Thursday, March 15, 2007

What does it mean?

When two side-by-side headlines on your online home page talk of a "Mortgage Default Tsunami" and Maserati intoroducing a new car? Well, there's a disconect somewhere. You do the math.

So, this morning I got cut off at an intersection. No big deal, you say. Well, the woman in the car cutting me off had attached to her trunk none other than a bike rack (an empty bike rack)! Ha! She looked at me the whole time while slowly pulling away from her stop sign (I had the right of way). Ah! Ah hah! And you drivers ... I hear from time to time that drivers are SO pissed off that cyclists don't obey the traffic laws. Do you know how many times I pull up to a stop sign only to have the motorist opposing wave me through (after a conspicuously long stop where THEY have the right of way)? A lot. A lot. Lots and lots. Thanks, but no thanks. If I stop, then you go. Drivers want cyclists to behave like motorists but then they bend the rules for cyclists all the time. It seems like courteous treatment, but it's confusing as hell.

So ... a message ... do you know why, as a conscientious cyclist, I don't obey a great many of the traffic laws/signals? Ahoy! They weren't designed for cyclists! Stop lights don't cycle for bikers; traffic won't yield for a left turning cyclist; etc. You drivers need to get over it. When I ride, I want to live. For the most part, I make my own rules of the road. Most drivers don't even obey the laws. I'd recommend you clean up your own crowd before attempting to enforce the legal high ground with bicyclists.

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