as a group. Case in point. Last Saturday, as we were riding down the road that heads into LaFrance, I was at the rear of the group (believe it or not) and a car approached from behind. Another rider noticed it first and yelled "car back." Nobody but me did anything and I immediately fell in behind Jonathan Storie who I'd been chatting with. NOBODY else did a thing. It pissed me off. I'm sure it pissed the driver off. There's no excuse for it. I know many of you heard it and you did nothing. If you didn't hear it, I made sure you heard it the next time. Sorry Jonathan (he got an earful of it).
WHEN SOMEONE YELLS "CAR BACK," it means SHOW A LITTLE COMMON COURTESY, STOP YOUR CONVERSATION FOR TEN SECONDS AND GET SINGLE FILE!
This is not a problem with new riders more than with the old farts who've been around a while. It's riders from all camps who are guilty and it has to stop. We have a right to the road, but it's no higher right. Sharing the road is a two-way street. We can't demand courtesy from drivers if we don't treat them courteously and, until I got angry, NOBODY was being courteous to the driver in the incident on Saturday. There's no good excuse for it. It was bad behavior and I wouldn't blame the driver one second if they got upset about it.
I hope Mike the Announcer makes this mandatory reading. The driver you piss off may go off on the next cyclist he/she sees and that next cyclist might be me.
(I often close these kinds of messages by saying, "do what I say and not what I do." That isn't necessary in this particular case. I will run a stop sign if there isn't another car there. If there IS, I'm stopping -- or at least slowing until the driver and I have made eye contact and we each know what the other intends to do. And if I'm aware of a car behind, I WILL be as far to the right as I can safely ride. If you see me behaving otherwise, it's because I'm truly not aware there's traffic behind. )
Bob Chambers
Psycholist
posted by psycholist at 9:07 PM
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