RE: Bicyclist Remarks

[ToMoyer@xxxxxxx]

It is a shame that the BMW Digest has become a sounding board for something
as stupid as bicyclist's Rights To The Road.  For those uninformed
individuals that think bicycles belong in bicycle lanes or off road take
note that in the entire United States bicycles are considered Motor
Vehicles (the motor being the bicyclist) and are required to follow the
same Rules of the Road and Vehicular Laws which motorists follow.  That
means riding on the right side of the road (as close to the side of the
road as safely possible), stopping at all Stop Signs and Traffic lights,
etc.  A bicyclist is subject to tickets for running a Stop Sign just as a
motorists is. But bicyclists are not allowed on limited access highways or
turnpikes by law.

A little history in how our rural roads, city streets and highways came to
be paved.  The AAA, American Automobile Association was founded by
bicyclist that were looking to improve upon the dirt and stone roads of the
day.  It is through their work that our road system has largely become
paved and many roads with shoulders.  The League of American Wheelmen was
the off shoot of the AAA which is still in existence today and deals with
the needs of bicyclist around the country.  At the time the AAA was taking
up the fight to improve roads, the main transportation was still horse and
buggy. (As a side note, during this period in history did you know that
professional bicyclist where the highest paid athletes in the world? And
did you know that New York's Madison Square Gardens was originally built as
a 6 Day Professional Bicyclists wooden Velodrome, one of the best in the
world?)

There are few major roads within the USA with bicycle lanes, and next to no
rural roads or secondly streets with bicycle lanes, but that is slowly
changing.  In most States, when they apply for Federal Highway Funds to
either build a new road or to upgrade an existing road, the law requires
that bicycle lanes be part of the road way, but this will take many years
until there are bicycle lanes everywhere.  It will not certainly come to be
in my life time.  While this is being done, routes that are favorites of
cyclists have signs that warn motorists to "Share the Road".  That doesn't
mean passing too closely, forcing the cyclist off the road, or even worse,
hitting them on purpose.  Motorists that do these acts are subject to harsh
fines, lose of license and in cases of accidents; fines, paying the medical
bills of the injured cyclist, paying for the cyclist's damaged bicycle and
even jail time.

Further, a group of evenly matched competitive cyclist riding in pace line
with the wind to their backs can travel up the road at speeds reaching 50
mph, can go down hills at speeds reaching 60 mph and all that on a machine
that weighs in at no more than 21 lbs and with tire contact patches the
size of your thumb nail.  Even a well trained solo bicyclist can travel at
30 mph.

And for one Digest Member to ask what if he/she took their golf cart onto a
rural road and held up traffic to less than 30 mph, that's saying something
really stupid.  First in the entire country a golf cart is not considered a
motor vehicle and therefore , secondly, it would be against the law to
drive a golf cart on any road other than a private road.

It only takes a few seconds to a minute or so to safely pass a single or
group of bicyclists when encountered on the road, a place they have the
right to be just as the motorist, and if you waiting for the safe moment to
pass these cyclists is going to make you late for your important date or
meeting, in most cases you were going to be late from the get go unless you
had planned on driving above the legal, posted speed limit.  Use your head
and think.

I apologize for taking up valuable Digest space for this reply, but since
there seems to be some very ignorant people out there, I had to but in my
2$ worth.

Happy Motoring to all that Share the Road,

tom
BMWCCA Member
League of American Wheelmen Member
former ASE Certified Tech
Shimano Certified Tech
ISCET Certified Electronics Engineer & Tech
'84 318i
'85 318i
'89 325ix
'91 318is
50th Anniversary Custom Built Schwinn Paramount/Shimano Dura Ace
'94 Graftek Carbon Fiber/Shimano Dura Ace
'93 Nishiki Laser TT Funny Bike/Shimano Dura Ace
'93 Schwinn Circuit/Shimano Dura Ace
'92 Schwinn Tempo/Shimano 600
'93 Schwinn Cimarron ATB/Shimano XT
3 circa '60's Schwinn String Ray "Crates"

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