We Have to Share the Road
I’ve been a bicyclist since I was kid. I started taking it serious when I was in high school. I was lucky enough to be making some money and I bought my first road bike. It was a German bike by a company that has long since gone away. Then in 1976 I bought a Motobecane Super Mirage. Motobecane is still around, but they have become a shadow of what they were in 1976. My Motobecane rocks! That is still the bike a ride today. It is solid and rides great. I can still keep up with the young guys on it.
So, what is this blog post about? It isn’t about who makes my bike. It is about the rights that bicyclists have on the road. I live in a beautiful resort town, Traverse City, Michigan. I love it here. If you live in the right location around Traverse City you have easy access to the TART trails. The TART is great if you live near it. Unfortunately for me, I live eight miles outside of town. The road that I need to use to get into town is very busy. There is almost no shoulder on the road. Cars go by very fast, and it takes all the fun out of riding.
I was inspired to write this post because of an incident that happened to me recently. I was riding on a beautiful sunny day here in northern Michigan. It was perfect riding weather. I was on a two lane road coming up on a car that was waiting to turn left. I’m almost up to that car when this pickup truck comes racing past me and around the right side of that car onto the shoulder to pass. I swerved to avoid the truck, hit gravel, and down I went. Both the truck and the car went on like nothing happened. I wouldn’t be surprised if neither driver even knew that I went down. This is a prime example of why passing on the shoulder is illegal, yet I see people doing that almost every day. It is stupid, and dangerous, but I will bet that many people don’t even realize it is illegal.
I’m a careful rider. This is the first time I’ve gone down on my bike in at least 25 years. However, I can’t begin to count the number of close calls I’ve had in over forty years of bicycling. Too many drivers don’t treat bicycles like they have the same rights on the road. Bicycles have the exact same rights to the road as cars, and have since the 1800s.
This is for you bicyclists out there—you have to obey all of the same rules that cars do. That means that you have to use the proper lanes, you have to obey all of the signals and signs. You have responsibilities too in this. It drives me crazy when I see a bicyclist riding the wrong way on a one-way street. I see that happen almost every day. That is SO stupid! Cars pulling out onto the road are not expecting a vehicle to be coming from the wrong direction.
I did find some interesting videos about the rights and responsibilities of bicyclists.
The Rights and Duties of Cyclists – Bicycle Safety
There are some good things in both of these videos. One thing that I find of interest is the way that they try to control the lanes by moving out into the lane. To be honest, there are some streets around there where that would get me killed. These cars are coming up doing 55 or more. Staying out in the middle of the lane on the road I ride into town would be suicide.
My whole point here is, show some respect, both drivers of cars or trucks, and bicyclists. We have to share the road.
Had a friend in Dallas that complained of the same things when he lived in St. Louis. As a matter of fact, he had a few drivers actually bump him off the road on purpose. I live in a part of San Antonio where the cyclist do NOT follow the rules of the road and hence get very little respect from motorists. I try to be a good neighbor with cyclist but it is hard when they do not follow the rules and make it difficult to “predict” their moves. San Antonio is adding bicycle lanes on most major roadways and is trying to educate the driving public, but change comes slow. I just want my local cyclist to realize that their improper driving etiquette is to their detriment and danger. For the most part, however, the cyclist I come across outside of my neighborhood do follow the rules of the road.
A totally agree, bicyclists must follow the rules too. It drives me crazy when I see bicyclists not following the rules of the road.
The thing is, everyone should already know this. I’m not talking about anything new here. Bicycles have had these same rules since before there were cars.
Check out this article: Road Rights – First There was the Bicycle
My only complaint is the bikers who, for some maniac reason I cannot fathom, think it’s a good idea to ride right on the bike lane line instead of using the yard to two of the lane itself to ride in.
I understand if there isn’t room, both car driver and the cyclists just have to make it work, but where there’s plenty of room and the biker is not using it, that’s just annoying. I don’t want to hit the biker, but they are making it easier for me to hit them accidentally.
I don’t bike much anymore (don’t have one, but if I did, I would), but I used to bike daily as a kid. One time I didn’t stop at a stop sign in an old folks retirement area and a cop pulled me over. He said apparently I had no idea I had to follow the same rules as a car. I did, but, I didn’t argue with him. On my way back I saw a million* cars roll through stop signs. Where was he then! It’s funny now, but I was mildly** terrified at the time.
*Exaggeration
**Understatement
Absolutely! This post is as much for bicyclists as it is for motorists. They all have to follow the rules.