I live in an area similar to what the OP described. The group rides I can deal with-usually there are cops at intersections, and the bikers are relatively courteous. I just go very slowly and watch for idiots. It's the single riders that bother me. They ride in near or total darkness, don't use lights, wear dark clothing, etc. It's a miracle I haven't hit several by now. Strangely enough, one of the biggest name ambulance chasing attorneys in the area was hit while riding a bike and nearly killed, I believe he's had 11 surgeries to get sorta fixed up. After having a stroke, I realized my riding skills were not up to the roads, so I bought a Peloton. I no longer use the computer aspect of it, but ride it in my house on carpeting. The couple of times I fell off, the carpet was much kinder than asphalt would have been. I've ridden on the street a couple of times since then, but for the most part stay off the roads.

I'm amazed that many on bikes forget simple physics. A car is bigger. A bike will lose the contest every time. Right of way is not armor. The yahoos blasting down hills at 40 and ignoring stop signs are asking for trouble. I get going fast is fun. Flying is fun too. It's the landing that hurts. Being on a bike doesn't exempt one from traffic laws. That four way stop means you too, jackass. There's no "unless you're on a bike" exemption. And the fuckers riding on crowded sidewalks in the city. Asking for it.

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Originally posted by nhracecraft:

Regardless, you can definitely get a ticket for DUI/DWI on a bicycle. Just sayin'...

I can't speak for all states, but in Alaska this is not true, as our DUI laws specifically mention motorized vehicles, which typically excludes bicycles. Unless they have those little electric motors on them.

Louisiana///Ride as far on right side as practical unless a suitable pathway was provided...Considered a vehicle and subject to the same laws as a motor vehicle..(any means of conveince as far as DWI/etc)..... Once stopped by officer for riding in roadway beside a sidewalk and told him give me the ticket and after the judge saw my photos of the broken concrete surface he would laugh him out of the courtroom for a unwarranted ticket............ Once stopped for speeding in residental neighborhood (38 in a 25)reason a unleashed / not fenced large German Sheppard dog was trying to eat me for a afternoon snack...Advised officer to go to dog owners and issue a ticket for loose dog.. when he refused to issue the ticket I Used a nick name for the Shift Sgt. that only the officers knew who advised the officer to let me go because I would drag the officer thru the courtroom because I was a former officer of this dept. ....................
Once Blindsided from behind with a pool cue stick while riding on right side of road from a vehicle approaching from behind...Got the plate information and called the PD with vehicle ID which was located and 2 teenagers admitted the incident and were arrested ... A teenaged prank that backfired.. This story actual made a local newspaper column who stated do not get mad and retaliate just get even by using the legal system........................... Be safe out there on both sides............................... drill sgt.

I used to do a fair amount of cycling in the Toledo/Bowling Green area. Out riding one day, I ran into a pack in an organized ride. (60-80 riders). As I weaved through them clogging the entire road, some of them asked me where my helmet was. First one got a "don't you worry about it", either the second or third one got flipped off. They were annoying.

I ride about a thousand miles a year. Very rarely will I load the bike up to go ride somewhere. Mount up, leave from my house stay mostly to residential streets but occasionally I have no choice to go on arterials. If it is a long ride (20 miles or more), I will make my way the 6 miles or so to the rail grade bike trail where the majority of the miles will be ridden.

If there is a bike lane, I’ll use it. Unfortunately they are few and far between in my area.
If no bike lane, but there is a shoulder, I’ll use it.
If no bike lane or shoulder, but a sidewalk, I’ll use it.

No other option, I am in the lane but stay as far to the right as I safely can. If I am backing up traffic that doesn’t have frequent opportunity to safely pass, I’ll pull off to a driveway or business to let them get by.

In WA, bicycles are allowed to treat “Stop” signs as a “Yield” sign and are only required to stop if another vehicle is at/near the intersection.


Like it or not, bikes are entitled to the road just as much as a car. Some riders are courteous, others not so much. A little patience and understanding goes a long way.

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Like it or not, bikes are entitled to the road just as much as a car. Some riders are courteous, others not so much. A little patience and understanding goes a long way.

You sound like a decent guy and a courteous rider, however, like I said in the beginning you are getting lumped in with those that are not and there are many. I don't keep score but I cannot remember ever seeing a Spandex Lance type rider on a sidewalk-anywhere-anytime. I disagree with your statement, "bikes have a right to the road". I pay .41 cents a gallon road tax on fuel that pays for the roads my (vehicle) uses. I don't feel its fair that bikes use0(abuse)- the same road, disrupt traffic, are a potential safety hazard, in short they are a liability, and they pay nothing. Honestly, like it or not the majority of them don't pay much attention to the rules of the road and many, especially the group rides act like they are special and deserving of special treatment in some way.
Patience and understanding, you say, if I come up on a couple of riders going two abreast and one moves over I'll give them a little wave and they might smile and nod in return.. Do that to one of these group rides and you are more likely to see a snarly face from someone who is mad that I interrupted their little chat or is insulted in some way. It's like these people forget what it's like to drive a car once they get on a bike, and it's not like they share the road, they think they own it. I have patience because I don't want to hurt anyone, but I have run out of understanding. Why not have 50 people on skateboards zipping down your road, or pogo stick rides, How about mass Hoveround rides for our seniors, don't these people have a "right" to the road???? or are bikes just "special"...???

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That sounds like a need for a regulation. Like cyclists can not cycle in groups larger than 5. There must be 2000 feet separation between groups aka groups can not be within sight of each other or within two city blocks of each other.

Stupid behaviors require stupid rules.

I like it, it would help... I hate to be in favor of more government intervention in our lives but sometimes it's needed..

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I feel your pain and you are correct that large groups are usually not well behaved, and indifferent to motorists. Yet, I don't think those solutions are viable. Here in PA when a bicycle is a vehicle, I'm under the impression you're not supposed to be on sidewalk. I'd hope you can get local cops to "inform" them of the laws they need to follow, so they cannot claim ignorance of the laws.

I ride my bicycle to work every day unless it is below 20 degrees outside here in Wisconsin.

Wisconsin law states that a bicycle rider has the legal right to use the full lane on a two lane road if the shoulder is unsafe. I rarely do this as most drivers here are very uneducated and don't understand the laws so I would get run over pretty quickly if practiced it.

However, last summer a part of my usual route had road construction in progress so I had no place to go on my side of the road. A lady drove right by me at 30 MPH and came within an inch or two of putting me in the hospital. The burly road construction superintendent down the road saw this happening, stopped the driver and yelled at her for nearly hitting me. I took the full lane at that point and made her follow my fat butt for the next mile until I had room to pull over.

I rarely ride my bike in groups as I don't really like the attitude of most cyclists and people who work in bike shops. I am sorry that they cause so much distress for everybody out there. But I do enjoy riding my bike outside. I would say that 99 out of 100 drivers I encounter give me a ton of courtesy and are extremely safe. Just like most of life there are always the few that ruin it.

They are even out of control (well a lot of them are) on the trails, we have one that crosses the city and therefore lots of local streets.

Few weeks ago we stopped, checked both ways, getting dark and had to hit the brakes hard to keep from hitting the idiot that decided to blow his stop sign to keep from slowing down.

Told the wife I'm going to buy some blacktop in a bag and put down rumble strips at night where these stop signs are that these guys blow near us, roller blade people are just as bad.

IMHO things have gotten worse now that the electric bikes are out there and capable of going 40 MPH. They dart in and out of traffic and the combo of their speed with the unpredictable behavior is a deadly combination.

We live in rural 'bike country' - close enough that the urban riders come out, park by the dairy store and ride around our gently rolling countryside before getting ice cream.

Unfortunately it is also 'two lane road' country and 'no money in the budget for bike lanes out there' country. So, as they ride they can really clog things up, especially going up a long hill in no-passing-zones.

Apparently having a car politely trail behind them waiting for a safe place to pass gets under their thin skin...some will wave you ahead with absolutely no idea whether it's clear/safe to move over. As they learned to drive, I had to train my kids to only move over to pass when they, themselves, knew it was clear and completely ignore the cyclists when they do that.

Around here, they cyclists pretty much obey the rules of the road and courteous.

As it would take an ambulance quite a while to scrape them up off the pavement in the mountains from all the douchebag aggressive lifted pickup drivers.

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I disagree with your statement, "bikes have a right to the road". I pay .41 cents a gallon road tax on fuel that pays for the roads my (vehicle) uses. I don't feel its fair that bikes use0(abuse)- the same road, disrupt traffic, are a potential safety hazard, in short they are a liability, and they pay nothing.

I'd be willing to bet that 99% of the folks who are riding bikes on the road also have vehicles, and are also paying taxes. So it's kind of hard to argue that they're not paying their share.

There really aren't too many folks in this country who only have a bike for transportation, but those who do are likely not using it recreationally but rather to get to and from work, or the store, or other transportation needs. I don't begrudge them the use of the road...I'm just happy they're putting in the effort to fulfill their responsibilities and provide for themselves with the limited means at their disposal.

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they are legally treated as pedestrians so if they fall off their bikes in front of you

What state is this?

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I'd be willing to bet that 99% of the folks who are riding bikes on the road also have vehicles, and are also paying taxes. So it's kind of hard to argue that they're not paying their share.

There really aren't too many folks in this country who only have a bike for transportation, but those who do are likely not using it recreationally but rather to get to and from work, or the store, or other transportation needs. I don't begrudge them the use of the road...I'm just happy they're putting in the effort to fulfill their responsibilities and provide for themselves with the limited means at their disposal.

I get your point, a few considerations:
The .01% of the riders around here that use bikes for transportation are not the problem, usually single riders and easily delt with.

The large groups of "look at me" Lance Armstrong types that import themselves into my area are a problem. They do it for entertainment, a hobby, exercise, whatever, but they disrupt other peoples lives and are a safety issue. I take walks for exercise, I get in my car and drive to a safe walking trial. Suppose me and 50 of my close friends from the retirement community down the road here decided to take a mass walk down our narrow road every day and maybe two or three other groups did the same... Imagine the traffic problems for people trying to get to work who struggle to find a safe/legal place to go around them. And they have cars and pay road taxes too... It's not safe for them, or other drivers and it's not right...And they don't do it....

Cyclist are required to follow the same rules as vehicles, stay less than two feet from the edge of the road and not ride two abreast...Yeah right, not in my experience. Vehicles are required to allow four feet when passing and not go more that 25mph... Roads in my area are almost all double lines so If I want to go around bikes I have to allow a minimum of six feet from the edge meaning I am breaking the law by going over the double line to pass.. Or I can go 15-20 on a road posted at 40-50 until either bikes leave or I turn off... So If I hit one while passing I'm already guilty of breaking the law and that's all some ambulance chasing lawyer needs to ruin your life with a lawsuit... Ask one sometime...

I sort of miss-spoke when I said they were treated as pedestrians.. What I meant is that just like when a car hits a pedestrian, the driver is found liable the vast majority of the time.

I don't walk on these roads because it's not safe, I don't want to get killed by someone texting in their Starbucks order and not paying attention. These cyclist groups cause even more of an issue and they just don't care.

My point is, if cyclist want to share the road, and the rules of the road, then let them have the same obligations as vehicles... get licensed, get registered, and get adequate insurance in case something bad happens, just like vehicle drivers are require to do before they can use the roads.. This sounds reasonable to me, anyone disagree?

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Yea I think I might disagree because bicycles don't do much damage to cars or people. Bicycles don't weigh much, don't go very fast, unlike cars. Basic physics, momentum, energy transfer in a crash, etc. I used to ride a road bike to work when I was a kid, 26 miles round trip daily, even though I had a car. I did it for the exercise and challenge of going as fast as possible using various strategies with wind etc., except I never figured out the wind, it was always against me, coming and going from or to any direction. I think I was jinxed.

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Originally posted by 1860ARMY:
It's also very common for one or more of the lead bikes to stop in an intersection blocking traffic so that the long string of bikes can go through without stopping, seen it many times...

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Have seen this with motorcycles. Picture an intersection with traffic lights. One rider stops in the middle and 30-40 riders run the stop light?

By the time the police respond the riders are miles away.

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ea I think I might disagree because bicycles don't do much damage to cars or people. Bicycles don't weigh much, don't go very fast, unlike cars. Basic physics, momentum, energy transfer in a crash, etc.

I was not thinking about physical damage to the car or bike, but maybe that could be an option...lol.. collision on a 10 speed is how much??? More like something to cover their medical and a large liability rider. Same as my Auto policy...

Mahomes and Jake could have a field day with this...

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