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I knew you could ride in the street, use hands signals, etc. I just didn't know it was the law that you HAD to ride in the street. I'm not really a rider anyway. Now when my kids were younger and we went to Winton Woods, I would ride on the sidewalk with them.Quote:
Originally Posted by PM Thor
I didn't mean to insult you, and if I did, I apologize. You aren't a dolt. Riding with kids in a park....that's not the same as riding on the sidewalk downtown.
No, I meant we would ride 4 miles to get to Winton Woods. I would ride on the sidewalk with my kids. If a policeman said I would have to ride in the street while my kids rode on the sidewalk, I would probably just take the ticket.
You would be violating the letter of the law but not the spirit of the law. An adult riding a bike on the sidewalk easily becomes a safety issue, but you couldn't have been going that fast if you were with your kids and hence there isn't a safety issue Also, you weren't in the city, where it would be more of a problem due to pedestrian concentration.Quote:
Originally Posted by MADXSTER
Exactly the problem with enforcing the law with a broad brush. In both the bicycle law and the pedestrian law, there are allowances for safe and "practicable" use. I'd be surprised if any officer ever would even think to tell you to get off the sidewalk when riding with kids, unless you were doing so in a reckless manner around other people.Quote:
Originally Posted by XUFan09
This same discussion is playing out in the opinion pages of the Enquirer these days. There was this that started it back on 7/22
This gem of a response from an entitled prick is from Saturday:Quote:
Start ticketing lawbreaking bicyclists
At the risk of sounding like an old curmudgeon, I’m growing weary of bicyclists in rush hour traffic. It’s not if someone is going to be seriously hurt, it’s when.
Adults dress for the evening Tour de Hyde Park bobbing in and out of heavy traffic while conveniently rolling through stop signs and red lights. Perhaps it’s time to spread the joy of traffic tickets to some of our twowheeled self-propelled friends?
I’m pleased my hometown has spent a significant amount of taxpayer dollars on bike trails and bike lanes on busy streets. Now how about using them?
Tony Martina, Anderson Township
There are predictably a couple of responses today to Mr. Breidenbach's claim that he knows better than the law.Quote:
Bicyclist: ‘Convenient ... to blow through stop signs’
I’ve commuted to work on my bike for a couple of years, and it’s been very convenient, in the sense of efficient, to blow through stop signs and red lights (“Start ticketing lawbreaking bicyclists” July 22).
I do it very carefully, as anyone on a bike among cars would. My thing is to get to work as fast as a bike can get me there, while inconveniencing motorists as little as possible. An illegal maneuver like hopping onto the sidewalk might be annoying to a motorist stuck at that light, but making room for cars to get by easily is a good way to reduce bike-car friction.
It doesn’t benefit bicyclists only. If I’m not endangering anyone (anymore than we’re already endangered while in traffic, especially the bikers), I should not get a ticket for using the remarkable bike property, not shared by cars, of being able to ride on the sidewalk without causing chaos. Nor should I get a ticket for running a red light – again, as long as it doesn’t endanger or inconvenience anyone.
Efficiency and safety should outweigh a rigid adherence to law, as long as no one’s being harmed or endangered.
Paul Breidenbach, Glendale
Honestly, there are rule benders all around. Can't we all just get along?
You're complaining about enforcing the law with a broad brush in response to a pet peeve, which is kind of ridiculous. And riding a bike on the sidewalk in the downtown area (which is what was specifically talked about) is the reason the law exists. That's unsafe and a pain in the ass when people do that.
You say, "Can't we all just get along?" when you're the one that started blowing a fairly legitimate pet peeve out of proportion in the first place. You and Thor do seem to like your little tiffs, though.
The Idaho stop is a law where cyclists are allowed to use stop signs as yield signs, obviously with common sense involved. The opposite side to the argument is strict adherence to the law, and you get this type of response from rather militaristic cyclists in San Francisco (of course), causing massive traffic delays (and hurting cyclists as a whole)
http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/201...-with-stop-in/
http://www.whio.com/news/news/crime-...itter_2014_sfp
UD thugs get off easy
Eh, I wouldn't say that. I honestly find that to be a fair sentence. Now, maybe the issue is that the most sentences (particularly for young black men) are grossly unfair, but that's another really big issue.Quote:
Originally Posted by bobbiemcgee
Back to pet peeves. Electrical outlets that are controlled by a wall switch. I don't understand why this is ever a good idea.