Dreaded cyclists

TC said:
They have an equal right to the road. That doesn't give them the right to interfere and inconvenience others though. Which is not to say they're breaking any laws. Being a selfish asshole is not a crime.
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I would agree there, although sometimes as in the video it just can't be helped. There are selfish prick cyclists who go out of their way to impede motorists but most guys who cycle regularly that I know of try to stay clear. We drive cars ourselves, we know what it's like. I dont know much about other countries and their drivers attitudes towards cyclists. When I was in France myself and a mate cycled the 250km from Nice to Genoa in Italy and never once felt threatened or in danger by what seemed to be a pretty forgiving driving population. It's different in Australia where you have some of the rudest, laziest, most incompetent bogan drivers with an overwhelming sense of self entitlement on the planet, as demonstrated by the Facebook page Dash Cam Owners of Australia, or Crap Sydney/Adelaide/Melbourne/etc drivers pages. A bit of education and tolerance goes a long way.
 
Red_Bull said:
I would agree there, although sometimes as in the video it just can't be helped. There are selfish prick cyclists who go out of their way to impede motorists but most guys who cycle regularly that I know of try to stay clear. We drive cars ourselves, we know what it's like. I dont know much about other countries and their drivers attitudes towards cyclists. When I was in France myself and a mate cycled the 250km from Nice to Genoa in Italy and never once felt threatened or in danger by what seemed to be a pretty forgiving driving population. It's different in Australia where you have some of the rudest, laziest, most incompetent bogan drivers with an overwhelming sense of self entitlement on the planet, as demonstrated by the Facebook page Dash Cam Owners of Australia, or Crap Sydney/Adelaide/Melbourne/etc drivers pages. A bit of education and tolerance goes a long way.
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Oi, I run that page. I just opened the grounds for the discussion, each side has a right to their opinion.
 
Those yclists have a right to be there. If that was Italy, they wouldn't have a right to ride abreast, but that would be generally what you would see (and what I see pretty regularly).

This shows, however, that roads aren't build for both cars and bikes at the same time. Those situations are solved by the car overtaking them one by one in just some more space than what is shown on the video (the Yaris was a bit too hasty), and by generally stepping beyond the double solid line in the center. It's a hard world...

Someone could say: "It is illegal to pass the double line". And I would reply: "yes, that is why you can see roads aren't build for both to be on them at the same time. You have to use your common sense and pass anyway, or be precise and impeccable and get stuck forever behind a climbing bicycle. Your choice". Ecologically (something many cyclists claim as one of their main interests), a cars at 20 km/h is polluting incredibly more than at 60 km/h. So overtaking cyclists is a sensible choice to save the environment...

The thing is: on that road, bicycles and cars are mutually incompatible. You can not expect a car to follow a cyclist at 20 km/h (if you're lucky) for miles and miles just because the lane isn't wide enough for overtaking, and you can not expect cyclist to simply disappear or being squeezed out of a car's way.
But if cycling is to become something more widespread than it is today (and it is), we can fairly expect to find that road as a continuous stream of cyclists. Like in that video. Only longer. Much longer.

That situation generates dangers.

The solution is not in taking the old roads and add rules or regulations or limitations or boxes or stripes to try to adapt it to something it isn't designed to do, because it will end up, sooner or later, in something ridiculous against cars or intelligence (like the right of way for cyclists in blind spots on a car turning, the cyclist box in front of cars at a traffic light, cyclists coming the wrong way on one-way streets, no speed limits for bicycles, the "always at fault" to cars in case of impact, and so on...).

The solution is to change the rules and/or the roads to accomodate two streams of traffic which have too many differences to be forced to interact outside what is strictly necessary.
 
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Or, you know, automated miniguns.
 
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Just now getting to see that facebook video. Most of the cyclists were behaving correctly: single file. That one group that wasn't, passing each other with a car directly behind them needed mowing down.
 
But only if they can find a carbon-frame fixie RPG that matches their leotard.
 
Dreaded cyclists

Der Stig reported this one to me by phone - apparently a bicyclist decided that the rules didn't apply to him, as so many do. Instead of riding down to the next place to cross the highway, a protected underpass, he decided to just pedal across a busy highway.

He made the acquaintance of the front end of a 9th gen F-250 moving at speed part way across and ended up very dead.

Fatality Accident (Arlington)

March 3, 2014 by dfwscanner

Fatality Accident (Arlington) Arlington PD investigating a fatality accident involving a bicycle on WB I20 after Bowman Springs. A1
Preliminary information from APD:

It looks like we have a vehicle that struck a man on a bicycle who was attempting to cross the westbound lanes of Interstate 20 just west of Bowman Springs (6500 block of W. I20). The man is deceased at the scene.

The two outside lanes of traffic are open and the three inside lanes of traffic are closed as first responders investigate. The driver of the vehicle stopped and is at the scene with officers. The call came in at about 3 p.m.
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Here is a pic of the highway just before the scene but not the scene itself, courtesy of wfaa.com:
0303_bike_death201.jpg

Darwin 1, Idiot Pedalbikist 0. Don't play tag or Frogger with 6500lb trucks moving at 65mph or more.
 
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Spectre said:
Der Stig reported this one to me by phone - apparently a bicyclist decided that the rules didn't apply to him, as so many do. Instead of riding down to the next place to cross the highway, a protected underpass, he decided to just pedal across a busy highway.

He made the acquaintance of the front end of a 9th gen F-250 moving at speed part way across and ended up very dead.



Here is a pic of the highway just before the scene but not the scene itself, courtesy of wfaa.com:
View attachment 11918

Darwin 1, Idiot Pedalbikist 0.
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My only concern is that somehow your national media will catch wind of this and it turns into a firestorm of ZOMG, WE NEED TO PROTEK DA CYCL1STS!11!!!
 
Hopefully the driver doesn't get charged with manslaughter or similar, because it's by no means his fault that a bicyclist was somewhere he had absolutely no right being.
 
Emarline said:
Hopefully the driver doesn't get charged with manslaughter or similar, because it's by no means his fault that a bicyclist was somewhere he had absolutely no right being.
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Generally speaking they wouldn't, states vary quite a bit but in NY at least this would at most get the driver a failure to stop citation if that.
 
Dreaded cyclists

Emarline said:
Hopefully the driver doesn't get charged with manslaughter or similar, because it's by no means his fault that a bicyclist was somewhere he had absolutely no right being.
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Being Texas, it is unlikely in the first place. In the second place, per the article the police do not anticipate filing charges. In CA, NY, etc., I would fully expect charges to be filed, massive investigation of the driver to be performed, public crucifixion in the press to take place, etc., etc. because he killed one of the Savior-Messengers Of The Holy Gaia. Who are, since they are Saving! The! Earth! perfect in every way and could never be wrong. (Do I really need to append the sarcasm tag?)

Hope the driver successfully sues the estate for damages to his truck; Der Stig reported seeing a rumpled hood and damaged front grille (truck apparently did not have a guard like mine.)
 
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Spectre said:
Being Texas, it is unlikely in the first place. In the second place, per the article the police do not anticipate filing charges. In CA, NY, etc., I would fully expect charges to be filed, massive investigation of the driver to be performed, public crucifixion in the press to take place, etc., etc. because he killed one of the Savior-Messengers Of The Holy Gaia. Who are, since they are Saving! The! Earth! perfect in every way and could never be wrong. (Do I really need to append the sarcasm tag?)
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We should convert this into a smiley :p

tec2af4_SarcasmSign.jpg
 
Update from another local news station:
i-20-fatal-cyclist-truck.jpg
Several lanes of westbound Interstate 20 in West Arlington are closed Monday after a person on a bicycle was struck and killed while crossing the highway.

The collision took place at about 3 p.m. along I-20 near Bowman Springs Road, east of the Loop 820/state Highway 287 split.

From Chopper 5, the bicycle could be seen pinned underneath the front bumper of a pickup truck that stopped in the far left lane. Arlington firefighters, however, were blocking off a scene more than 100 yards to the east in the far right lane; indicating the driver was not able to immediately stop after the impact.

Police said the bicyclist, an adult male, died at the scene. His name is being withheld pending notification of family members and will later be released by the Tarrant County medical examiner.

Two lanes of traffic are being allowed to weave through the two scenes. Police have not said how long the lanes will be closed and that intermittent lane closures are to be expected through rush hour.

Police said the driver of the truck stopped and is cooperating in the investigation.
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I know we have probably seen it already but...

 
Something tells me somebody over at the TopGear production office saw this thread before they filmed that item :whistle:
 
I'm an avid cyclist. I ride 200 miles + a week when I can here in Chicago. Regarding that video:
1. It seems clear there was some sort of event/race/charity ride going on. That was an unusually massive number of cyclists.
2. That's a very narrow scenic byway. It doesn't exactly look like a major thoroughfare. Also, there's a significant upgrade which is why the cyclists are going slowly.

Overall, I'm not sure why the video is noteworthy.

My thoughts on being a concientious cyclist:
1. Regardless of what the law says, in a fight with a car the cyclist always loses. Ride accordingly. Stay the eff out of the way, make sure you know exactly what's behind you, obey traffic laws (stop at stop signs and red lights etc).
2. Cyclists should stay off of busy roads that lack shoulders as much as possible. Again, despite what the law says, common sense and common courtesy to drivers should prevail.
3. Sometimes that safest place to be as a cyclist is out in traffic. For example, when making a left turn. Be smart about this.
4. Cyclists should ride single file almost always. Rural, deserted roads or roads with wide shoulders are the exception as long as you know what's going on behind you.
5. Cyclists need to ride smoothly, not weaving, not flailing about. Inspire confidence in the drivers around you.
6. For God's sake, don't go into a Starbucks in a full sweaty kit and clipity-clop cleats.

For non-cyclists / drivers.
1. Accept that riding on the sidewalk is not an option for cyclists when they're averaging 22 mph. It's also illegal in most towns. I hear this ridiculous argument all the time from non-cyclists.
2. Accept that serious cycling is primarily group activity. Of course cycling groups should stay out of your way, but they do have the right to exist. There are many good reasons to ride in a group.
3. Five seconds of patience isn't going to kill you. As long as a cyclist isn't acting like a fool, chill out for a second.
4. Endangering cyclists' lives isn't funny. A small minority of drivers dehumanize cyclists and act like insane teenagers around them. I've had crap thrown at me, people swerve towards me intentially, people blow their horn right next to me when I'm in a full tuck at 45 MPH. It's not effing funny. Remember I'm someone's dad, that I have a mortgage to pay for and a job to go to. I will get your license plate, I will call the police.
5. Yes, we know we look like dorks. Cycling clothing has evolved over ~150 years for a very specific purpose. Try riding for four hours in 80 degree heat in jeans before laughing.
 
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Hiro11 said:
I'm an avid cyclist. I ride 200 miles + a week when I can here in Chicago. Regarding that video:
1. It seems clear there was some sort of event/race/charity ride going on. That was an unusually massive number of cyclists.
2. That's a very narrow scenic byway. It doesn't exactly look like a major thoroughfare. Also, there's a significant upgrade which is why the cyclists are going slowly.
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Er, care to specify which video? The most recent video isn't of a group ride, and I don't see a "threaded" view that will show which post you're responding to.
 
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