Cyclists and motorists on collision course
By Meghan Daum - Los Angeles Times
...
And though most drivers, mercifully, don't harbor as much animosity as Thompson, I suspect there may be more of him out there than we might like to think.
Why? For starters, many people don't know what rights cyclists do and do not have, which pretty much makes them assume they have none. I was in this category myself until I consulted the bicycle laws in the California Vehicle Code and learned that a cyclist has "all the rights and is subject to all the provisions applicable to the driver of a vehicle." In other words, you're not supposed to dart through red lights on a bike (shame on you, 80% of Lycra wearers in my neighborhood).
But guess what: It's perfectly legal to occupy the whole lane, not just hang on the side, if you're going the same speed as traffic. The speed limit on Mandeville Canyon is 30 mph (it's 25 mph on most residential L.A. streets), which, according to the injured cyclists' GPS data, was about the speed they were traveling when Thompson stopped in front of them. In other words, if you're getting impatient with a "slow" cyclist in front of you, it's probably because you're speeding. (It hurts me to say this as much as it does for you to hear it.)
So now that you know, are you going to stop swearing at cyclists? My guess is no. Because there's a larger bone of contention here, which is that cyclists make a lot of us feel like lazy slobs. Whereas drivers sit in an air-conditioned bubble, expending only the energy required to press the gas pedal, tap the brake and change from a '70s classic rock radio station to an '80s classic rock station, cyclists are out in the actual elements doing actual exercise. Whereas drivers are consuming calories by eating an entire bucket of KFC over 10 blocks, cyclists are burning calories and consuming nothing but seaweed at home. Whereas drivers' carbon footprints grow more beast-like by the hour, cyclists create no exhaust other than the sweet fatigue they feel as they drift off to saintly sleep at night.
Of course, moral superiority is insufferable, but you still shouldn't try to run it off the road or teach it a lesson with the family car. You might win on the street, but in court, it's a different story.