I was thinking related thoughts earlier today, because there was an item in our local bike-and-ped list about a couple of women (bicycle advocates both, doing everything right) who got hit-and-run and ended up in the hospital with some pretty serious injuries... and someone was saying (in the comments section of the newspaper article, I think? context was unclear) that they shouldn't have been in the road...
...and I'm like, what? Aren't we always being told that we're supposed to be in the road, and that riding on a sidewalk is illegal, and that it's safer to take the lane than to ride off to one side?
...which brings me back once again to the conclusion that bikers can't do anything right in the eyes of some people, no matter what we do -- and therefore the best thing is to go with what feels safe (to you, for you and for anyone who might be affected by your actions) and ignore whatever the official rules might be -- because "I was following the law" doesn't help much if it lands you in the hospital or worse. :-/
(...and therefore I bloody well ride on the sidewalk if I don't feel safe in the road, but that's just one example. As a pedestrian, I also frequently cross streets in the middle instead of at the corner, because that greatly reduces the amount of stuff you have to pay attention to in order to determine when it's safe to cross. And I'll bike through a red light if that seems safer than waiting, which doesn't happen often but -- as you observe in footnote 2 -- does sometimes.)
And finally, people complaining about bikes not following rules piss me right off -- because who is most likely to get seriously hurt if a biker does something dangerous? Not car-drivers, that's for sure.
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ninetydegrees
mini-rant
on 2016-10-19 09:06 pm (UTC)...and I'm like, what? Aren't we always being told that we're supposed to be in the road, and that riding on a sidewalk is illegal, and that it's safer to take the lane than to ride off to one side?
...which brings me back once again to the conclusion that bikers can't do anything right in the eyes of some people, no matter what we do -- and therefore the best thing is to go with what feels safe (to you, for you and for anyone who might be affected by your actions) and ignore whatever the official rules might be -- because "I was following the law" doesn't help much if it lands you in the hospital or worse. :-/
(...and therefore I bloody well ride on the sidewalk if I don't feel safe in the road, but that's just one example. As a pedestrian, I also frequently cross streets in the middle instead of at the corner, because that greatly reduces the amount of stuff you have to pay attention to in order to determine when it's safe to cross. And I'll bike through a red light if that seems safer than waiting, which doesn't happen often but -- as you observe in footnote 2 -- does sometimes.)
And finally, people complaining about bikes not following rules piss me right off -- because who is most likely to get seriously hurt if a biker does something dangerous? Not car-drivers, that's for sure.