Cycling, as I've experienced is often a very happy hobby. It has taken me many places, exposed me to great new things, and allowed me to make friends with very friendly people from all over. I can't imagine my life without a bicycle. However, sometimes there is tragedy involved with cycling. Cyclists are often involved in alterations with the law, motorists and others. It seems that there is generally a bias against cyclists.
Velonews has a recurring column by Bob Mionske entitled Legally Speaking - with Bob Mionske, in which readers submit their questions about the rules of the road pertaining to bicycles. In his latest article A Fatal Bias?, Bob touches upon some extremely distressing examples of injustice and bias against cyclists. Unfortunately many of the examples refer to a cyclist that was killed by a motorist.
Despite its depressing nature, I think it is a worthwhile read. Remember, even if you don't ride a bike, a friend likely does, or a friend of a friend. The next time time you encounter a cyclist while driving, be careful, it might just be that friend. With the growing popularity of this sport, reports such as those in A Fatal Bias? are becoming all too common.
Share the Road
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2 comments:
Nice post, but what about those groups of cyclists who go three or four abreast and block the road? I seem to run into those (no, not literally) more often than in years past. This issue seems to be a two-way street (pun intended), but I do agree that people should give smaller groups of cyclists more room.
Ahh, the other edge of the sword. I can't say that I disagree with you Pat, any groups riding 3 or 4 abreast should condense to single file or 2 abreast. The laws concerning this vary by state and sometimes city. Since moving to the greater New Haven area I've been on a few group rides where a few riders failed to condense, I've become more and more annoyed by it too. In the area around my home town we always dropped to single file when traffic approached. As I stated, share the road.
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