It's annoying that other cyclists are claiming bikes have "full lane rights" at this National Park Parkway in comment threads. In reality, the safety rules for the parkway state...

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Know that the Parkway's lanes are narrower than normal roadways and that the road has little to no shoulder for most of the route. ...

Watch for bicyclists as they have the same rights and responsibilities as motorists. Share the road and give at least 3 feet of space when passing. ...

The above is for the cars to note. Here is what the bike riders are told...

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Ride single-file and on the right (with traffic) at all times. Use hand signals to let motorists know what you will be doing next.

No, they do not have "full lane rights." They even double down with the same ride single file statement on a bicycling page.

Of course, the guy taking off after hitting him is totally unacceptable.

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Originally posted by r0gue:
Unreal. Honestly though, those guys didn't seem the slightest bit concerned for their responsibility to be civil. and I say that AS a cyclist. When we ride, if we so much as "hear" tires coming, we yell car back, and we single file tight on the white line. We make it easy to coexist with cars, because we ride the same areas over and over. We need to be civil and friendly. It's best for everyone.

We also ride VERY early in rural areas. We do this so we're not out in any traffic to speak of. Sometimes go hours without a car.

This was a terrible act. And it was absolutely wrong. But they're not innocent here either. These guys ignored the cars, and were at least rude, if not something more,.. like passive-agressive pricks.

Yeah, but I would bet that most of the cyclists there will play the victim card and continue riding like douchebags. . .

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I ride yet hate cyclists, go figure.

I know EXACTLY where you are coming from.

Don't cycle as much as I used to, but on the rural roads where I liv and ride, I would be riding on the edge of pavement, and some cars would try to see how close to my handlebar they could get when passing...and not meeting any cars.

Bicycles on roadways intended for automobiles are a nuisance and a safety hazard. Don't even get me started on the self-righteous attitude of cyclists I encounter.

Just go find some park walkway to pedal your widdle bikey, or confine it to your own neighborhood. Bicycles have no business whatesoever on the same roads as automobiles and you can bet your bottom dollar that plenty of drivers feel like I do about this.

It makes no sense to have recreational riders who have no crash protection of any kind on the same roads as multi-ton vehicles. Ridiculous. Get off the freakin' road.

You can't accelerate like a car, you can't brake like a car, and if there's a serious crash, you're dead. You're very difficult to see at times and your presence on the roadway is sporadic and unpredictable. Get off the road, for everyones sake.

I see leaving the scene of an accident at most. And that will be a stretch to actually win at trial.

I don't see anything to sustain the "attempted murder" or even assault BS from earlier in the thread. When bicyclists play stupid games, they sometimes win stupid prizes.

You can hear those two laughing and then the truck blaring it's horn. Guessing they were holding up quite the parade.

The dumbass was occupying the entire lane. They should have been single file.

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Originally posted by Andyb:
You can hear those two laughing and then the truck blaring it's horn. Guessing they were holding up quite the parade.

And yet, we have the youtube video, shot by these yahoos, in all their righteous indignation.

Uh huh. It surely seems like the cyclists thought that their fragility was their shield. No one would dare ht them, would they? Actually, yes, they would. But oh, it's so wrong, even though the cyclists started this shit. Bad driver, evil car driver. Puh-leeze. Real life has a way of correcting assumptions.

Get off the road. Go find a park to peddle your widdle bikey.

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Originally posted by r0gue:
.. like passive-agressive pricks.

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Originally posted by parabellum:
Bicycles on roadways intended for automobiles are a nuisance and a saftety hazard.

These pretty much sum up my feelings on the subject.

As a young man I logged thousands of miles on my bicycle, mostly on shitty two-laners with no shoulder. I always rode as far off to the side of the road as possible (often off the pavement when vehicles were around). Having been hit by a car as a youngster, the one thing I learned is that I never want to be hit again.

I won't defend the Volvo driver (if it was intentional) but this cyclist is an entitled asshole of the highest order, and hopefully he learned a very valuable lesson. Physics works, and the Law of Gross Tonnage always favors the vehicle.

I was a cyclist for 15 years during the 80's and 90's. I logged about 150 miles a week not including competitions and charity rides. I have been hit by two vehicles over the years. Both times I was in the right of way, but both times I was being selfish and aggressive. This rider may have been allowed to occupy the lane as any other vehicle, but he was being selfish and stupid to do so. From my death defying experience, he go off easy that he could stand up after being hit. No reconstructive surgery, no teeth missing etc.

What did he expect? That he could block faster traffic doing 7 mph for who knows how long? Imagine yourself behind these punks enjoying their activity at the expense of everyone else all the while they are engaged in jolly conversation ignoring the desires of others. The fact is that they were on bikes is incidental to the core of the conflict. Had these knuckleheads been in a car and travelling 7 mph for who knows how long it would have been just as ignorant and selfish. The bikes just made them stupid. It doesn't matter if you have the right of way if you are inherently vulnerable. That is how I was wiped out by a semi truck while riding down the canyon. I got to walk home with a broken bike and bloody body that day......and I thanked my lucky stars.

Tangentially, I was nursed back to health by the nubile that lived down the hall who saw me banged up and struggling to get into my apartment. She was.......really attentive.

For the record, the Volvo driver should face charges.

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Not sure where in Virginia you live, but a lot of places around my parts ban or frown upon cycling on sidewalks. Sure you have rails to trails paths that are asphalted and fairly wide, but with most sidewalks vs. roads, it comes down to difference in speed.

I live a couple miles south of Manassas. And the biking, walking trails are as I described them. Wide, asphalted, miles long. With plenty of stop signs on the bike trail where it crosses roads.

OTOH, my grandson rides up to 30 miles and all on road shoulders. He also gets a number of flat tires from all the shit laying there. Never on the bike trail.

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Originally posted by TigerDore:

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Originally posted by smithnsig:
I'm a cyclist. Guy shouldn't have been hit but tandem riding with a car behind on a double yellow line while uphill is being an ass.

I am a cyclist too and I agree with you. Riding tandem is illegal in many places and just incredibly stupid and arrogant.

I am a life long cyclist, both road and mountain, and the guys in the video were complete assholes. It wouldn't surprise me that there were other cars lined up behind them, waiting for a chance to pass. To me, there is no excuse in riding in any other configuration than single file on a street.

When I ride on the street (becoming more of a rarer activity), I give complete respect for cars, out of courtesy and self preservation. Because of this, I have really never came across any troubles whatsoever.

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Originally posted by parabellum:
Don't even get me started on the self-righteous attitude of cyclists I encounter.

Cyclists as a lobby group are the most arrogant, self-entitled pricks around, look at the shit they cause with Critical Mass protests and similar.

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Originally posted by parabellum:
Bicycles on roadways intended for automobiles are a nuisance and a safety hazard. Don't even get me started on the self-righteous attitude of cyclists I encounter.

Just go find some park walkway to pedal your widdle bikey, or confine it to your own neighborhood. Bicycles have no business whatesoever on the same roads as automobiles and you can bet your bottom dollar that plenty of drivers feel like I do about this.

It makes no sense to have recreational riders who have no crash protection of any kind on the same roads as multi-ton vehicles. Ridiculous. Get off the freakin' road.

You can't accelerate like a car, you can't brake like a car, and if there's a serious crash, you're dead. You're very difficult to see at times and your presence on the roadway is sporadic and unpredictable. Get off the road, for everyones sake.

Agreed. I'm all for it if cyclists are required to run license plates, get tags and yearly inspections, have road insurance, basically everything drivers are required to have. Then LEO's can start ticketing them for impeding traffic, running traffic lights and stops signs, failing to yield right of way. I've ridden bicycles for decades and the only time I've ridden on the same roads as cars is late at night, as a kid, when there was zero traffic. I burn more calories but riding a mtb and having to hop curbs, take sidewalks, got into the grass, dirt, etc.

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Originally posted by Sig2340:
I bet the Volvo driving asshole supported Hillary.

"an administrator of a private school in Nashville has been charged." You are probably right about the Volvo driver being a Hillary supporter. According to the National Park Service, 58-year-old Marshall Grant Neely III was booked into the Williamson County Detention Center on Saturday night, where he is charged with reckless endangerment, leaving the scene of an accident, failure to immediately notify of an accident, and failure to render aid. Federal charges could be pending.

Neely was the Dean of Students at University School of Nashville and has been placed on a leave of absence after his arrest in connection with the incident.

According to an arrest report, Neely said a man and woman were standing in the road and threw the bicycle at his car."

"Roughly eight miles south of the bridge, there are a number of signs posted that say bikers may use the full lane. But that did not stop the incident from happening."

http://wkrn.com/2017/07/08/cyc...n-williamson-county/

http://wkrn.com/2017/07/08/cyc...n-williamson-county/

OK, locked

I tell you guys over and over and over to not interject politics into apolitical threads. I call out this behavior in this thread, and what happens? Someone quotes the guy and continues on with the political shit!!!!!!!!


I think that maybe for the next week or two, I'm just going to lock threads with no warning when you guys needlessly interject politics.

There is no valid reason why Hillary Clinton's name should have shown up in this thread. None. Cut it out

LOCKED