On Feb 27, 2:56*pm, wrote:
> On Feb 27, 11:21 am, N8N > wrote:
>
> > On Feb 27, 10:58 am, wrote:
>
> > > If you have trouble seeing ordinary (non-orange) cyclists or
> > > pedestrians in plenty of time, you're not driving responsibly. *Try
> > > slowing down and paying more attention.
>
> > Yes, all of the cyclists in my area are responsible and never, ever do
> > stuff like riding after dark without lights and wearing dark and/or
> > non-reflective clothing. *(snort)
>
> Cyclists should use lights and reflectors at night. *Those laws should
> be respected.

Agreed.

> But clothing that suits _your_ fancy is not a legal requirement, and
> should not be.

Being visible is not "my fancy." If you have no lights, no
reflectors, and are wearing jeans and a dark shirt, I have no sympathy
for anything that might happen to you.

> > If it didn't seem like the vast majority of cyclists that I see had
> > death wishes ... you might have a point, but my general impression
> > of them is that they are serious hazards to themselves and others, and
> > I wish that police would take more notice of this and start enforcing
> > the rules of the road.
>
> I wish police would enforce _all_ rules of the road, including against
> motorists who speed through neighborhoods, roll stop signs, run red
> lights, fail to yield to pedestrians, and all the rest. *Yes, they
> should ticket cyclists - but it's a far lower priority for good
> reason.

Why? If I hit another car because the driver did something illegal,
or hit a cyclist because he did something illegal, I still hit
something. I'm still inconvenienced, and I still have to deal with a
lot of BS. Since my observations are that 100% of cyclists flagrantly
violate the rules of the road, that seems like a real problem to me.

> For example, regarding stop signs: *I live across the street from
> one. *Fewer than half the drivers bother to stop. The majority roll
> right through. The potential harm from a motorist doing that is
> hundreds of times worse than that from a cyclist.

100% of cyclists blatantly ignore stop signs.

> Regarding "serious hazards to themselves and others," feel free to
> post documentation of the terrible carnage caused by bicyclists. *We
> know there are roughly 40,000 people killed by motorists each year in
> America. *How many are killed by bicyclists? *Post the number, please.

Mostly cyclists kill themselves. But my car will still be damaged.

> How many cyclists kill themselves by their mistakes? *Only about 700
> American cyclists die per year, total. *That's a tiny number compared
> to most other causes of death. *The per-hour risk is also low. *And at
> least half those fatalities are caused by motorist mistakes, not
> cyclist mistakes.

I don't believe that at all, as as I've stated, bicyclists seem to
think themselves completely exempt from the rules of the road and
quite a few rules of common sense, as well.

I'm not anti-cyclist as a principle; I actually enjoy riding. It is
observation of the behavior of cyclists that has shaped my opinions so
that I probably appear to be anti-cyclist. Basically, I just don't
like the particular cyclists that I have to interact with on the
roads.

nate