Wild Bill, ordinarily I love your column, but today, we’re a long way from seeing eye to eye…

“I suppose cyclists deserve partial blame. No doubt some cyclists don’t follow the traffic rules, unnecessarily inconvenience motorists, and have a self-righteous attitude that shines through their Spandex.”

You suppose they deserve partial blame???  Oh come on now, those cyclists are every part the EQUAL componenet of the equation as the drivers you went to such lengths to describe.

I’m one of the angry drivers you describe…BUT ONLY when in the presence of a cyclist that uses the rules of the road only when it suits him or her, and vassilates between pedestrian mode and cyclist mode with each passing driveway or sidewalk that provide an easy route and demonstrates the unpredictability motorists so despise.

Ther’s plenty of blame to go around…bad drivers as well as cyclists give their respective groups a bad reputation.  Few in either group are behaving in ways that demonstrate prudent, let alone remarkable habits while operating on the roadway.

Regardless of whether you have your hands on a steering wheel or handlebars, PAY FRIGGIN ATTENTION TO WHAT YOU ARE DOING!!  Driving or cycling are NOT secondary to anything else.  And cyclists…pick a mode and stay there…its the unpredictable manner of your path and behavior that pisses off motorists.  Either be under rules of the road and stay on the road or follow pedestrian rules and stay on the sidewalk.  weaving in and out of both casts mud on your reputation. 

Oh, and as for “share the road”  well, some roads just don’t lend themselves well to sharing.  With every intention of sharing the road, its difficult for me to do so when as I come over a blind hill, I’m faced with either locking up all wheels to avoid killing you or getting intimate with the grill of an oncoming semi-truck, because you are cycling 40 miles an hour below the limit in my lane with an expectation that I’ll share the road.  Look at roads you want to share and see them from a motorists point of view.  No matter how badly the motorist wants to share, the physics and particulars of some roads put you at considerable (unacceptable in my opinion) risk through NO fault of the motorist.

Wild Bill, and Firebeam:

You both have brought up valid points. The key is for each group to watch out for, and be considerate of, the other. I will echo Firebeam’s concern with the frequent use of sidewalks. As a motorist coming to a 4-way stop, I should only expect cyclists in 4 locations…each driving lane of the road, moving with the traffic and stopping, as vehicles.  Instead, careless cyclists might be coming from 8 sidewalks, and ignoring stop signs. As a pedestrian who works downtown, use of sidewalks by cyclists is both pervasive and dangerous. Thankfully, I have not opened a door into one, or had one run into me. But there have been many close calls.  Sidewalks are no place for bikes, particularly in a downtown setting.  I have seen bikers weaving rapidly through pedestrians, crossing against lights, you name it. But it is not cyclists in general to be mad at. It is these careless individuals. Kudos to everyone who rides a bike; I don’t ride mine as often as I would like. But they belong in the street, or walked if you must be on the sidewalk.

I am sure this column is being written as a response to my comment about the attorney on his bicycle in the middle of Foys Lake Road.  If you think he was doing it for any other reason than to be a jerk you are wrong.  When i drove out of my street, across from Whalebone, I could see down the road where he was.  Three cars had already had to go into the on-coming traffic lanes.  I watched them.  When I came upon him in the middle of my lane (and not off to the side one bit..he was directly in the middle) I honked because i was coming upon that curve (blind).  He refused to move over and had plenty of room.  I continued to honk and he refused and slowed down.  By that time three other cars were behind me.  I continued to honk and waved him to the side, he ignored me and contiinued to slow down to the point he fell against my car!  He knew the cops (I had to follow him around that curve) and they wouldn’t listen to me.  They ticketed me!!! Thats reality folks. He knew the judge and everyone.  That one cost me $125 which was a lesson for me.  So don’t tell me anything about bikers, when they start being decent so will I.  I was not mad until he acted like a complete jerk!!!

Wow,  I owe a big thank you to all the motorist on Whitefish Stage north of West Reserve.  I rode my bike 2-3 days a week to work this past summer and did not have one motorist honk at me or even get close to me.  Sometimes I felt they were be too considerate as they would almost come to a stop until there was no oncoming traffic in order to pull out and go around me.  I guess if you’re on old fat guy riding with your work cloths on, you don’t create the rage that a spandex wearing Lance Armstrong want to be does!!!