SF Bay Area: Forewarned is Forearmed

[davyt]

Sheriff plans crack down on bicyclists breaking road rules (http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/15296774.htm)

[Skrawny]

They've been "cracking down" like this in the North Bay too.
Boy, we are SUCH a nuisance.

Grumble, grumble, grumble.....

-s

[Big Dan]

Under state law, bicyclists must follow the same rules as cars. That means don't ride on the sidewalk, stay on the right-hand side of the road and signal before turning. If with a group, cyclists must ride single-file.

Bicyclists who have been drinking can be cited for driving under the influence.

Crap, now I have to cut down on the pre ride beer and Jack Daniels shots...

:crap:

[Fixed]

bro are they goin in to the hood and get all the bros who use a bike to get around on? .. just rich cats I bet
cheers

[Avispa]

When will they start cracking down on drivers that threaten and endanger cyclists!!! Oh my....

[catulle]

Living in the third world sometimes has advantages, atmo.

[Lanternrouge]

It's a complete waste of resources if they're actually looking to ticket cyclists. If people do flagrantly stupid things in front of cops, they should expect to get ticketed. Focusing efforts on drivers would make everyone much safer. Even riding like a complete a-hole on the road, for the most part you inconvenience others at worst. For a driver, you threaten the safety of cyclists and drivers. In addition, drivers are much worse offenders than cyclists with regard to the rules of the road.

[pdxmech13]

there has been a large crackdown on cyclist in portland.
one of my mechanics got a ticket during a test ride for a
impromptu lane change. :crap:

[Fixed]

ok in my 20+ years of riding city streets I go to a red light look both ways and if it's clear i go . policemen see me everyday and not once has one said anything to me.... but I'm not a group of riders doing it .
cheers

[Bradford]

It's a complete waste of resources if they're actually looking to ticket cyclists. If people do flagrantly stupid things in front of cops, they should expect to get ticketed. Focusing efforts on drivers would make everyone much safer. Even riding like a complete a-hole on the road, for the most part you inconvenience others at worst. For a driver, you threaten the safety of cyclists and drivers. In addition, drivers are much worse offenders than cyclists with regard to the rules of the road.

I disagree on this one. I often encounter people who express their dissaproval of cyclists, as I'm sure we all do. Almost everytime I ask them why, they point to examples of cyclists breaking the rules of the road, such as riding through stop signs and stop lights and blocking the road.

We need to reconginze that this behavior is causing driver aggression and that we need to follow the rules of the road if we want drivers to respect our right to be on it.

Frankly, I'm sick of driver aggression aimed at me because other cylists ride without respect for cars or the law. I enthusiatically suport police citing these riders as much as I support the police citing drivers who do not follow the law. These are not two seperate issues, they are the same issue.

[gdw]

+1

[m_moses]

We need to reconginze that this behavior is causing driver aggression and that we need to follow the rules of the road if we want drivers to respect our right to be on it.Exactly! I think on every group ride I go on, I see at least one other well-meaning cyclist do something stupid. It makes us all look bad.

[Fixed]

bro I don't think drivers give a flyin f@@k what we do as long as we stay out of their way .if you ride long enough you learn how to do that .......
easy way sell your car and ride everywhere you go.
best way to die ride like your driving a car... you ain't no car .
cheers

[Grant McLean]

Personally, i'd love to see how the yahoos who yell riding advise out their
window would ride a bike themselves after about a week.

I'm pretty tame around town, but I still get the doofas who wants to point
out that I rolled a four way stop sign at 5km/h. Like i'm goin to stop and
put my foot down! I think if I did stop completely at every stop sign,
in this city, i'd get squished by an suv rolling the intersection by dropping
below 40 for a split second, and jamming back on the gas.

If it's too much work for drivers in this city to move a hand off the cell phone
to put on a turn signal... or keep holding down the brake pedal until their audi
comes to a stop, how would they expect to make the effort necessary to
actually ride a bike? Give us a break, we're not sittin' on our a$$.

g

[Skrawny]

Personally, i'd love to see how the yahoos who yell riding advise out their
window would ride a bike themselves after about a week.

I'm pretty tame around town, but I still get the doofas who wants to point
out that I rolled a four way stop sign at 5km/h. Like i'm goin to stop and
put my foot down! I think if I did stop completely at every stop sign,
in this city, i'd get squished by an suv rolling the intersection by dropping
below 40 for a split second, and jamming back on the gas.

If it's too much work for drivers in this city to move a hand off the cell phone
to put on a turn signal... or keep holding down the brake pedal until their audi
comes to a stop, how would they expect to make the effort necessary to
actually ride a bike? Give us a break, we're not sittin' on our a$$.

g

word!

[m_moses]

There are lots of ways that we as cyclists can rationalize why it's okay to be selective in how we regard traffic laws. I do it too . . . but it's still not right. The downside is that we have to share the road with drivers who have their own rationalizations for their behaviors and probably have little empathy for us (unless they happen to be cyclists).

The thing is . . . when we are on the road, we expect drivers to obey traffic laws. Drivers expect the same thing out of us.

Like it or not, if we don't keep our end of the bargain, we shouldn't be surprised to see more p*ssed off drivers and cyclists being targeted by law enforcement.

:beer:

[bcm119]

Common sense trumps traffic rules. There is no rational reason to come to a complete stop at a 4 way stop on a bike if no cars are present. Likewise, it makes sense for cars to cross the double center line to give a cyclist room on a narrow road. If it makes sense, its "right". Use your head.

[bshell]

oh, bcm -

your post describes what i hope to find in heaven.

[Satellite]

How many times do we hear ride on the sidewalk yelled from a Motor Vehicle. I guess a few auto drivers need to read the deputies remarks:

"Deputies will be looking for bikes on sidewalks, and cyclists that fail to stay on the right hand side of the road or signal before turning. Cyclists who have been drinking can be cited for driving under the influence."



Take a peek at this article:

http://bikeportland.org/2006/07/28/judge-finds-fault-with-fixies/

Crazy stuff.

Satellite

[davyt]

Funny thing is, I'm one of those rural residents (although I only tire of the cycling groups that I'm not a member of ;) )!

Rural residents tire of cycling groups; county cracks down (http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2006/August/23/local/stories/02local.htm)