Bikers

I have heard from friends, coworkers, and random people about how pissed off they get when cyclists block their way on the road "if they consider themselves a vehicle, why don't they respect lights and stop signs?" and that they would not mind sharing the road if cyclists just followed the law.

Here is a wonderful post at the WashCycle blog about how, yes, cyclists don't always follow the law, but neither do drivers or pedestrians. (The driver who hasn't gone over the speed limit, or the pedestrian who hasn't jaywalked, raise your hand. Ah, no one, huh?)

I personally stop at lights when needed. Do I run red lights? You bet I do. Never when there's incoming traffic, because I'm not a complete retard, but anyone who has ever been on a bike knows that it's easier to slow down and continue riding, then come to a complete stop, losing momentum, and start pedaling again -- it takes a while to get your speed back.

Also, if there are cars behind me, like there are everyday when I'm in DC, if I run a red light (after properly stopping -- those are not lights I run without first stopping since usually there is incoming traffic that is not too visible), it's because I can get a head start in front of the cars, and avoid getting them stuck behind me. I'm not on the road for too long anyway. When cars are pissed off from you being on the road they tend to pass you really really closely, on purpose to scare you. (Idiots.)

By the way, those of you DC drivers -- yes, we do have the right to be on the road. In downtown DC (south of Mass Av), we are not even allowed to be on the sidewalk either. So stop getting bitchy with me.

For those of you completely unaware of bicycle safety, here are a few of them...

-Bikers on sidewalks are more prone to accidents than those on the road -- when cars are entering intersections and going in and out of driveways, they look for traffic on the road, not on sidewalks. Though cars usually look out for pedestrians, those are going at a much slower speed than bikers, so they can't really see us coming.

-Bikers are safer taking the whole lane in traffic. When you ride too close to the sidewalk, cars think they can fit in the same lane, and don't give proper distance when passing you. Moving towards the middle, forces the car to give you enough space.

-Bikers usually avoid the "door zone" as well. If we ride too close to car doors, people don't look for bikers when opening doors (my dad has flown off his bike this way, and I have had close calls as well in the past), so we give enough distance from car doors.

-Back to the "no sidewalk" argument, you are more visible for those entering the road if you do take the lane -- cars are looking for other cars, and can see you once you do that. Too close to the sidewalk/parked cars, you are not visible to those entering the road.

So next time instead of cursing us out, please keep this in mind. And for the other bikers out there not following this rule, please start doing this to make you safer.

Ah, and riding wrong way (on the road or the sidewalk), is never a good idea!

That said, of course there are asshole bikers there... But there are also asshole drivers and pedestrians, so don't use one idiot to generalize us all.

And when you see me commuting to work, remember, if I wasn't on my bike, I would probably be one more car in front of you backing up traffic. And do you prefer to share a mile on the road with me on my bike (I take trails most of the way), or 6 miles the whole way through in my car? (Apparently there are thousands of bike commuters in DC, so add that to the number of cars, ugh...!)