"Rules of the road" or "Go where you will"
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indeterminate
Posts: 63 Member
Having done a bit of cycling commuting over the last few months, I have recently spent much more time cycling through town centres, as opposed to out in the countryside for my longer weekend rides. This has brought me in to contact with many more 'utility' riders than previously, and I have been rather surprised by some of the habits I've seen. In towns (at least around me (UK)), I see that large numbers of town cyclists ignore red lights or, for those that dont feel comfortable being quite so blatant, mounting the pavement and continuing along amidst pedestrians.
There appears to be a misapprehension that when you are riding a bike, you are just a slightly faster pedestrian and you are not subject to any traffic laws at all.
Where do you fit on the scale? Do you follow the rules of the road, as if you were in a motor vehicle, or do you take advantage of your freedom to roam and take the shortest and quickest route wherever that may take you?
There appears to be a misapprehension that when you are riding a bike, you are just a slightly faster pedestrian and you are not subject to any traffic laws at all.
Where do you fit on the scale? Do you follow the rules of the road, as if you were in a motor vehicle, or do you take advantage of your freedom to roam and take the shortest and quickest route wherever that may take you?
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I'm pretty strict with myself about rules of the road. I believe there is some measure of safety in being predictable and doing what cars would expect. Also, openly and blatantly flouting traffic laws just reinforces the normally already-bad opinion most motorists have of cyclists.0
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I follow the rules of the road. The only time is at stop signs. In talking with local police, I asked about stopping at a four way when there is no other traffic. The police told me that as long as I am going slow enough to stop if I had to, then I didn't need to come to a complete stop. So, I slow down and roll through them. Otherwise, I act like a car, stay off the sidewalk and away from pedestrians.
There is one place I act like a pedestrian and that is trying to turn left on a multi-lane road. I will get off my bike and walk the intersection like a pedestrian and then get back on my bike and ride.0 -
I'm a bit in the it depends camp, and the main driver for me is the level of personal hazard. At the point where it becomes more dangerous for me, and others, to behave like a car, then it's a question of finding an alternative.
As I ride in London I can think of a small handful of places where I'll do something different. So examples would be in a situation where my options aould be 50 yards of pavement compared to crossing a very busy, fast, dual carriageway, riding 500 yards, then crossing again.
That said, even in London it's generally reasonable to behave as a vehicle, the highest risk stuff is fairly limited.0 -
I am in it depends camp. As I generally follow the rules of the road as a car would until it becomes dangerous. Sidewalks are another story as I live in a rather bike unfriendly area.
My exceptions: left turns on multi-lane, high use roads (especially where the speed limit is 45 mph or above), stop signs in residential neighborhoods (do you completely stop in a car when there is no cross traffic?), and late night/early morning red lights. I generally have to walk over to the sidewalk to hit the pedestrian signal because there's no car traffic and me and my bike won't trigger the light change. On rare occasion (once again usually late night), I just go. I'll also admit to riding the sidewalk (against traffic) rather than having to make several lefts on busy, no bike lane/no shoulder roads during peak traffic hours. We also have a rather annoying habit of our bike lanes going in and out, suddenly dumping me into traffic on a major road. In these cases I will just stay on the sidewalk.
In my town/small city however we have a few spots where we're required the share the sidewalk for safety reasons (its actually officially signed that way).
Being on the sidewalk wasn't a problem when I first started riding, but as I've become faster/more comfortable I realize I'm often more of a hazard to pedestrians than cars are to me.0 -
I live in a farm area. I design most of my routes with Right hand turns (in the US) so I don't have to cross with a left hand turn. Being in a farm area this is pretty much an easy task. The roads here are in a grid like pattern with stop signs at the intersections. I usually don't stop if there are no cars, or cars near. Riding in town is a different story however. I will stop at lights and stop signs etc.0
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indeterminate wrote: »
Where do you fit on the scale? Do you follow the rules of the road, as if you were in a motor vehicle, or do you take advantage of your freedom to roam and take the shortest and quickest route wherever that may take you?
Yes, I follow the rules of the road. The last thing I need is a moving violation on my bike!!!!
When I am not on singletrack, I ride paved roads, paved bike paths, and gravel roads. The laws are what they are, and a bicycle in my state must follow them.
I view any stop sign, or stop light as a chance to practice. After my legal stop, I can use the acceleration as practice to do an interval, a chance to practice a quick clip in start, as well as a chance to take a swig of water before taking off again, etc... .
If I don't feel like obeying the laws and practicing safe travels - I hop on the trainer in the basement. ;-)
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I'm 51, I've been riding (mostly pretty seriously in terms of mileage) on the road since I was 13-14. I'm still alive. There's a reason for that, and that's because I don't ride like a twatt...
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If I rode like everyone else here, I would always be on the sidewalk. Also, I would ride a Next "mountain" bike, and I would leave it in the lowest gear so I could spin like mad to go 2 mph.
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