Why Cycling will never be accepted by road users PERIOD

Jeytown

Good Morning or afternoon to anybody who reads this

this is more of a gathered opinion by people i have talked to

taxi drivers

bus drivers

physios

my wife ?

as a cyclist myself i am fairly curteous and safe i adopted an idea i saw from another cyclist i kittesd my bike out in what i could afford in lights and reflective vests

my question arises from teh idiots that possess a bike but choose not make themselves identifiable on teh road and then have the gaul to get upset when they almost get killed.

my statement is this

" when you cycle on the road is it the responsibility on the cyclists to provide his own safety gear or is the responsibility of the bike shop"

my answer to this is that it falls squarely at the bike shops feet

imagine buying a car and being told that for you to be safe it is your responsibily to go and buy the lights, doors and, seat belt ?


i might be wrong i just wanted to say that of all the bike shops ive been at they havent presented me with an option to get myself kitted out with safety gear.


the argument that i might not use the road all that often is spurious at best when do you not use any part of the road when getting to the park or the cycling track?

has any cycling website ever offered any deals to promote safety ?

look my intention is not anger or infuriate i simply am asking whenever cyclists myself included talk about safety we expect that cars will see us why is it not time we looked at ourselves and provided a working party on this issue.

that we could take to our bike shops and online stores and bike outlets

thanks

JEYTOWN

Ike90

I think you make a decent point, but it comes down to a matter of legality, doesn't it? In most countries, automobiles are required to be equipped with lights, safety belts, a horn, turn signals, etc.

Where I live, bicycles are required to have a white front reflector and a red rear one, and bike shops can't sell them without the reflectors installed.

Helmet laws vary where I live (Washington State) so it doesn't seem logical to require that bicycles be sold with helmets. Besides, Washington DOES have a motorcycle helmet law, but you can purchase a motorcycle without purchasing a helmet.

I think the real reason bicycles aren't take seriously, and that so many bicyclists don't wear proper safety equipment or obey traffic laws is this:

Particularly in the US, we've created a culture in which bicycles are kid's toys. We buy them for our kids as playthings. We don't teach them that bikes are serious forms of transportation. So they grow up scoffing at traffic laws, and eventually they buy their kids bicycles as playthings, and the wheel goes around.

When my two daughters learned to ride, the were taught to obey traffic laws, to use hand signals, and were required to wear helmets. When they became teenagers, they both quit riding their bicycles.

To them bicycles ARE a serious form of transportation ... a seriously geeky one. I don't know that I did any better than other parents, but at least my kids aren't out there flaunting the rules on their bicycles.

LeojVS

Jeytown, you make a very good point. I passed a cyclist the other night, at 1840. Here in Oz, its pretty damn dark at that time. It was pi$$ing down with rain, and foggy. I did not see him. I was right behind him. Only when a car passed us both, I saw him. He would have been 100m ahead. Idiot.
He should have had reflectors, flashers, a damn helmet, or something reflective.

In terms of safety, it should be up to the rider me thinks. If old mate gets mowed down because I did not see him in my car, in the above conditions, yes, I would be charged with Neg driving amongst othes, but I wouldnt be able to sue the bike shop for failng to make old mate wear his bright stuff. Its his choice. I have 2 bikes. When I got my roadie, no I was not asked to buy lights, they were given to me. Having spent near $2K there might have helped that, but some shops are responsible enough.

The way I see it, a bike shop is selling a mode of transport. Thats as far as they go. If the buyer wants to be safe, a package should be offered. If they have gear already, then fine.

end of the day, its the riders choice. The shop keep cannot hold your hand all the way.

Good topic!

__________________
Ambition is a poor excuse for not having enough sense to be lazy

Jeytown

soory about my late reply


thanks for your thoughts guys

its strange you know when you get a bike and start riding around town you start to see and look out for more cyclists on the road you start to become aware of all the cyclists who arent taking the safety part seriously.

while i advocate the use of cycling as a serious form of transprot i also feel that its an issue that gets looked over when people argue that cars are against us

perhaps there should be more involovemnet with bicycle groups to push for safety items as an package at LBS and even at cycling meets.

my thoughts

thanks for your thoughts guys

bigpedaler

it is NOT the reponsibility of the shop to keep you safe! the shop SHOULD do the repsonsible thing and recommend safety gear, but it is on YOU -- the adult rider -- to use COMMON SENSE and make sure you're visible. any and all rights that you have -- including the right to the road (which IS limited) -- depend on your practice of the responsibilities that go hand-in-hand with those rights. it's that simple.

now, i know -- stupid riders reflect badly on us all, and some people are so shallow that they think you're destitute if you ride -- but hey -- drivers are just as bad, or worse! beyond the obvious, follow the law of the road when on it, remember these three:

1. make sure you're visible, both by lights and conduct while riding;
2. assume you're not, because most drivers don't look more than 10 feet beyond thier hood;
3. never forget that your life is in your hands when you're out there.

__________________
"you may only be one person in the world -- but you may just be THE WORLD to one person."

jbrownfield

If common sense were so common then everyone would have it.

Some people think its the responsibility of others to see them even in the dark with dark clothing. Survival of the fittest i say,lol

steve_18798

I would believe its up to your own decision. If you want to get creamed be my guess. If you want to live get a good reflective vest or good lighting on your bike. I ride with 2 rear lights always on flash and 2 five L.E.D headlights, one on flash and the other on steady beam so i can see to. My headlights are good to see brightly up to 500 feet and so are the taillights. Im pretty lite up on my bike and safe.

RedHotIron

Most people do not get their bikes at an LBS, & have not been educated to ride. I will say as a utility cyclist (but an informed one) that we among the worst offenders.

But there has to be some outreach to urban folks, often immigrants, who are not riding in proper form.

Wearing lights & reflectors at night might seem common sense, but many riders probably just assume that drivers will see them in their lights.

bigpedaler

i agree w/ point 2 here, for sure...it's sad what people will do. people in my town WALK in the middle of the street wearing black clothes (because they're COOL, they're BAD), and will cuss out a driver that has to swerve to miss & honks at them!

common sense USED TO BE...started to disappear about the time the gov't became super-nanny, big brother, and all the rest rolled into one ugly entity.

__________________
"you may only be one person in the world -- but you may just be THE WORLD to one person."

RedHotIron

Sorry, not the govt., the Corporate State (big business & govt combined, like the Bush Oil cabinet,, or McDonnel Douglas & Halliburton in Iraq. War is great business! Altho neither has to do with people walking in black clothes at night in the street, sorry.

Elkhound

The law of all 50 US states, the District of Columbia, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico all state that a bicycle has as much right to be on the road (except where specifically forbidden on limited access highways and the like) as a car or truck.

However, these same laws also state that cyclists have the same duties and responsibilities as motorists. We are supposed to obey the Rules of the Road.

I see so many cyclists riding against traffic, on sidewalks, at night without lights, the wrong way on one-way streets, etc.; I'm a responsible cyclist who obeys all the rules, and I know that--although most drivers here are fairly civilized with respect to cyclists--that the idiots I see must sorely provoke drivers.

Not so long ago I was riding along the bike path by the river at about 9:00 pm; I crossed the bridge over the Elk River and was going into the underpass beneath the Interstate when this man on a bike with no lights, no reflectors, wearing dark clothing came flying out of the shadows. Fortunately, I had my headlamp on so I avoided a crash, but it was a near thing. And he wasn't some kid or teenager; he was a fully adult man who should have known better.

janiejones

I was riding to work the other day, foggy wintery morning in my black knicks with matching leg armers and dark green jacket, I matched the trees in the background, also I was on my white bike with black components, perfectly matched to the road - then I nearly got run over by some guy in his 4wd - and he reckons he didn't see me -

This is actually a true story and it did make me think about what I wear on my bike.

Elkhound

I am very sorry to say that in this instance you were like the boy in the CS Lewis story called Eustance Clarence Scrubb. (If you don't know what I mean, read the first paragraph of Voyage of the Dawn Treader.)

NickInNC

Whats soo funny about this is that every bike shop I go into they are so very interested in making me pay out of the butt for everything, even junk I really don't need or want they try to force fit on me.

I come from a retail background in both fine Men's Clothing and Mid-end home furninshings, and well from my experience I have learned the more you expose to the guest in your store in product and variety the more they buy. So why then do bike store owners/employees not show off and "sell" actual usable goods. They are missing out on a huge part of business.

But at the end of the day the cyclist is responsible for making himself visable and as safe as they can from 2-ton fossil burner beasts of death and destructio.