Frazz by Jef Mallett for September 27, 2013

What I usually hear is, “Get on the sidewalk!”

The ignorant savages don’t even realize it is dangerous and illegal to ride on a sidewalk.

Correct me if I’m wrong but I was taught bicyclists have as much right to the road as car drivers. In fact as a grade school kid a neighbor drove up behind me on a narrow high crowned street and blew his horn. I swerved, almost falling. I unleashed a string of invective at him. He told my mother. She wanted me to go apologize to him. I said I would if he apologized first for almost causing a serious accident. End of story. Another a.. hole got his just deserts.

A bicycle is legally considered a vehicle, so they are indeed supposed to ride on the road.

The world is full of idiots – too easy to end up dead right.

In the UK there are problems on all sides. There are car drivers who crowd and bully cyclists whilst at the same time there are cyclists who ignore the rules of the road (do not stop at traffic lights, cut people up and ride down footpaths at full pelt whilst ignoring cycle paths). I think it is just some people overall are idiots as bagbalm stated.

There’s a point in this strip that’s going unnoticed. The driver attempted to insult those guys, but Frazz turned it into a compliment.

Once a guy told me to use the side walk while riding my bike. I told him that I’m not walking and I paid tax too.

unless you are a cyclist in nyc. nyc drivers think that cyclist are things to be run over like squirrels.

Every community should have SEPARATE bike paths. It’s unconscionable to have bikes and cars share a road and bikes should be encouraged! It is suicidal to ride so close to death!

In Salem the bike paths are merely the shoulder of the road, usually filled with broken glass and gravel swept off the road, without even curbs to separate them from the traffic. They also usually start in the middle of nowhere and go nowhere rather than leading to and from places where cyclists need to go. What Frazz is doing wrong is that they are riding side by side on the bike lane, so he’s actually intruding in the traffic lane, endangering himself and his friend. That said, the motorist is a complete jerk, and needs a jack handle across the bridge of his nose.

Bikes have rights, but too many riders have no brains or a death wish. Just got back from a 9100 mile trip out west with my 33’ motorhome towing a Jeep. Pacific coast highway. Hilly curvy roads with no shoulder or room outside the white line. Round a curve, bike in my lane barely moving on a steep uphill, no time to stop, I already take up the whole lane, car coming. No choice but to crowd the double yellow stripe hoping the oncoming car or truck gives me enough room to avoid hitting the bike or oncoming vehicle. White knuckle trip. I only saw one place where bikes were not allowed and I think that was a small tunnel. Saw one bike that was nothing but twisted metal, car with a smashed windshield and emergency flashers everywhere. Scary and sad. They were in the right but now dead. There are roads where bikes should not be allowed.

“Yer goin’ 30 feet up in the FARKing air!!” -G. Carlin

I spent half an hour watching an intersection near my university, and over 90% of the cars violated traffic rules. Same for bikes. City police report that over 50% of all traffic exceeds the speed limit (they didn’t report how they measured that). It’s curious that so many commenters see bikes a scofflaws, but give the drivers a pass on all their violations. Our state requires giving 5’ of space when passing a bike, and drivers ignore that almost universally.

It’s sad that so many people commenting on traffic issues take the position that because many cyclists are jerks, it is OK to insult, assault, and threaten any cyclist, and to deny cyclists their legal rights. Most drivers assume that they know the laws, but often they don’t. Riding two abreast in the traffic lane is legal in many places, and illegal in many others.

If we could get all the bad drivers and cyclists off the roads, traffic would be very tranquil. If we could get everyone to obey the laws, it would be a miracle. I don’t know the solution, but a little more respect in discussion and action on the roads would be a good start.

Anyone wanna bet Pastis is driving the car? ;)

California just passed that law…

One the cyclists need to keep in mind – in an argument with a car, the cyclist ALWAYS loses – no matter whether they were right or wrong. (and yes, I ride a bike and try to obey the laws – not popular as others have mentioned).

How many of the bikers riding on narrow, hilly roads think they are practicing for the Tour de France? My guess. Every single idiot.

Laws vary from state to state. Here, bicyclists are allowed to ride two abreast, cars must give three feet of clearance but are allowed to cross the double yellow line to pass WHEN IT IS CLEARLY SAFE TO DO SO. Most of the near misses are from multiple cars passing at once into oncoming traffic.

“Blowing through” a red light is illegal, but, because bikes don’t weigh enough to trigger light sensors, we are allowed to treat stop lights as if they were stop signs.

And bikepaths are a joke. We have maybe 5 miles worth in the entire county, and they are meant for commuters and kids, not for pelotons engaged in evening training rides at 20+ mph.

I always see bicyclists not following the rules of the road. I’ve seen them riding side by side on a road that doesn’t have a bike path or even a shoulder, and when vehicles were coming towards them, did the go single file? No! I do see a lot of cars making it unsafe for bicyclists. Vehicles pass a bicyclists who is one their side of the road expecting me who is on the other side of the road to move over when I can’t, luckily I watch out for bicyclists so I wait for the idiot to pass the bicyclist to the bicyclist doesn’t get knocked over into a ditch. I always make sure I can pass a bicyclist safely. I love it when a bicyclist wears reflective clothing and has lights on his or her bike. It makes it so much easier to spot him or her. It goes either way for drivers and cyclists. It does bother me though when a town had actually made the sidewalk into a joint sidewalk/bike path narrowing the road in a busy town so an emergency vehicle has a hard time getting through and the bicyclist in on the road! Sorry, had to vent.

I live in Tucson AZ. There’s a 25 mile road here that rises 6000 feet up to the top of Mt. Lemmon. Popular with cyclists (including ones who really are training for the Tour de France).

The problem is that lots of these guys travel two-abreast, one in the bike lane, one outside it, at 15 MPH going up the road, leading a train of cars who have no way of passing them on the winding road. If they are real vehicles, why do they ignore the signs that say “Slower traffic use turnouts”? These self-centered, self-righteous dips NEVER use turnouts — there are plenty of turnouts on the road.

Maybe bikes don’t pollute, but a dozen cars going 15 pollute a lot more than a dozen cars going 35. And whose fault is that?

When the mayor of the city (Vancouver, BC) chose to run a red light on his bicycle, who is going to follow the rules?

People here keep talking about bicycles blowing through red lights. What about the cars that do that? I’ve yet to see one get ticketed in any of the states I’ve lived in. Actually, that’s wrong. There was one that got ticketed, but only because they wrecked my car during the incident and I wouldn’t let them drive away (they wanted to). People are animals.

Is riding two abreast legal where Frazz lives? Because it isn’t in California. We also have a 3-foot law—motorists have to stay at least 3 feet away from a bike. So if two guys are riding two abreast and the street is narrow, it means the car has to drive in the oncoming lane.

Thank you! I do appreciate cyclists who obey the rules.

I know that most cyclists are your garden variety, spandex wearing, health/fitness/sport types. Then there are those of us who ride for transportation. I do not have a car, or even a license. I do not drive. I don’t always get to pick my route. I do not like climbing hills in traffic (I don’t like climbing hills at all, actually) but that’s life. I know how dangerous it is. I’ve been hit by a taxi driver that looked straight at me (made eye contact) before pulling out from a stop sign and broadsiding me. So I understand that I don’t register to a lot of drivers.

What am I getting at?

It is stupid to use the excuse of inconsiderate cyclists to argue that cyclists should not be on the road. Anywhere, bike lanes or no.

What’s worse is that he showed them riding ON the white line instead of inside of it. It’s there to mark the edge of the road, especially in case of fog. It’s not there for bicyclists to ride on! I wish more of them would learn that. They may not like the shoulder, but it’s safer than riding on the white line and taking a chance on getting hit by a car.

Bike rider almost ran me down today. He failed to stop at a stop sign. I was in a marked cross walk.

But…..I like to ride directly on the white line. It’s smoother, which makes for easier pedaling.

For all those who think that bicycles belong on the sidewalk: and just where are pedestrians and speed walkers supposed to go when bicycles take over the sidewalks?

I was hesitant to mention that, along with spandex, I also spurn helmets. I didn’t want you folks to think I was totally crazy. (I’m in the US.)

We pay for much of the gas used to cart us around, and our bikes don’t tear up roads.

So what’s the life expectancy of bikers in Europe?

I used to bicycle to school and ended up giving it up when I got hit by a car. I was on the crosswalk. There was a stop sign for the car. I was wearing a helmet. The helmet cracked from the impact when I hit the ground. Good thing I had one.

Doesn’t do any good, the skinny, spandex wearing bicyclists just ride on the white line next to the traffic anyway

Asshole.Probably gay, too.

Puma and Gaunt: do we need to change the name of the comments section to “The Puma and Gaunt Vitriol Discharge Show”? (Except that some one keeps flagging Gaunt, so we don’t know what Puma is responding to, which makes his hissy fits make even less sense.)