A typical semi-truck weighs 80,000 lbs and at 55 mph takes 300 feet to stop. (Put that in your water bottle Mr. Freeway cyclist, and stir carefully).
Bike riders obey some traffic laws between towns. Inside towns it's a free-for-all: cyclists ride everywhere in sight including oncoming lanes. At night they appear suddenly, often without lights and will swerve in and out of traffic--over curbs and off sidewalks-- at any time.
This semi driver's view of bicycling came from a professor at College of the Redwoods who teaches a course in professional truck driving. He is a life long bike rider. This guy LOVES bikes. Nevertheless, he said cyclists are a real problem for truckers.
We cyclists have our horror stories about abusive drivers. Alas, there's another side to that coin. If we expect to coexist harmoniously with cars we've got to do something about cyclists who ride like a two year old with temper tantrums.
Apparently, those "tantrums" don't go unnoticed. The Arcata Chief of police observed that he couldn't get through a conversation in his office without noticing half a dozen bikes blithely flying through the stop sign outside the police station.
I see lots of this kind of riding here in Sonoma County too – it's actually kind of shocking that there aren't more cyclists being hit! Also amazing: how often I'm harassed even though I AM following traffic rules, by drivers yelling at me to "get on the sidewalk" or "out of my lane." Clearly, better education is needed on all sides. Share the roads goes both ways!
ReplyDeletetinarama,
ReplyDeleteThere's an interesting exchange on this subject over at Ecovelo:
http://www.ecovelo.info/2008/12/17/nypd-bike-bully-indicted/#comments
Yes, we have to deal with arrogant drivers who think they own the road. I'm arguing for consistency. We can't complain about drivers while tolerating the time bombs on bikes.
Sonoma has certainly seen it's share of bike tragedies. It's such a beautiful place to ride too. But where is the network of biking trails that are simply part of life in Holland and Scandinavia?