"You're on the wrong side of the road!"

Riding in the street is scary because something someone else does can kill you. It can, and has happened quite a few times. I'm sure most people here know of someone who has been killed while road riding. Riding the trails, the likelihood of this happening is far lower. This won't prevent me from road riding, but I totally understand those who don't wish to do it.


-Mike

 

Exactly I want to be somewhat in control when I go riding.....when riding on the road your life is in the hands of the drivers and gives me the eebee jeebees. it doesnt help that we live in an area with some of the worst drivers that is known as socal

 

Hey, I'm afraid of all those too!

And I've encountered them all and survived.

I think many are taking proraptor's comment a little too seriously. It looked like a tongue-in-cheek joke to me.

 

I got flipped off by a girl who blew thru a stop sign at an intersection as I started to move from a stop. I gave her a nice acknowledgment with my car horn

 

:clap:

 

I'm not to sure about that Lee, have you ever seen red's truck? Tom's OK, told me he would only tap me with the bumper, LOL

 

The difference is you overcame your fear and ride, very well I might add. Just think what you would have missed if you allowed your fears get the best of you. Again I respect those who choose not to ride road for any reason.

 

As a surgical nurse with waaaay too much time in the Level 1 Trauma room, I have seen waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too many cyclists is a very bad way.
So, I make my kids ride on the sidewalk on the wrong side!! I tell them that it is better to have an incident with a pedestrian ("Nobody walks in LA"!) than a car.
Back when we were kids in the 60's & 70's it wasn't so bad- but today waaaay to many people are waaaaaaay to distracted with phones, and texting and everything else.
Now that I'm riding road, I try to ride the bike paths as much as possible, but when I am on the road I will ride the sidewalk as much as possible and I feel way safer. We all have too much to live for to be maimed, injured or killed by some STUPID A-hole texting and driving, as they plow into you from behind and you never saw it coming!!!!
I understand the first principles of the law for cyclists, but just because something is legal does not mean that it is right. I will argue with a cop trying to give me a ticket for riding on the sidewalk till the day I die of old age- not as a hood ornament!!

 

i couldnt agree more! tell em damnit!!!

 

I love when a nurse I know tells me the same stuff about how dangerous riding on the road is and all............. only problem is she is morbidly obese and will be lucky to live to be the age I am right now.#-oPick your poison.......................

 

My son got hit by a car riding on a sidewalk. Car came out of a rear parking lot through one of those little alleys between buildings. Took out his fork and front wheel. He got a bruised leg from the bike falling from the impact.

When i ride with my kids, we ride with the traffic, but i ride as if im a traffic cone with exagerrated hand signals. When they bike commute, i tell them to ride on the sidewalk.

 

When riding on the wrong side of the street (and especially on the sidewalk) you are not giving the driver of any car turning right onto the street a chance to see you.
Think about it, when you make a right hand turn, how many times to you look right as opposed to left?
If you tell your kid to ride on the wrong side of the street or on the sidewalk, I'll feel sorry for the them if they get hurt, but the law clearly forbids this behavior in most jurisdictions for very good reasons.

Better to teach them two laws:

California Vehicle Code -- so they know they have equal rights with cars.
Physics -- so they know that cars always win.

 

A few thoughts:

1) Runners in the bike lane drive me freaking crazy. In most cases there's a sidewalk where they could run, but that bike lane is all we have to maintain some semblance of safety. Making cyclists go around you and into traffic because you'd rather run on asphalt, or whatever the reason is, strikes me as incredibly selfish.

2) I've been hit by a car while riding legally and defensively on the road, and I've also watched a kid on a bike go over the hood of the car I was in when he was riding on the sidewalk on the wrong side of the street. All things considered, I think it's way safer as a cyclist to follow the law. Granted, some drivers are distracted, but for the majority who are paying attention, I want to put myself where they should expect me to be.

3) I'm also not shy about using flashing lights on my bikes in anything less than full sunlight, and my bikes have bits of reflective tape all over them. The black reflective tape they sell at Performance is stealthy and works great.

 

run against and ride with. Runner moves slowly and should be more predictable, can see cars and evade by hopping the curb. When you ride against you are going to encounter more traffic as you close against and cars that turned right behind you are now more likely to pass you, and a bike that appears to be veering directly toward a car may inadvertantly cause problems, and unless you can bunny hop on command then the rider does not have the same quick out as the runner.