Fu*king Cyclists

[KQ]

KQ on your hypo:

1. What a disaster of an intersection. I wouldn't be surprised if somebody is killed there, or has been killed.
2. It should be a roundabout, as has been said.
3. I was just chatting with the sheriff lieutenant I work with and showed it to him. He said that, even without signage, the SB traffic on Sweagle Road should be yielding to crosstraffic and if he had been investigating a hypothetical accident in your scenario, he would've found the cyclists at fault.
4. We looked at it in Google Streetview and there actually is a yield sign for SB traffic turning WB. There should also be one for SB traffic heading EB at the bottom right corner of the island.

So, yes, you likely had the right of way and would not have been at fault in an accident. As a county dentist though, if that was my county, I'd be concerned about liability for the lack of signage. (Seriously.) A disaster waiting to happen.

Also, what JoeTron said. I recently picked up road biking after resisting for years for safety reasons. Of mountain biking, BC skiing, rock climbing, etc., road biking is easily​ the most dangerous thing I do. And I like to think I'm a courteous cyclist.

Interesting and thanks for the input. I don't drive Swegle, just not on my way anywhere so I guess I didn't notice the WB yield sign for traffic entering Stoval but I know there wasn't one EB because after I had to slam on the brakes and stop (good thing I didn't have a heavy load in my truck!) and the two women flipped me off and yelled at me I checked for a sign all the while scratching my head because, well, I was going straight and it didn't make sense that they crossed my lane in front of me without hesitation. I really should bring it up with the county.

I often wondered if later on they realized exactly what had happened or if they just went on believing that I was an asshole driver who tried to kill them.

[wyeaster]

i should clarify that most of my cyclist/driver interactions as either party occur in the nw hills/forest park area, which is full two and four wheel assholes.

[BmillsSkier]

-Root for GoPro and all makers of on-board cameras. When aggressive, reckless driving (or any type of activity) is captured on video, people who are guilty will be found guilty and will go to jail. This can become an effective deterrent. Some people won’t like it: tough.

You think he was rooting for go pro in the video from the original post?

[GoldMember]

we live in our own bubble in portland...I know that
but the needle does move occasionally in favor of protecting pedestrians and cyclists as the at-risk population

http://www.portlandmercury.com/news/...nd-pedestrians

Spokane's getting better, too with more bike-friendly streets, etc. but still, there are main car commute arterials that cyclists should avoid but don't. Some get all up in arms over the drivers on these streets which only further exacerbates the animosity between the two user groups with drivers then getting more upset at cyclists. And so the circle goes. I've gotten into plenty of debates with non-cycling drivers over similar issues, especially when some cyclist gets hit by a car and the drivers start railing about how bikes should be ridden on the sidewalk, shit like that. Stupid. But, it's a two way street (pardon the pun) when it comes to fault. The comment from someone (Buster?) about just trying to not be an asshole goes both ways. If both camps made some effort to quit being dickheads on the road, pay attention to what they're doing, and give each other the courtesy of a buffer, things would go much better. In the meantime, we need to continue to work on getting access established in such a way that both kinds of vehicles can coexist.

[ex-powderbroker]

i'm not condoning the lady's actions above, and I will give you that cyclists have serious assholes in their midst, but, for those of you who haven't spent 1000's of miles on a bike in a year, maybe you should try it...cyclists have their lives threatened in many ways on the regular and in the most seemingly minor ways to drivers

if you ride regularly, odds are that you will be in an accident that is not your fault, and, for those of you who ride in NYC, those odds are exceptionally high

3 times this lifetime so far. I'm done with bikes.

[hutash]

I've ridden thousands of road miles, road in peltons big and small, and I can assure you there are plenty of idiot cyclists, but they pale in comparison to the number of driver who are really, really massive assholes. I don't agree with what the woman did, but I am not surprised considering the number of times I have been buzzed and honked at by drivers just for the fun of trying to scare the shit out of cyclists. It has happened to me countless times, I am sure aware and don't hog lanes, I do ride inches for the dirt, and do everything I can not to impede traffic, and the fuckers still do it.

I am a bike Nazi when it comes to policing a group ride and will give people shit for blowing stops signs if there is traffic and that sort of thing, but I do get really tired of the elite attitude motorist have, and it far exceeds the elite attitude of even the douchyest cyclist.

[The SnowShow]

This is why I ride dirt

[BmillsSkier]

it far exceeds the elite attitude of even the douchyest cyclist.

Impossible. There's some real asshole drivers out there, we all see them whether we're on bikes or in cars. But the douchiest cyclist will always be a bigger douche than a motorist because he carries with him an air of smugness that comes with riding a zero emissions form of transportation, and not some death machine that is fueled by global wars and oppression and built on the backs of a non-privileged class, the sales of which are propped up by a corrupt and unfair banking system designed for and by the 1%.

You can't out-douche that guy.

Unless his like minded buddy has a t shirt of Che riding a fixie. Then that guy has been out-douched.

[bushman]

Just roll coal. they like that.

[ex-powderbroker]

Impossible. There's some real asshole drivers out there, we all see them whether we're on bikes or in cars. But the douchiest cyclist will always be a bigger douche than a motorist because he carries with him an air of smugness that comes with riding a zero emissions form of transportation, and not some death machine that is fueled by global wars and oppression and built on the backs of a non-privileged class, the sales of which are propped up by a corrupt and unfair banking system designed for and by the 1%.

You can't out-douche that guy.

Unless his like minded buddy has a t shirt of Che riding a fixie. Then that guy has been out-douched.

Who cares, deaths by cyclists is a pink unicorn. Cars kill and people have no respect for anything when they get behind the wheel. And I'm coming at this as a driver right now, not a cyclist. I can't believe how aggressive stupid fucks are with a couple thousand pounds and a piece of glass between them and the rest of the world.

Ok... Maybe channeling my inner cyclist here.

[digitaldeath]

Do we have a list going of users that are shitbag cyclists? I want names

[irul&ublo]

This thread requires....

[joetron]

Impossible. There's some real asshole drivers out there, we all see them whether we're on bikes or in cars. But the douchiest cyclist will always be a bigger douche than a motorist because he carries with him an air of smugness that comes with riding a zero emissions form of transportation, and not some death machine that is fueled by global wars and oppression and built on the backs of a non-privileged class, the sales of which are propped up by a corrupt and unfair banking system designed for and by the 1%.

You can't out-douche that guy.

Unless his like minded buddy has a t shirt of Che riding a fixie. Then that guy has been out-douched.

All valid points. But what happens when those guys get buzzed off the road by an aggro smug douche in a Prius?

Hopefully some sort of smug douche wormhole tears the fabric of the space-time continuum wide open and swallows them both.

[::: :::]

Do we have a list going of users that are shitbag cyclists? I want names

I'm a shitbag cyclist
Come at me bro

[Deebased]

I've ridden thousands of road miles, road in peltons big and small, and I can assure you there are plenty of idiot cyclists, but they pale in comparison to the number of driver who are really, really massive assholes. I don't agree with what the woman did, but I am not surprised considering the number of times I have been buzzed and honked at by drivers just for the fun of trying to scare the shit out of cyclists. It has happened to me countless times, I am sure aware and don't hog lanes, I do ride inches for the dirt, and do everything I can not to impede traffic, and the fuckers still do it.

I am a bike Nazi when it comes to policing a group ride and will give people shit for blowing stops signs if there is traffic and that sort of thing, but I do get really tired of the elite attitude motorist have, and it far exceeds the elite attitude of even the douchyest cyclist.

Why should cyclists ever be able to ignore the rules of the road?

[snoqpass]

Why should cyclists ever be able to ignore the rules of the road?

Around here they are required to obey the same laws as motorists when on the road but that seems to confuse them

[iceman]

it's notable that we don't have minimum speed limitss

Most states do have some version of this WA law that google found in 2 seconds which prohibits driving slowly enough to impede traffic. I don't see an exemption for bikes. http://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=46.61.425

[SB]

This is why I ride dirt

This,

i sometimes road ride to get to or from trails. I will go out of my way if i can to avoid traffic.

[joetron]

Whatever you do, don't read the comments.

A fine sample:
"Psycholists are just oh so special, rules are for others, never for them.

They’re righteous holy ones who are cutting down on carbon footprints, y’see?

They look oh so splendid in their ‘look at me!’ costumes, the sweep-back spaceman hats, the bug-eye goggles and those spandex body stockings; aren’t they just swell!

And as far as they’re concerned, citizens who are driving because they have to be someplace can just drop dead.

Psycholists have earned every bit of the rotten reputation they own.

Prediction: should Trump actually beat the vote-stealing and become president, this will stop.

The psycholists are being encouraged from on high to ‘get out there and get their faces’.

And drivers caught on to the psycholists’ penchant for setting them up, and many cars now carry dash-cams to record the antagonistic, reckless behavior of these leftist emotional problem children"
Apparently this was on the front page of the Druge Report

[::: :::]

Most states do have some version of this WA law that google found in 2 seconds which prohibits driving slowly enough to impede traffic. I don't see an exemption for bikes. http://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=46.61.425

The "exemption" is in the section on vulnerable users of a public way, also in most state statutes. That section will also talk about riding to the right and how/when to pass.

[edit] Well, apparently, only 9 states have vulnerable road user laws. But the stay right and passing bit is consistent across states

[BmillsSkier]

Whatever you do, don't read the comments.

A fine sample:
"Psycholists are just oh so special, rules are for others, never for them.

They’re righteous holy ones who are cutting down on carbon footprints, y’see?

They look oh so splendid in their ‘look at me!’ costumes, the sweep-back spaceman hats, the bug-eye goggles and those spandex body stockings; aren’t they just swell!

And as far as they’re concerned, citizens who are driving because they have to be someplace can just drop dead.

Psycholists have earned every bit of the rotten reputation they own.

Prediction: should Trump actually beat the vote-stealing and become president, this will stop.

The psycholists are being encouraged from on high to ‘get out there and get their faces’.

And drivers caught on to the psycholists’ penchant for setting them up, and many cars now carry dash-cams to record the antagonistic, reckless behavior of these leftist emotional problem children"
Apparently this was on the front page of the Druge Report

In many cases it's more fun to read the comments and skip the article itself.

[stfu&gbtw]

Cyclists are pricks. Was just driving over Squaw Pass the other day and a group of cyclists decided to stop on the side of the road where there's about 12' of shoulder. So it made a lot of sense when they decided to park their toys on the shoulder line and stand around in the traffic lane for their water break. I honk as I go by and they flip me off.

Whenever I see those "Share the Road" signs, I'd like to say "here, you toy riding, spandex clad turd.. have some road."

[old goat]

I drive and I ride a bike on the road. As a driver I see plenty of asshole drivers (and suspect plenty of them see me that way). I also see plenty of asshole cyclists--mainly riding multiple abreast. As a cyclist I have to say that at least around here the average driver is far more considerate of cyclists than cyclists are of drivers. The law in CA is cyclists are to ride as far to the right as possible--that means single file unless you are both in a bike lane. Don't like the law--get it changed. You assholes who deliberately block traffic are making up your own rules--the very definition of egotism and self absorption. More importantly, by proving to drivers that cyclists are jerks, you are making it more dangerous for me to ride my bike.

Around here the big problem is Donner Pass Rd between the lake and the summit. Increasingly crowded going uphill with people who think they are racing up the Alpe d'Huez, at 2 MPH, literally. No shoulder in parts, double yellow with blind turns for 3 miles. So if I wait behind a cyclist, or cyclists my 10 min drive becomes one and a half hours, without exaggeration. Tough situation--I wish they would put some big parabolic mirrors on the outsides of the corners the way they do on mountain roads in Europe, so you could see when it was safe to pass the cyclists. (Coming down the bikes are often faster than the cars--couple years ago one of them hit a crack in the road and died.)

The funny thing about the video that started this post is that she's not the kind of cyclist most of us are thinking about.

[54-46]

"All (fill in make) drivers are assholes. How do I know this? 3 times in the last week I saw them roll a stop sign. They all do it. They also drive slowly on narrow roads, ruin my drive and make me late. They shouldn't be on the road."

I hear this sort of rant about:

Cyclists
The Elderly
Asians
Teenagers
Landscapers
Delivery trucks
Disabled

Lots of rage and projection going on. Carry on...

[stfu&gbtw]

We should just stop creating special rules to protect people when they act like assholes and far fewer people would act like assholes. No more than one or two cyclists who decided to picnic in the road would get flattened before the cycling community would decide to picnic elsewhere.