Let’s start with the trail/bike path walkers.
DON’T walk your
dog on a 10 foot
leash. Please keep your pets close to
you. If you want to let them run around,
take them to the park…And the same goes for your kids.
DO walk to the
side of the path, not in the middle.
This is even more important for couples and/or groups.
DON’T lunge
left. When I call out “passing on the
left,” that means my left, which also means your left. So please, DON’T LUNGE LEFT.
DO be prepared to
have the piss scared out of you if you’re cranking music through your
headphones. As I mentioned above, I’ll call out that I’m passing, but I’m not
trying to scream over your Taylor Swift tunes.
Like some pedestrians, many drivers also need to be educated
on the many aspects of living in a world with bikes.
Do share the road.
Don’t expect me
to obey all traffic laws. I admit it,
I’ll make an illegal turn from time to time. I follow the Idaho Stop rationale that lets
cyclist treat stop signs as yield signs.
When it comes to street lights, most states only require cyclists to
treat it as a stop sign:
Red or
completely unlighted signal shall stop in the same manner as a stop sign; and
the right to proceed shall be subject to the rules applicable after making a
stop at a stop sign.
Here’s another interest fact on the law:
Any
person violating any provision of this subchapter is guilty of a summary
offense and shall, upon conviction, be sentenced to pay a fine of $10
offense and shall, upon conviction, be sentenced to pay a fine of $10
Do admit that if
your fines were only 10 bucks, you’d be rolling those stops signs as well.
Don’t honk to say
hi. If you see me, just send me a
message on the Facebook like: I saw you
on your bike today…I was in my car. Seriously,
my initial thought when I hear a car horn is that several cars are careening
out of control behind me. So even if I
do see you, I will probably have a death grip on my handlebars and unable to wave.
Do assume that
cyclists are everywhere.
Don’t text and
drive. Seriously, don’t text and drive.
Do give cyclists 3 feet when passing. In many states the law in 3 feet . In Pennsylvania ,
motorists are actually required to give cyclists 4 feet . The 3 feet cause even has its own Facebook
page.
Don’t assume I
will always stay on the shoulder. I will
move over if the surface conditions are not ideal. Here is a small sample of things I’ve seen
just this summer: Rocks, a dirty diaper,
snakes, broken glass, a doll, sewage drains, a horse shoe, screws, branches,
dead animals, and not so dead animals (a groundhog will hiss something fierce
if threatened).
Not the actual groundhog I encountered, but just as scary.
Do give me the
right of way when I have the right of way.
Don’t be the lady
in the red dress. When I’m on a busy
road, I assume everyone will perform as expected. I call this my Matrix Mode, where I am
looking out for minor deviations in the typical flow of traffic, because it’s
those deviations that will get me killed.
Occasionally you will get the overly cyclist friendly driver who thinks he’ll
get a merit badge by stopping in the middle of the road to allow you to
proceed. Don’t do this. First, I have
no clue what you are doing. Second, none
of the other drivers on the road have a clue what you are doing. Are you turning? Did your car break down? And now, other drivers are focused on you and
don’t see me. I’m focused on you and not on
the drivers who are probably trying to navigate around you. You have just become the lady in the red
dress.
Don’t say I don’t
pay taxes. I am a home owner; I pay
property taxes and school taxes. The sales
tax on all my gear alone was a huge chunk of change. Oh, and I do drive as well. My jeep is a wonderful gas guzzler, but instead
of sitting around eating Egg McMuffins and Slim Jims while drinking that double
mocha mocha latte, I’m staying healthy and fit which is lowering insurance
costs for everybody. If you want to complain
about someone not paying taxes and on your road, complain about the
Mennonites. And their horses crap all
over the road as well.
Speaking of Mennonites…
Don’t drive your
metal tired tractors on freshly laid asphalt.
This road was paved 6 days ago and is now lined with these
grooves from the tractor treads. They
are probably less than an eighth of an inch deep, but they feel like rumble
strips. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing
against Mennonites Rumble Strips.
They’ve probably saved a few lives here and there. I just don’t want to be flying over them on a
road bike.
Feel free to add your own Do's and Don'ts in the comment section below.
Feel free to add your own Do's and Don'ts in the comment section below.
