Bicyclists should be aware ... that they are engaged in a protest of mass civil disobedience for change


In the article I am reacting to Michael Dresser wonders why Baltimore cyclists run red lights that are not designed to detect them, at intersections that are not designed to comfortably accommodate both cyclists and motor vehicles. With the implied question why are cyclists more comfortable with traffic spaced out so it can easily pass a cyclist and not so comfortable in densely packed queued traffic where passing a cyclist is impossible?

Gee, of course this must be because bicyclists "act as if no laws apply to them" just as Raquel Nelson acted as if no laws applied to her when crossing a street in Georgia with no accommodations for her to cross. Let's blame and prosecute non-motorists for not fitting in designs just for motorists convenience. In Baltimore let's drastically cut the bike budget because people are driving less and let's take road safety funds and use that to help build a Grand Prix track . After all that Michael wants me to brow beat fellow cyclists?

With no organizers, with no central call to action, cyclists (as well as pedestrians) across the nation are engaged in mass civil disobedience protesting car centric designs, protesting having to stop for no cross traffic what so ever by lights that are purposely designed not to detect a cyclist even though options of better detectors and even simple adjustment have been around for the last 20 years or so.

We are not the ones acting as if no laws apply to us, it is the road engineers that treat public space as if we are still in the 1960s, thinking cars come first and those "other" things sometimes referred to as "people" come last if at all.

But Michael does have a point, we can learn to be comfortable in traffic as well as riding safer and thus be more readily to obey traffic laws. Are you going to get this education in school? No. How about that extensive driver training all new drivers must go through? No, not there either. Even if you go through traffic law enforcement training our police officers have to go through, you are still not going to get the proper education on what constitutes riding safe in traffic. Yet somehow the general population of bike riders is supposed to figure this out on their own, so let's blame that on the cyclists. :(

Now let's bring in a little bit of public education that is currently being discussed; the R4-11 (Bicyclists May Use Full Lane) sign. Can you imagine this going up around every light that cyclists are running? Let's encourage cyclists to become part of traffic and let's tell motorists that cyclists belong in the lane rather then trying to sneak along the outskirts of traffic. I think this might help but do you see any R4-11 signs around?

We need better accommodations and better education. If you see cyclists running lights where bike lanes are present or on roads with the R4-11 frequently displayed get back to me and I'll give them grief, till then then the ball is in the governments court to do something other then just accommodating cars and education just for driving cars. .
What I am reacting to: <a href="http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/traffic/2011/08/bicylists_should_be_aware_they.html">http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/traffic/2011/08/bicylists_should_be_aware_they.html</a>;

by B' Spokes

Like most people I live a hectic life and who has the time for much exercise? Thanks to xtracycle now I do. By using my bike for daily activities I can get things done and get an hour plus work out in 15 minutes extra of my time, not a bad deal and beats taking the extra time going to the gym. In case you are still having trouble being motivated; the National Center of Disease Control says that inactivity is the #2 killer in the United States just behind smoking. ( http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/bb_nutrition/ ) Get out there and start living life! I can carry home a full shopping cart of groceries, car pool two kids or just get lost in the great outdoors camping for a week. Well I got go, another outing this weekend.
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