Today I was biking back from from university when this woman pulled up right beside me and told me that unless I can go as fast as she can, I must get to the side of the road. Someone also flipped me their middle finger and swore incoherently at me while driving by very close and not giving me any room on a different day. Does anyone else bike and drivers treat them like this?
*edit*
I'll have to elaborate here. I was in the right tire track of the other vehicles passing on the road, and to my right was the gravel and the gutter. There's also cars parked over there. Sometimes people open their car doors without looking and hit cyclists.
So I avoid it, and go where the cars go. I used to go in the gravel and the gutter, and go out of my way to please people in their cars, but I realised how ridiculous it was. Everyone has the same entitlement to the road, and I shouldn't have to move to gravel every single time a car shows up. In fact, they should, because their clothes won't get dirty from having to go in the mud. So I don't. Cars do not have exclusive rights to the road, and whatever other people are using their cars to travel around can't be more important than what I am using my bike for.
Most people manage to obey the law. As a cyclist, I legally am a vehicle, no different from a car, van, truck, or SUV. I stop at every light and stop sign, and I use the road like any other vehicle. Cars need to give me a full lane, on the other side of the yellow line, when they pass me. I'm not going to pander to people in cars and slow my travel down just so they don't have to lose a few seconds of travel time, especially since they have such an enormous sense of entitlement and treat me in such a fashion.
*edit* speed limit 50kph, residential area.
*edit* I remember now that when she was telling me to the side of the road, I told her "I get to use the road as much as you do" and she said "no you don't." Just extra information.
*edit*
I have changed my position entirely. I remembered that the only reason I went into the right tire track was because I when it was winter, it was the only place without snow, the only passable place. I have severe ADD, and I essentially stayed in the right tire track out of habit, even though before I always stayed as far the the right as possible. When the woman did what I described, it greatly frightened me, and made me quite angry. I then vented onto the Escapist, and in reading some comments decided to check the rules of the road for cyclists. The rules state that slower traffic must stay to the right, and must give way to faster traffic when safe and practicable. I thought that meant I had to pull off the road every time a car showed up behind me, so I phoned the traffic department of the Calgary Police Department and they said it means that if the curb juts out, you are required to stop and wait for a break in traffic, rather than turning unexpectedly into the lane. He told me that there had been several near misses and some actual collisions as a result of this. And just from his voice inflexion, I realised the whole point of all this is to keep people safe and do what best for your fellow human being. Although my opinion changed abruptly when I realised the truth about the law, the concern the man clearly had for the safety of the people really gave me a good shake, and made me shocked and appalled at how much of a dick I had been. I considered that I was breaking the law and holding up traffic, and yet no one compromised my safety even though I was in the right tire track for several commutes.
I would just like people to also take from this the kind of influence your concern for others and fundamental goodness can have on them.
So my new message is Happy Easter, and spread the kittens.
*edit*
I'll have to elaborate here. I was in the right tire track of the other vehicles passing on the road, and to my right was the gravel and the gutter. There's also cars parked over there. Sometimes people open their car doors without looking and hit cyclists.
So I avoid it, and go where the cars go. I used to go in the gravel and the gutter, and go out of my way to please people in their cars, but I realised how ridiculous it was. Everyone has the same entitlement to the road, and I shouldn't have to move to gravel every single time a car shows up. In fact, they should, because their clothes won't get dirty from having to go in the mud. So I don't. Cars do not have exclusive rights to the road, and whatever other people are using their cars to travel around can't be more important than what I am using my bike for.
Most people manage to obey the law. As a cyclist, I legally am a vehicle, no different from a car, van, truck, or SUV. I stop at every light and stop sign, and I use the road like any other vehicle. Cars need to give me a full lane, on the other side of the yellow line, when they pass me. I'm not going to pander to people in cars and slow my travel down just so they don't have to lose a few seconds of travel time, especially since they have such an enormous sense of entitlement and treat me in such a fashion.
*edit* speed limit 50kph, residential area.
*edit* I remember now that when she was telling me to the side of the road, I told her "I get to use the road as much as you do" and she said "no you don't." Just extra information.
*edit*
I have changed my position entirely. I remembered that the only reason I went into the right tire track was because I when it was winter, it was the only place without snow, the only passable place. I have severe ADD, and I essentially stayed in the right tire track out of habit, even though before I always stayed as far the the right as possible. When the woman did what I described, it greatly frightened me, and made me quite angry. I then vented onto the Escapist, and in reading some comments decided to check the rules of the road for cyclists. The rules state that slower traffic must stay to the right, and must give way to faster traffic when safe and practicable. I thought that meant I had to pull off the road every time a car showed up behind me, so I phoned the traffic department of the Calgary Police Department and they said it means that if the curb juts out, you are required to stop and wait for a break in traffic, rather than turning unexpectedly into the lane. He told me that there had been several near misses and some actual collisions as a result of this. And just from his voice inflexion, I realised the whole point of all this is to keep people safe and do what best for your fellow human being. Although my opinion changed abruptly when I realised the truth about the law, the concern the man clearly had for the safety of the people really gave me a good shake, and made me shocked and appalled at how much of a dick I had been. I considered that I was breaking the law and holding up traffic, and yet no one compromised my safety even though I was in the right tire track for several commutes.
I would just like people to also take from this the kind of influence your concern for others and fundamental goodness can have on them.
So my new message is Happy Easter, and spread the kittens.
