Stephen Harding wrote:
> N8N wrote:
>
>> 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.
>
>
> [...]
>
>> 100% of cyclists blatantly ignore stop signs.
>
>
> Where on earth do you live?

Falls Church, VA

> How much viewing time are we talking about with this
> observation? How many bicyclists over what period of time?

I've lived here for over a year. I see anywhere from 1-5 cyclists every
morning, and often a few more in the evening.

> Assuming the sample size of your observations are sufficiently
> large, I would have to predict a significant number of the
> 700-800 American bicyclists that die each year must meet their
> end in your town, with riding behavior as you claim (assuming
> you are in the US)!

I'm honestly surprised that more don't.

Just this evening I was following a cyclist who was riding after dark,
wearing dark clothing, with no headlight. *I* could see him because he
did have a taillight, but oncoming traffic couldn't (and this was a very
narrow street where you'd often have to go onto the "wrong" side of the
road to get around parked cars.) Now the other cyclist that I saw was
wearing a reflective vest, so he gets props for that, but making a left
turn a little closer to oncoming traffic than I would have considered
prudent kinda negates that.

The only conclusion I can draw is that either a) cyclists are idiots or
b) the act of getting on a bicycle causes one to become an idiot.

Of course, it's not *just* cyclists - just that it seems that they are
more universally idiotic. Within the same two mile drive home from the
Metro station, I also saw a motorcycle cop pull a U-turn and immediately
make a left turn onto Leesburg Pike and I seriously thought he was going
to run straight into a pedestrian; I slowed in case I would end up
having to stop give a statement/help if I could.

nate

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