08-23-2006, 05:51 AM
I agree to a great extent about the first part of your post. It is very hard to differentiate between a poseur, and an ironman trainee, between a weekend peddler and a marathon biker. The only ones that stand out are the bikes set up for daily commuting, and usually only another cyclist can spot those anyway.
But when it comes to riding on the sidewalk for example, it is the same law being broken if you are on a bike, or in a car. Yet if a cop sees a bike and a car on the sidewalk, they will go after the car. If a cop sees a bike and a car blow through a stop sign or a red light, they will go after the car. That is what sets car drivers off. That the laws aren't enforced unilaterally, and that far more cyclists consciously break traffic laws than car drivers. If you follow a cyclist, and a car driver, the cyclist will almost assuredly break more laws than the auto driver. And since they get away with it, it just perpetuates the problem.
mentalities about autos and cyclists co-mingling vary drastically from city to city, and state to state.
But when it comes to riding on the sidewalk for example, it is the same law being broken if you are on a bike, or in a car. Yet if a cop sees a bike and a car on the sidewalk, they will go after the car. If a cop sees a bike and a car blow through a stop sign or a red light, they will go after the car. That is what sets car drivers off. That the laws aren't enforced unilaterally, and that far more cyclists consciously break traffic laws than car drivers. If you follow a cyclist, and a car driver, the cyclist will almost assuredly break more laws than the auto driver. And since they get away with it, it just perpetuates the problem.
mentalities about autos and cyclists co-mingling vary drastically from city to city, and state to state.