bicycles on the side of the road - Contractor Talk - Professional Construction and Remodeling Forum

**framerman** · 09-09-2007, 01:06 PM

this obviously is not my only pet peeve, but this came to light from a clip in the local paper saying Maine is now the 11th state or so that has passed this law. It says that we must slow down and move around people on bicycles...crossing the double yellow lines even, when safe...and give a 3' barrier (not that anyone can prove someone is actually 3' away)

now I have a pet peeve about bicycles and horses even being on the road in the first place. people walking is something different...unless there is 2 wide walking in the road. horses should not even be a consideration to take on the road, they spook too easy, I know all to well about this. Bicycles....I feel like opening the door as I go by. Get off the damn road. Here in Maine, there are hardly any roads whatsoever that has pavement on the roadside. They are in the damn traffic way.

We pay for the road in excise tax...or that's what it should be, but not quite working that way. Not bicycles, not horses, not people walking.....vehicles, plain and simple, pay for the roads. Go ride your bike and horse on a designated path, not the road.

JamesNLA · 09-09-2007, 02:40 PM

You're not EVEN alone on this. I personally will not let my family ride bikes on city streets. They have these things called parks, that is where they should be ridden (sp?). I don't even like walking (or them walking) on sidewalks. See, I have very little faith in the driving abilities of the general public. And I have no desire to put my familys life on the line with all the morons that drive. Just not worth it to me. When the kids were very small, I was looking at daycares/schools....one of them was situated where the play ground was just off the side walk. Chain link fence was the only thing seperating the kids from cars. If there was an accident, or someone hopped the curb there was no protection for the kids. No chance I was letting my kids go there. I however ALWAYS move over for bikes/people. Even in traffic, I always move over for motor cycles. I just don't want to be that poor sap that kills someone because some dumbass thought it was a good idea to mix people and cars

mdshunk · 09-09-2007, 03:16 PM

Horses and bikes were there way before cars.

Move to Amish country, and you'll have to get over it. Bicycles and buggies on every road to navigate around. Just calm down. It's not that big of a deal.

theworx · 09-09-2007, 03:24 PM

Yup, bikes in traffic are annoying... But I can live with it as long as they follow the rules of the road!!! Had 2 incidents last year with people on bikes!!! First one, a girl was riding on the sidewalk (at night), I stopped at a four way, looked both ways and went. Well she didn't stop at the intersection and drove right in front of me (I didn't even see her), knocked her off her bike (luckily she wasn't hurt). Second incident, a guy on a bike went right through a red light as I was going through the intersection. He ended up lying face down on the hood of my truck (his bike was trashed)!!!

If the people riding their bikes followed the traffic rules, sh*t like that wouldn't happen. The one thing that pisses me off is when they use crosswalks to cross the street!!! They push the button for the lights and stop traffic to ride across the street (in rush hour)!!! As far as I'm concerned they are driving a vehicle (and are not a pedestrian), go to the next intersection with traffic lights and follow the same rules we have to!!!

Rich Turley · 09-09-2007, 03:28 PM

Excise taxes maintain the roads, but they don't build them all. That money usualy comes from legislators, developers, tolls and levies.

This attitude that you have to be surrounded in 2 tons of steel to be entitled to use the road is one I don't understand. While running, I've had all kinds of things yelled at me, and once some chickensh$t threw a bottle. Like I never buy a gallon of gas. Can't get my mind around this back-minded selfish mentality.

Rich

K2 · 09-09-2007, 04:28 PM

I ride a bike and I pay taxes and i vote. I want part of the road... Sometimes i carry a 45 so be nice..

**Cole** · 09-09-2007, 04:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by K2eoj

I ride a bike and I pay taxes and i vote. I want part of the road... Sometimes i carry a 45 so be nice..

How do you haul your tools and materials?

Mike Finley · 09-09-2007, 04:38 PM

LOL, if you brought up this complaint in Colorado you'd get laughed out of town. Everybody ownes 6 mountain bikes and 8 street bikes (10 speed like things), bikes are everywhere and nobody even thinks twice about it being something even to talk about. It would be the same thing as complaining about white or red cars on the roads being wrong. Some roads out here have white lines between the shoulder and the driving lane designating that area as a bike lane and if you cross into it even for a second with a car you can and people do get a ticket for it.

Upset with bikes on the road, what's next upset about women being able to vote!

K2 · 09-09-2007, 04:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cole

How do you haul your tools and materials?

I have a little buggy behind my wife's bike.

Actually i would think in Maine as in many places bikes mean "tourist dollars". If they don't want them there send them here. We love tourists and their $bikes.

**framerman** · 09-09-2007, 04:44 PM

I really don't mind IF there is an actual shoulder for bicycles to actually ride on. If they are in the vehicle lane, and someone is going around a dangerous curve, with someone coming from the opposite direction, like a mack truck, and he's hugging the line a little bit, then there's an obvious problem.

If you are jogging, take off the freakin' headphones so in case of a horn needing to be honked, you won't get run over. Same with people on bicycles, and people driving, get off the phone.

The roads were there before, ya, but the horse and buggy don't pay for pavement. If they're on dirt, fine. Need to slow down anyway.

Are we supposed to be tickled pink when we come across about 100 bicycle guys all in a group (with bad spandex pants on mind you), a few in the road so no one can pass? They clog up traffic and cause a dangerous situation.

K2 · 09-09-2007, 04:59 PM

Quote:

Are we supposed to be tickled pink when we come across about 100 bicycle guys all in a group (with bad spandex pants on mind you), a few in the road so no one can pass? They clog up traffic and cause a dangerous situation.

I'm 4 blocks from an olympic training center. I get out of their way and cheer them on. USA all the way.

mdshunk · 09-09-2007, 05:00 PM

Framerman... are you a crybaby in general, or just about certain things?

Gordo · 09-09-2007, 05:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mdshunk

Framerman... are you a crybaby in general, or just about certain things?

I think the same about you sometimes MD.

Mike Finley · 09-09-2007, 05:08 PM

As far as I know unless the road is posted that bike traffic is not allowed, bikes have the exact same rights on the roads as a car does, someone on a bike has the right to ride it right down the middle of lane, riding on the side of the road is a curtesy and you have to pass one exactly the same way you do a car going slow in front of you. No difference what so ever.

I swear to God this is the first time I've ever heard anybody even bring something like this up, I didn't even know there were people in the US that believed there was a problem. Kind of like somebody complaining about a baby crying.

**framerman** · 09-09-2007, 05:09 PM

I'm opinionated, if you think that makes someone a crybaby, then I am a crybaby. Maybe you're not as opinionated as I am and maybe you think your **** smells better.

dougchips · 09-09-2007, 05:16 PM

Framerman just has a pet peeve, he doesn't like bikes on his roads. If I had my way all public roads would be closed when I needed to travel so nothing would get in my way. While I am at it, when I enter a place to eat I want everyone to leave.

Gordo · 09-09-2007, 05:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by framerman

Maybe you're not as opinionated as I am and maybe you think your **** smells better.

I believe its the latter.

mdshunk · 09-09-2007, 05:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by framerman

Maybe you're not as opinionated as I am and maybe you think your **** smells better.

No, I'm equally as opinionated, but wise enough to keep them to myself when they're just pet peeves. The thing about the **** smell was just a strawman tactic that other wise people also see right though. Good luck in politics.

dougchips · 09-09-2007, 05:31 PM

I had to use google...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_man A straw man argument is an informal fallacy based on misrepresentation of an opponent's position. To "set up a straw man" or "set up a straw man argument" is to create a position that is easy to refute, then attribute that position to the opponent. A straw man argument can be a successful rhetorical technique (that is, it may succeed in persuading people) but it is in fact a misleading fallacy, because the opponent's actual argument has not been refuted.

Its name is derived from the practice of using straw men in combat training. In such training, a scarecrow is made in the image of the enemy with the single intent of attacking it.[1] It is occasionally called a straw dog fallacy,[2] scarecrow argument, or wooden dummy argument.

Contents [hide]
1 Setup of a straw man
2 Examples
3 References
4 See also

[edit] Setup of a straw man
One can set up a straw man in the following ways:

Present a misrepresentation of the opponent's position, refute it, and pretend that the opponent's actual position has been refuted.
Quote an opponent's words out of context -- i.e., choose quotations that are not representative of the opponent's actual intentions (see contextomy).
Present someone who defends a position poorly as the defender, refute that person's arguments, and pretend that every upholder of that position, and thus the position itself, has been defeated.
Invent a fictitious persona with actions or beliefs that are criticized, and pretend that the person represents a group of whom the speaker is critical.
Oversimplify a person's argument into a simple analogy, which can then be attacked.
Some logic textbooks define the straw man fallacy only as a misrepresented argument. It is now common, however, to use the term to refer to all of these tactics. The straw-man technique is also used as a form of media manipulation.

However, carefully presenting and refuting a weakened form of an opponent's argument is not always itself a fallacy. Instead, it restricts the scope of the opponent's argument, either to where the argument is no longer relevant or as a step of a proof by exhaustion.

[edit] Examples
An example of a straw man fallacy:

Person A: I don't think children should run into the busy streets.
Person B: I think that it would be foolish to lock children up all day.
By insinuating that Person A's argument is far more draconian than it is, Person B has side-stepped the issue. Here the "straw man" that person B has set up is the premise that "The only way to stop children running into the busy streets is to keep them inside all day".

George Z · 09-09-2007, 05:41 PM

They are vehicles with the same rights.
If every cyclists in most downtowns had a car instead,
you would be going nowhere and be stuck in traffic.
They do take way less space you know...