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Rules of the road, bike version

For those of you uncertain how to behave around bicycles:

  • Don’t pass coming up to a stop.  First, my brakes aren’t as good as yours.  I can’t stop as quickly.  When you pass me and stop, you’re taking away the margin I had given myself for coming to a stop.  Second, you don’t know which way I’m going.  I might be turning left, and now you’ve cut me off.  I might be turning right, and now I can’t see to turn right.  I might be going straight, and now you’ve forced me into cars.  Wait five seconds, would you?  Pass me when it’s safe.
  • Pass me when it’s safe.  I have no armor.  Your mirror hurts. I have to dodge road hazards that you can’t see and aren’t an issue for you, so I don’t travel in a straight line.  You don’t know what I’m going to do.  I sometimes can’t tell that you’re passing, due to the lack of rear view mirrors and the fact that you’re going way faster than me.  I might not know you’re there.
  • Corollary:  Give me room when you pass.  I can’t believe Arnie vetoed the three foot rule, but there you go.  What a fucking idiot, as events proved.

 

[NB:  To be updated as I think shit up.]