Why do people ride bikes on busy streets?

Sawyer

...so I have to swerve in to oncoming traffic to avoid them......this cycling epidemic needs to end. Ride a stationary bike like a normal human Lance.

curly

i dont mind the biker's so much...
its when there are newly paved sidewalks that they won't ride on that urks me...

i'm with you...im swerving into a student driver whom is swervin into a 90 yr old lady...

its a problemo....but..with american as overweight at we are.....

i gotta hand it to anyone whom want to ride their bike.... i'll swerve for ya anytime...

SatansFuton

Well, technically you guys are at fault for swerving into oncoming traffic. You're just supposed to stay behind them (as painfully slow as that is) then pass them if you have the opportunity. You're not supposed to keep the pedal down and swerve into oncoming traffic.

It can be very annoying, but they have a right to the streets also. I sometimes wonder about the routes the bicyclists choose, and I really get annoyed when they take up the whole lane and won't even scoot over to the shoulder so people can get past them, but usually if you give them a blast of the horn they'll move over. Probably shoot you a dirty look too, but hey it's just common courtesy to let traffic pass you I would think.

I'm a Truck

I could be mistaken but I believe in my state the law requires anyone over the age of 12 to ride on the street not the sidewalk. If fact I DO remember a friend of mine getting a ticket for riding on the sidewalk when I lived in Eau Claire WI!

green mountain man

The cities with well thought out transportation systems usually have designated bike lanes.
I would rather see in increase in people using bikes. This helps decrease traffic, noise, obesity and pollution.
In Montreal they have bike rental stations. You can rent a bike in one area and drop it off in another.
Amsterdam has more bikes than cars.

AzWicker

Bikes are not allowed on sidewalks whether they are newly paved or not.

AzWicker

On another thought, it really pisses me off when I am walking across the street and some asshole in a car wants me to hurry up. Fucker, you are in a car, if I am walking, I will take my damn time!

iamica

I just hate it when I'm walking on the sidewalk and a bike whizzes past me, not even warning me that it's coming. I've almost gotten hit by them, more than once. Get on the street! :x

dcfaithful

I don't mind cyclers, but sometimes I am scratching my head and wondering why they aren't using the perfect sidewalk that is 2 feet to their right.

dcfaithful

iamica wrote:

I just hate it when I'm walking on the sidewalk and a bike whizzes past me, not even warning me that it's coming. I've almost gotten hit by them, more than once. Get on the street! :x

Yeah, a warning like "on your right" would be nice.

dcfaithful

AzWicker wrote:

Bikes are not allowed on sidewalks whether they are newly paved or not.

I do not see the sense in this.

dcfaithful

green mountain man wrote:

The cities with well thought out transportation systems usually have designated bike lanes.
I would rather see in increase in people using bikes. This helps decrease traffic, noise, obesity and pollution.
In Montreal they have bike rental stations. You can rent a bike in one area and drop it off in another.
Amsterdam has more bikes than cars.

Not to go post crazy in this thread, but I really agree with what you've said.

SLC has some streets that have bike lanes and it works perfectly, other streets do not. I am happy to see that SLC is such a bike-friendly city. The bike rental idea is really cool.

Stardog3..

dcfaithful wrote:

AzWicker wrote:

Bikes are not allowed on sidewalks whether they are newly paved or not.

I do not see the sense in this.

I don't either. I usually (respectfully and cautiously) ride in the street (a lot of ours have bike lanes) and do not understand why we can't ride on the sidewalks. I saw a guy riding down the side of the FREEWAY Friday and he hadn't been stopped....which is nuts on both sides.

dcfaithful

Stardog3.. wrote:

dcfaithful wrote:

AzWicker wrote:

Bikes are not allowed on sidewalks whether they are newly paved or not.

I do not see the sense in this.

I don't either. I usually (respectfully and cautiously) ride in the street (a lot of ours have bike lanes) and do not understand why we can't ride on the sidewalks. I saw a guy riding down the side of the FREEWAY Friday and he hadn't been stopped....which is nuts on both sides.

I would never have the balls to ride my bike on the freeway. :shock:

If I got stopped by a cop for riding my bike on the sidewalk, I'm not going to lie, I would contest the hell out of that and request that he make sense of why I shouldn't ride on it. When I'm on the sidewalk and I'm coming up on a pedestrian (that isn't facing me), I holler and give a heads up that I'm coming.

Indifference71

iamica wrote:

I just hate it when I'm walking on the sidewalk and a bike whizzes past me, not even warning me that it's coming. I've almost gotten hit by them, more than once. Get on the street! :x

The thing that drives me nuts is that sometimes these people on bikes seem to follow the rules of the road (stopping at stop signs, street lights, etc..) and sometimes they do not. So I never know what they are going to do....drives me fucking nuts. So many people ride bikes in my neighborhood too....at least once a week I have a close call with a biker.

jackrabbit slim

if they use the road they should have a liscense plate just like me. what if they cause an accident? not a fan of bikers who act like they are a car.

tvismyfriend

dcfaithful wrote:

AzWicker wrote:

Bikes are not allowed on sidewalks whether they are newly paved or not.

I do not see the sense in this.

Because then they act like they own the sidewalk. I walk down a sidewalk that allows bikes on it and I'm constantly almost getting hit. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense seeing as how the sidewalk is wide enough for four people and I'm usually by myself.

DocHinchy

IMO I`d rather be walking and hit by a guy riding his bike, than me riding my bike and getting hit by a car.

Tenzing N.

As a former rider I can tell you that, for the most part, the cyclists are trying to avoid the busy streets at all costs. That being said, the cyclist takes a gamble of sorts by taking those busy roads and accepts whatever trouble, hassle they get into. For the most part again. ANd I will also tell you that to use a sidewalk would be a disaster. Speeds, cadence, pace, momentum are all lost on the sidewalk.